January 27, 2024 • 48 mins
The Tigers gear up to face down the Blue Devils in today's matchup! As always, John and Rich preview today's game, and set the scene with interviews, clips from the players, and more!
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W E s E FM, Greenville, Spartanburg, Andersen. Time for the
Ingles Countown to tip Off Show,brought to you pie Ingles Markets, Low
Prices, Love the Savings, BlueRidge Electric Cooperative, Harley davioton of Greenville
Career Flooring Center, the Surgery Centerat Pella McGhee, Eating an Air and
(00:20):
by pal Meadow State Armory. NowHere are your hosts Sehn Alisam Richmond and
Weaver. It might be Championship weekendin the NFL, but it is also
a Saturday jam packed with college basketball. As you're listening to the Ingles Countdown
to tip Off Show right here onninety two point five WeSC Richmond Weaver with
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you and mister John Ellis is outtoday with some family events going on.
But mister Trey Falco, who's theproducer, extraordinary and always behind the board
and behind the mic. On oursister station one O four nine Fox Sports
up dat As you can listen tothe Richmond Weavers show from three to four
each weekday and also Game On withJohn Ellis from four to six, So
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he does a yeoman's job, alwaysworking, it seems. And mister Falco,
thank you for joining me. Herethis Saturday afternoon as we get ready
for the Clemson Tigers on the roadonce again, but this time a little
bit different scenario in a very hostileplace, Cameron Indoor Stadium. Oh,
we know, it's always hostile upthere. Yes it is. I mean,
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it's Duke. It's one of theblue bloods. This is they are
college basketball as far as I'm concerned. When you think of college basketball,
there's obviously teams that you think about, right and as you just stated,
and knowing that this is not disparagingyou whatsoever, right, right, But
everybody has their tendencies and especially youknow what they gravitate towards from a sports
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perspective. Yeah, and basketball isnot your first love. Football. I'm
a football guy. You are ina football guy. Yes, there's no
question from that standpoint. But that'swhy it just shows you the power some
of these schools that, I mean, you know of Duke, you know
of Kentucky, you know of NorthCarolina, all of those type of blue
bloods out there. And that's whyyou're for the Clemson Tigers. It seems
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to be at times if you lookat the history of this series, that
there is something about seeing that DukeJersey playing in Cameron Indoor Stadium, right,
seems to have some type of mentalhold on the Clemson Tigers because they
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just have not had a whole lotof success there in Cameron Indoor Stadium,
and that is a tough place toplay. We know that. And so
Clemson trails this series four to sixtythree, sixty three in Durham. Yes,
so you can understand that is avery difficult place to play. Now,
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there's other teams across the country thathave struggled there in Durham. So
this is not just a pinpoint thatClemson is an inferior program, but we
know just historically that Duke is obviouslya championship type of basketball program. And
now Clemson has an opportunity to atleast for this season. Can you go
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on the road and follow up yourvictory on the road against Florida State and
now do it in Cameron Indoor Stadiumwhere you haven't had a whole lot of
success. But Clemson was able tobeat Duke last year. Now that was
in Little John Coliseum, so youdo have that aspect. And so we'll
break this down this game in muchmore detail as we continue here on ninety
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two point five WeSC as you're listeningto the Engles Countdown to tip Off show.
But we have to rewind a littlebit. That was as we always
do, to look back at theprevious game and that game against Florida State,
and it seems like we haven't evenbeen able to talk basketball in forever
because of Clemson hasn't played for aweek. That's right. Yeah, they
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had some rest and that's a greatopportunity for Brad Burnell and his team to
get some rest and regroup, soto speak. And especially knowing that you
have this opportunity now down the stretch, how important it is to finish strong.
And it's one thing that you're lookingat the calendar and January twenty seventh,
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you're thinking, my goodness, here, it's already February, right,
and where did the month of Januarygo? And knowing that once you get
into February, it's basically March madnessat that time pretty much, Yeah,
because how fast it goes. Andthat's why it's very important for Clemson.
Now we know that they are alegitimate NCAA tournament team, but they now
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are fighting for position, fighting fora higher seed in the NCAA Tournament,
and obviously, can they have anopportunity for a higher seed in the ACC
Tournament, because that's still the onething that Clemson does not have is an
ACC Tournament championship. Now they havea regular season championship, right And I
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was part of that team back innineteen eighty nine as they beat Duke in
Little John Coliseum to secure that regularseason championship. And it was wild in
Little John Coliseum, I can promiseyou. And I was talking to my
daughter. I went and visited heryesterday because her birthday is actually today,
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So have your birthday, Kate.And so we were talking about actually because
she goes to South Carolina, that'sa different story obviously from that standpoint.
