Ace Buckner didn’t sugarcoat what went wrong for Clemson on Friday night.
After the Tigers’ 85-78 home loss to Georgetown, the point guard pointed to a team that never quite matched the Hoyas’ edge from the start.
"Yeah, I felt like we just felt disrespected," Buckner said after the 85-78 home loss to Georgetown on Friday night. "Feel like the message of this year is trying to put 40 minutes together.
Not playing in spurts, but to being able to play a full game well. This is a lesson.
They came in here and kicked our butt, but we'll move on."
That message lined up with what unfolded at Littlejohn. Clemson was outplayed early, dug into a 15-point hole by halftime, and even though it won the second half 46-38, the damage was already done. The Tigers were a slight favorite entering the night, but they still failed to cover the spread again, and the bigger concern was the same one Buckner described: a team that didn’t bring the needed intensity for a full 40 minutes.
Some of that frustration seemed to stem from Clemson allowing Georgetown to set the tone right away. The Tigers looked tight and hesitant, and Brad Brownell’s choice to start David Fuchs instead of Dylan Faulkner in an effort to manage fouls raised more questions after the final buzzer.
There were some numbers that normally would have given Clemson a chance to survive. The Tigers shot 47 percent from the field, hit 41 percent of their 3-point tries, and knocked down 79 percent of their free throws. They also protected the ball well, finishing with just five turnovers, and they stayed out of major foul trouble.
But the details that mattered most still tilted Georgetown’s way. The Hoyas held a 33-27 rebounding edge, and in a game decided by seven points, that kind of gap can be enough to matter.
Clemson’s issue, as Buckner suggested, wasn’t just execution. It was focus.
Buckner led the way offensively in the Tigers’ first loss of the season with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting and five assists. Cole Certa gave Clemson a needed boost with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. Liutauras Lelevicius added 10 points, but nobody else reached double figures, including Faulkner, who finished with nine.
Brownell’s frontcourt choices didn’t solve much, either. Chase Thompson struggled through his second start of the season, finishing with five points on 2-of-7 shooting in 31 minutes.
Fuchs was more efficient in limited time, scoring six points in 13 minutes. The rotation still looks like a work in progress, and Friday night made that plain.
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Clemsons QB Situation Just Got More Concerning After Vizzinas Exit
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Dabo Swinney said the injury was more serious than the ankle issue Vizzina entered the game with, a development that only adds to the uncertainty around Clemsons quarterback room. Swinney also pointed to Vizzinas effort in a tough spot, noting that he kept competing despite having already dealt with multiple injuries, but the bigger question now is how long the Tigers may be without him. [Read more 🡒]