Wake Forest at Clemson: Tough Loss

For much of the second half it looked like the Deacs were poised to grab their first ACC road win of the season. Unfortunately things didn’t end well as the Deacs only scored 10 points in the final 10 minutes of the game and fell to Clemson 80-75 in overtime.

As painful as losing this game was, this young team should take away plenty of positives. For the first time this season the Deacs played pretty good basketball for an entire game on the road. The defense was solid, the offense showed flashes of brilliance, and against a very good Clemson team the guys hopefully proved to themselves that they can hang with the “big boys,” even on the road.

Unfortunately, too many mistakes as the game came down to the wire cost Wake a win that could have been big come NCAA Tournament selection time. As it is, the Deacs have to deal with a 2-3 ACC record this week as they prepare for Miami’s visit next Tuesday.

The two players who impressed me the most tonight were Chas McFarland and Ishmael Smith. I don’t have the full box score yet, but I believe Chas had 11 boards and around 7 points. In my mind his biggest contribution was on the defensive end where he worked incredibly hard all night long and was very effective. With only a minute left Chas went down with a right knee injury when Harvey Hale fell on the back of his legs. The injury looked like it may be pretty serious and we can only hope to have Chas back sometime soon. Unfortunately, it looked like the type of injury that will at least keep him out for a few weeks, but it could be even worse.

Ish continued to be a great leader for the team tonight, not only in non-statistical ways but also by scoring points when they were most needed (most notably to tie the game at the end of regulation with a deep three). He really seems to have matured a lot this season and may be the most important guy on the floor right now. You can tell he puts his whole heart and soul into ever game, and a loss like this really hurts him. According to Harvey Hale he was crying in the locker room he was so upset.

James Johnson was very frustrating to watch tonight. If Sunday afternoon was the type performance that had people thinking he may jump to the NBA at the end of this season, tonight’s performance indicated that he may need to stay here at Wake for two or three more years to really be ready. The biggest issue definitely wasn’t his athleticism or ability, but rather his decision making. I don’t have the exact number, but he threw the ball away 3+ times trying to inbound the ball against Clemson’s press and also made a really stupid behind the back pass for a turnover. The decision making skills were definitely lacking and it hurt the team tonight.

Harvey Hale’s shooting woes continued, and it’s getting to the point where you can’t really even call them “woes.” It has been so consistent that it’s hard to justify calling him anything but a bad 3-point shooter as opposed to a good one in a slump. He has shown several times that he can perform well inside 18 feet, but when it comes to 3-point shooting it’s really about time to give up. Constantly putting up 7+ 3’s a game and only making one of them just isn’t going to cut it. Dino and staff need to cut their losses on this one and move on, I just don’t think it’s going to happen.

The other problem that reared its ugly head tonight was turnovers. The team had cut its average down to about 14 per game, but tonight the Deacs were back of 20 and Clemson made sure to capitalize on them. Cut out seven or so of these turnovers and the Deacs probably don’t lose this game.

Nonetheless, for all these negatives, I really hope the team can turn tonight’s performance into a positive. I know they’re disappointed to have lost and they should be for the next day or two, but I hope looking back at this game in a couple weeks it can be seen as a turning point for this team on the road. Even though they lost, they went into the building one of the toughest teams in the ACC and took them to the wire. Considering the performances at Boston College and Maryland this is a huge step in the right direction. Yes it hurts to give it all up there at the end, but the overall performance will hopefully be viewed as a positive. Play like this anywhere but Clemson, Duke, or UNC and you should come out with a win, even with many of the mistakes. If the team can realize this then their confidence on the road should receive a big boost. As long as the team bounces back to .500 with a win at home next Tuesday the Deacs will be in good shape heading on the road for NC State at the beginning of February.

It’s a tough loss to swallow, but a few days from now I will consider the experience gained from this game a huge positive for this young team. Keep working hard, Deacs, the wins will start coming.