But knowing that I went to Clemson, her brothers went to Clemson, her
mom went to Clemson, she wantedto create her own path. I get
it, Okay, whatever, Yeah, But she was there for the South
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Carolina Kentucky game in Columbia there andactually was part of the crowd that stormed
the court after the game Cocks beatKentucky there at Colonial Life Arena, and
I joked with her that, yeah, you're part of the reason that South
Carolina got fined one hundred thousand dollars, but she was all happy about it.
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She didn't care worth it was.It was definitely worth it. But
she talked about how crazy it wasthat she couldn't stay out there that long
because the crowd and just that feelingof claustrophobia, you know, all of
that. And I said, Ican totally understand because I remember when we
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beat Duke and the crowd stormed thecourt and Little John and there was moments
that you could not move and itwas hard to breathe, and you were
wondering, how do I get outof here? And we're trying to get
the players out of there, they'retrying to get the coaches out of there,
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all of that, but they're alsotrying to cut down the nets at
the same time. I mean,all these things, this chaos was going
on there in Little John at thattime. But it just shows you,
I mean, the excitement obviously ofcollege basketball, you know, from from
that standpoint. And so now,as we talked about just can Clemson continue
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to put themselves in a position fora higher seed in the ACC Tournament and
obviously a big opportunity to be ableto do that is go on the road
and beat Duke. And following obviouslythat victory that you had with Florida State
on the road, and this wasa game where coming into it again,
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Clemson has not fared well against FloridaState on the road. But you had
four double digit scores there for thatseventy eight to sixty seven victory again on
the road, and the eleven pointwin was the largest by Clemson in Tallahassee
since nineteen ninety eight. So forwhatever reason, yeah, Clemson has just
not been able to farewell on theroad in Tallahassee either. But you had
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Chase Hunter and PJ Hall who scoredfourteen and thirteen respectively, And that's what
I think. It was nice tosee that Chase Hunter was actually getting into
the offensive action there. And weknow, I mean, he's a defensive
guy also, but I do believethat the Tigers do go as Chase Hunter
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goes, just he gives you thatextra offensive opportunity. You're going to lean
on PJ. Hall, we knowthat, Oh, of course you're going
to lean on Joe Girard the thirdjust with his shooting, but I think
you have to have Chase Hunter beable to contribute offensively and be in control,
and I think that was a bigpart of it. But this was
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a game about the bench players forClemson. As we saw, Josh Beadle
had a huge boost coming off thebench, both off points, yes,
yeah, both offensively and defensively.Had a career best twelve points as you
mentioned. And then Joe Girard againknowing what he can provide. He wasn't
shooting really well, but he didhave ten points in seven rebounds. And
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then also just from a perspective,we've talked about Jack Clark, the NC
State transfer and having him back inthe lineup, how pivotal it is for
Brad Brunnell and his team to havehim back, and this was just his
second game back after not playing sinceNovember twenty six in Alabama, but he
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had seven points, seven rebounds,and four assists off the bench, and
that's all season highs because he hasn'tplayed much. But you can see the
versatility there for Jack Clark and whyit's so important, and that's why Clemson
was able to have guys off thebench that not only provided minutes but also
provided production. Clemson had twenty eightpoints off the bench to Florida State's eighteen,
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and I do believe that was abig part of the reason why Clemson
was able to win oh without adoubt. I think that's the most impressive
thing that I've seen from this Clemsonteam this year is just how productive and
helpful these guys are off the bench. Like you said, not only with
minutes, because I mean you've gotJack Clark with twenty one minutes. Let's
see Josh Bietle with twenty seven minutes. I mean it's that's a good amount
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of rest for these guys. Butalso twelve points for Josh Bietle, seven
points for Jack Clark, four assists, seven rebounds. I mean, that's
a lot of production to have inthose twenty one minutes. That helps these
other guys tremendously to get rest.They're not having to play from behind because
they were on the bench, becausethey had to come out of the game.
I mean it's crucial. It isvery crucial, and we're starting to
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see now some guys even step upeven more. And again, it doesn't
have to be that they have toplay fifteen to twenty minutes. It can
just give some spurts. But that'swhat you want to look for if you're
brad Renel, is that when guysare out there, they're productive in those
minutes. And I can promise youI've been to practices with Brad Renell.
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I've seen enough that if you're notgiving effort, you're not playing. That's
just the reality of the game.And I know there's obviously a lot of
other coaches out there like that.I mean, and that's just the reality.
Yes, you have to continue togive that type of effort to be
able to play. And it's nicewhen you start seeing it then translate from
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practice to game because that that doesbecome a little bit different because there's some
guys that perform much better in practice, but for whatever reason, when the
red light comes on when it's gametime, maybe they don't have the same
type of production. And obviously partof it is maybe the other team is
playing really well. True, itmight be matchup issues, whatever it is.
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But Clemson was able to get thatvictory seventy eight to sixty seven.
That they're on the road against FloridaState and so now sitting at thirteen and
five and three and four in theconference. And what I also did like
here too is that PJ. Hallplayed twenty seven minutes, but he didn't
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have to play thirty five minutes rightexactly, and so that is a big
component of it there. And hewas also able to stay out of foul
trouble there, and I think thatwas significant there because we've seen PJ.
Hall have some foul trouble from thatperspective, and we know Ian Shefflin had
another solid game, but maybe notup to the standards that we've seen,
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but he made some key shots,especially down the stretch. But he did
end up with seven point six rebounds, but did end up fouling out.
But also I think when you lookat it, Clemson was able to shoot
the ball a few aciently and didn'thave to rely solely on the three point
shot seven of seventeen from beyond thearc forty one percent. So that is
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a high clip right there, whenyou're able to knock down over forty percent
of your threes, but they didn'thave to rely on that. It was
key three pointers in big moments.And then you shoot fifty one percent from
the field twenty five of forty nine, and you go eighty four percent from
the free throw line twenty one oftwenty five. That's impressive. That's how
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you can win some games, especiallydown the stretch, when you can start
making some free throws. But Ithink the other side of this, too,
is that what Clemson has been ableto do really well this year,
and we saw it in this gameagainst Florida State, and that's being able
to distribute the ball, and thatis predicated by proper spacing ball movement,
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not a whole lot of one onone dribble penetration. It's being able to
make the defense work by passing theball because the best way to get a
defense to shift is you move theball. It makes sense they follow the
ball. They follow the ball,and so the faster you can move it
back and forth and reverse it,you're going to have an opportunity to get
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that defense in a bad position andgo from a good shot to a great
shot. And I think that's whatClemson was able to do seventeen assists on
twenty five made field goals, andso that's a big part of it.
Where you look at Florida State,they only had seven assists in this game
total twenty two field goals made.So I think that's a big part of
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what Clemson has been able to dois when they have opportunities to win games,
it's due to the fact that they'removing the ball and they're getting other
guys involved, right and getting thatopportunity of moving from a good shot to
a great shot. And then obviouslythese guys have to make the shots.
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Oh, we get that. Yeah, but if you are in a anario
where you have shots that are higherpercentage shots because of that ball movement,
yes, then you can hopefully thentranslate it to a fifty one percent field
goal percentage, which Clemson was ableto do right exactly. So that's part
of it there, and they wereable to hold Florida State to forty one
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percent from the field in. FloridaState was a team that they're dangerous,
they can do some damage at times, and we've seen how Florida State under
Leonard Hamilton has been able to gethis team to rise to certain levels even
when they might not have the sametype of talent. But this was a
great opportunity for Clemson again for peopleand double figures, as you had Chase
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Hunter with fourteen, PJ. Hallwith thirteen, Josh Beetle with twelve off
the bench, and Joe Girard withten, So a great win for the
Tigers. They got to rest allweek and get ready for this trip up
to Duke this afternoon. And asalways, you can listen to it right
here on ninety two point five wEESC as we will continue the Ingles count
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Down to tip Off Show. We'reback right after this ninety two point five
w d S is the Upstate's newhome for the Clemson Tigers. Don't let
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the rain earlier this morning. Theyget you down. It is college basketball
this Saturday. As you're listening tothe Ingles count Down to tip Off Show
right here on ninety two point fiveWeSC Richmond Weaver with you, and mister
Trey Falco behind the board and behindthe mic with you. Also, as
the Tigers getting ready to travel orthey're already there, we know that they
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better be there, yeah, tobe in trouble they're not there as Yes,
we're getting really close to this fourpm tip off time there at Cameron
Indoor Stadium. Yeah, so youbetter be sure that the Tigers are there,
as you can listen to that righthere on ninety two point five WeSC
mister Don Munson and timber Ray willbe on the call, and so obviously
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we're going to talk college basketball andClemson coming off of the big victory on
the road against Florida State which wetalked about and now trying to utilize that
as momentum heading into this game rightthere in Durham. But I do have
to take a moment, okay.And we know NFL tomorrow, the big
matchups there, NSC and the ASCConference Championships, yes exactly, with the
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Ravens and the Chiefs at three o'clock, and then to follow later in the
evening, you have the forty nineers and the Lions. Right, but
there's also this other sport that's goingon, the NBA. Oh yeah,
that's right. Yes, the NBAis going on also, And what we're
starting to see is some historic performances. And so we know that Joel Embiid
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had his big night seventy points,right, and then Karl Anthony Town scored
sixty two. But how about lastnight with Luka Dancik seventy three points last
night, and then Devin Booker hescores sixty two points last night. And
this comes again less than a weekafter we saw the performances by Joel Embiid
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and Carl Anthony Towns. So therewas some talk that I heard earlier this
morning in terms of, oh,the NBA and where things are going and
our guys still playing defense, youknow, all of that, and was
equating it to what we've seen inthe NFL where it used to be if
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a quarterback had over three hundred passingyards, I mean that was that was
exceptional. That was exceptional exactly,and then now I mean that is ho
hum. They better be thrown throwingfor three hundred yards. Now it's more.
Can they get to four hundred yards? And then you know, even
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from a running back, I meanyou better get one hundred yards rushing as
far as being a really good runningback, and we know in the NFL
the running back position has definitely lostsome of its luster and emphasis as far
as how much workload they get,right, we do know that, right,
it's better to have two backs andswap them out. That's right.
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You don't have that one single backthat you can rely on. So the
stats are not going to live upto the same level of expectation for a
running back, of course, becausethe game has evolved, right, that
makes sense. But then the quarterbackposition is changing also because of how heavy
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the expectations are and how we knowhow important the quarterback position is. And
I promise you I'm coming back tobasketball with this, okay, because this
is a basketball show, this isthe angles count down to tip Off show.
But my point is, and basedon some of the narratives that I
heard, is that, oh,the NBA is just I don't even like
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watching it anymore because guys are scoringseventy points and there's no fun in watching
that. And the NFL in collegefootball has changed because now it's just all
about, oh, you got toget three hundred, four hundred yards whatever.
And I keep thinking, what dowe not love the entertainment of guys
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showing historic performances and how the gameis changing. I mean, do we
want to go back to NFL collegefootball where it's thirty to ten? Do
we want to see Iowa football eachweek? No? We don't. We
don't. And the same with theNBA in college basketball. Who cares if
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they score eighty five points? Right? And I know Luka Dongit had seventy
three points and had half of histeam points, but what does it matter.
Let's let's have the opportunity of celebratingsome of these historic performances because I'm
not convinced that this is going tobe routine. And that's what the narrative
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that I saw earlier this morning isthat, oh, this is going to
be this is where the NBA isgoing, This is where sports are going.
Is that you know you have it'sthe not running gun, but just
the scenario of it's all about offense, all about offense, right, well,
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it is. It is all aboutoffense. Now you have to play
defense to stop the offense, butit is all about offense because the name
of the game is to score morepoints. That's right. You're a point
of the game opponent or you're youknow, the opposing team. I should
say, what blows me away aboutthese scores too? Or I guess not
the scores, but the points thatthese guys are putting up. Florida State
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scored sixty seven points as a wholelot last game. Clemson had seventy eight
points as a whole I know,last could you imagine PJ. Hall coming
out and putting up you know,seventy points of this seventy eight score.
I mean, that's insane, Butit's the NBA. That's kind of what
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they do. They're the exactly,they are the elite of the elite.
The NFL is the elite of theelite, and you know that is a
part of it. And so Iwelcome this opportunity to see excellence and see
these type of performances. And alsothere is an aspect that yesterday was the
four year anniversary of the death ofKobe Bryant and those people that lost in
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obviously his daughter Gigi and the otherslost to that helicopter crash, and so
there is an emphasis and the NBAplayers talk about it on that particular day.
These guys, they're running and gunning, they're trying to have that Mamba
mentality right and honor, respect,in honor and respect yes of Kobe Bryant
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and everything that he did, youknow, for the NBA, And so
there is that. But this isnot going to be the norm. It's
just not. Seventy points in agame is just not going to be the
norm. Right well, in theI mean, the fact of the matter
is we've seen it all the time. We've seen it in college basketball,
we've seen it in the NBA.Sometimes guys just get hot, they do,
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and sometimes like shots just fall theway they need them to fall,
and it is hard to guard againstsomebody like that where everything just kind of
seems to be I don't know ifthey're just in a right headspace where they're
just playing differently or what it is, but everything just kind of seems to
be falling their way. Yeah.Well, and so Luca had forty one
points at halftime, and at thatpoint, wow, You're like, Okay,
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something is special is happening, rightright, He's got the hot hand.
Let's feed the hot hand until theystop him. Then you keep feeding,
right Because if I'm the coach,I'm not going to sit there and
go, well, you know,I get that he's put up forty one
points, but you know, let'slet's let him, you know, let
him, let him take a littlebit of a break and give the give
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the other team a breather. No, I'm gonna push it as hard as
I can go. We'll put itdown on the pedal. Yes, and
they needed to because they almost lostthe game, you know, So,
I mean you have that aspect ofit also. So there's so many different
things about it. But and that'sjust me being a little bit on the
soapbox here, It's fine, let'scelebrate excellence and let's don't try to look
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at it from a negative perspective.That it is what it is, and
why do you And this tends tohappen quite a bit, especially with fans
and especially with teams players that starthaving success and then you get that success
fatigue. Oh yeah, basically allof the chiefs. Yeah, and like,
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why are we having this fatigue?Right? Celebrate somebody's excellence whatever and
be happy, you know, forthe moment. How is it hurting you
if somebody else is having success?Exactly? And how many times can you
say that you lived and got towitness that stress. That's one of my
biggest points too, is that Ienjoy watching and I want to see greatness.
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And that's why I wanted to seeMichael Jordan. I wanted to see
Kobe, I want to see Lebron, I want to see Tiger Woods because
I wanted to see great exactly.You're watching history exactly, watching history,
and I want to watch Luca.I mean, what the numbers that he's
putting up is absolutely ridiculous when youbreak it all down. But let's turn
back to college basketball. Yes,it is a college basketball Saturday. Because
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this is also the first time there'sno football on this Saturday. Ye this
first Saturday was no football. That'scrazy when you think about it. But
as a basketball guy, I lovebeing able to turn the attention to some
basketball. All right, Top twentyfive, We obviously have a lot going
on in the top twenty five.As Yukon is in number one spot in
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the latest polls. You've got Purdueat number two, North Carolina at number
three, Houston at number four,and Tennessee at number five, and Kentucky
was sitting there at number six.That's going to change until they went to
a Colonial Life Arena down in Columbia, and that was the team that they
were the number one scoring offense inthe country ninety points per game, almost
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ninety one points per game, crazy, and South Carolina held them to sixty
two points. That's impressive. That'sa Then Samford out of the Southern Conference
was able to then take the topspot as the number one scoring offense and
had a seventeen game win streak untilthey came to Timan's Arena and the Furman
Paladins were able to stop that winstreak, and so a lot was going
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on in the state of South Carolinaactually in terms of focus on basketball,
and I absolutely love that. Ohit's a great season right now to be
just a South Carolina basketball fan ingeneral. Whether you're follow in the Furman
Paladins, which they've been, Imean, we know if they've done in
the last couple of years with BobRichie's team, whether you're following you know,
the game Cock Sword. This Clemsonteam has been really good this year.
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I mean they started off course wasten and one. They've had to
struggles just recently, but yes,they started off really hot, and that's
when they were getting a lot ofexposure nationally, right and that has helped
them, you know, now headinginto conference play, and I do believe
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Clemson is going to be completely fineagain getting healthy again. But you're right,
it's just the opportunity of a lotof these schools here in South Carolina
and focusing on some of the othergames going on here in the Southern Conference.
You talk about Furman and Wafford,they're playing today, rivalry you know
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between those two schools and that gamesthere in Spartanburg and that'll be tipping off
at six pm and so Furman hasan opportunity based on how they started the
season and seem to be struggling,but it is a scenario where right now
they've gotten things turned around obviously andbeing able to sit there at five and
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two in the Southern Conference where theystarted out in the conference oh to two.
So they won their fast past fivegames and it's a big one against
Wafford later this afternoon. But wedo have the Clemson Tigers. We'll be
taking on the Duke Blue Devils,yes, and we have a lot of
other Top twenty five action as well, and even ACC action. But the
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Tigers tip off at four pm,and you can listen to that right here
on ninety two point five WeSC MisterDon Munson and Tim Bray will be on
the call and we will continue theIngles countdown to tip Off show right after
this. Ninety two point five wd S is the Upstate's new home for
the Clemson Tigers. Game number nineteenfor the Clemson Tigers is today at four
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pm and we will turn things overto mister Don Munson and Tim Burray at
the bottom of the hour, gettingyou ready for the Tigers taking on the
Duke Blue Devils. They're on theroad in Durham as you're listening to the
Ingles count Down to tip Off showright here on ninety two point five WeSC
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game number nineteen, road game numberseven, and ACC game number eight for
the Clemson Tigers against the number twelveDuke Blue Devils, who are sitting there
at fourteen and four, five andtwo in the ACC. And when you
take a look at just the ACCstandings right now, North Carolina sitting there
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at eight to o have not losta conference game yet to four and oh
at home and four and oh onthe road, sixteen and three overall nine
game wind streak for the Tar Hills. Right now, Florida State is sitting
there at number two, six andtwo in the ACC. And this was
a Florida State team that was pickedin the middle to bottom half of the
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ACC heading into the season. Soas what we talked about that you just
don't know. And Florida State wasable to follow up that loss against Clemson
and on Tuesday they were able tobeat Syracuse eighty five to sixty nine.
And so Leonard Hamilton continues to worksome magic and then you've got the Duke
Blue Devils sitting there at five andtwo in the ACC, fourteen and four,
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fourteen and four overall. As Imentioned, and this is an interesting
scenario where you saw the Pittsburgh Pantherscome into Cameron Indoor Stadium and beat the
Duke Blue Devil. And that wasa big win obviously for Pittsburgh because they
have been struggling. They were threeand four in the ACC coming into that
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game. But we're able to getthat victory. And I know Duke didn't
have Jeremy Roach who has a kneeinjury, or Mark Mitchell, but this
is a scenario where this was aDuke team that should beat Pittsburgh. But
it just shows you that you justdon't know come conference play, right,
anything can happen. And when youhave somebody like Blake Henson for Pittsburgh who
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had twenty four points and was sevenof seven from beyond the r that helps.
As the Panthers were able to gettheir first victory in Cameron Indoor Stadium
since nineteen seventy nine, So it'sbeen a minute, it's been just a
little bit of time there as weagain saw Pittsburgh be able to get that
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victory. But this shows you justhow difficult it can be in the ACC.
As you continue looking at the standings, Virginia sitting there at five and
three and they're coming off of abig overtime victory against n C State on
Wednesday, And then you also haven C State right there at five and
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three, Wake Forest at five andthree, and then Miami at four and
four, and Miami's coming off ofa victory on Wednesday, also against Notre
Dame. And obviously we have actiongoing on today with Boston College in Notre
Dame, Virginia and Louisville and NorthCarolina, Florida State, and pitt in
Miami. Then obviously got the Clemsongame, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech a
(33:42):
little bit later, and also inC State and Syracuse a little bit later.
But when you look at just howwe talked about trying to win on
the road and how difficult it canbe. Right now, home teams in
the ACC are thirty two twenty seven, a fifty four percent win percentage in
(34:04):
league play, the road teams havewon almost forty six percent of the time,
and that's on pace to be thethird best in ACC history. So
you have to go back to nineteeneighty seven for a forty six percent win
percentage for road teams in the ACC. And the best was in nineteen fifty
(34:29):
five at forty seven percent. Andthat's when the ACC was only two years
old, because the league was formedin nineteen fifty three. Yes, so
this is impressive right now what theroad teams have been able to do in
the ACC. As you see,a pit team who had been struggling could
go on the road in Cameron IndoorStadium and win. So there's if you're
(34:54):
a Clemson fan, there's hope.There is there's hope. There's hope when
you start looking at some of thesenumbers. And that's why as much as
we talk about, you know,home court advantage right now, I mean
we're almost close to fifty to fiftyas far as home court advantage right Well,
you're sitting there, you're you know, North Carolina, you're Florida State,
(35:15):
you're Duke. You got to bea little uncomfortable with that statistic right
there, right especially in somewhere somewherelike Duke where they do have such a
great home field advantage or home courtadvantage. I'm so used to, you're
so used to that's home court advantage. I mean, that's a historic,
prestigious place to go play. Ifyou've got road teams that are coming in
and they're winning, you you justsit here at Duke going hmm, all
(35:37):
right, well there's our home teamadvantage or home home court advantage. Now
what do we do? I knowthere is something to that, But again,
Cameron Indoor Stadium is an iconic placethere and it's just interesting too.
There's so much history that even goesback to the Southern Conference and then the
teams that left the Southern Conference toform the ACC and this was Cameron Indoor
(36:00):
Stadium was named after the athletic directorthere at Duke. It used to be
Duke Indoor Stadium. And the traditionof cutting down the nets, this is
what's fascinating. It actually started atIncy State and Case Everett was the head
coach there for a long time andhe was a predominant high school coach out
(36:22):
of Indiana, and so he broughtthis tradition and started it in college when
in c State won the Southern Conferencetournament championship and they cut down the nets
for the first time in nineteen fortyseven. And of all places they cut
down the nets in Duke Indoor Stadiumbecause it was before it was named Cameron
(36:47):
Indoor Stadium, and so the SouthernConference Tournament championship was played there in Durham
on Duke campus. And so I'mjust fascinated with the history that these programs
have and how it comes back tolike a Southern Conference and so the tradition
(37:07):
of cutting down the nets started inhistoric venue and that's now obviously Cameron Indoor
Stadium. So there's all these fascinatingstorylines that go into the history of the
ACC and the Southern Conference. Youknow from that standpoint, but it just
shows you that you're looking at theseopportunities where teams can they go on the
(37:30):
road and win some of these games, all right. Also, the Wooden
Award mid season Top twenty five watchlist was just recently announced also, and
there's several guys from the ACC thatwere named PJ. Hall. Like,
yep, that guy, And Ilove the Clemson's being able to really push
(37:52):
this narrative about PJ. Hall andplay a play on words, I should
say that it's PJ Hall American.That's pretty good. That's creative. I
do like that. Also, joiningthat list Kyle Philipowski from Duke, and
we'll talk much more about him andwhat he's been able to do this season
(38:14):
as that will be a key partof this matchup with PJ. Hall and
Philipowski there from Duke, and thenArmando Baycont who's been at North Carolina since
nineteen seventy five. It seems he'sbeen there for so long. And also
RJ Davis from North Carolina, andI think RJ. Davis is one of
the main reasons why North Carolina issitting there at eight to zero in the
(38:37):
conference, sixteen and three overall,and we talked about a nine game win
streak, and that's also I thinkHubert Davis has done a really good job
of being able to utilize his benchand then his bench is actually performing.
There is that aspect, and you'vegot Cormack Ryan the transfer coming in and
he's been a breath of fresh airfor Tar Hill fans because his shoe and
(39:00):
how he's been able to open upthe spacing for the offense there for North
Carolina, and that is a bigpart of it from that standpoint. So
with the ACC there's a lot ofbasketball left and how it's going to play
out is going to be very interesting. And so as you're coming here the
(39:21):
end of January, how that's goingto play out. This is when it
starts getting crunch time, right,This is when you're going to start seeing
the cream rise to the top,right, and who can be some of
the surprise teams. I still contendeven Clemson sitting there at three and four
in the ACC standings, I knowthat's not where Clemson fans thought that Clemson
(39:47):
was going to be based on thatstart that we talked about, yeah,
and even winning some of those toughnon conference games. But it just shows
you, and we've talked about iteven from a perspective of if you want
to look at it from the NFLside, there's preseason we know that,
oh yeah, how that intensity is. There's regular season intensity is different,
(40:10):
and then there's playoff, right,and that intensity is even ratchet up even
more. And then obviously now tomorrowwe'll see that intensity increase to a different
level as the teams are fighting fora chance to get to the super Bowl.
But it's the same thing when youlook at it from college basketball,
(40:30):
you have your non conference there's thatcertain intensity there and it depends on who
you're playing, because we know someteams play a harder non conference schedule and
then once you get into conference play, it's a different level of intensity.
And then obviously once you get intoconference tournament scenarios, then it's another level
(40:52):
of intensity. So right now,this is a big opportunity for Clemson to
come in against Doke. Are theygoing to raise their intensity level to match
the importance of what they need toaccomplish on the road and sitting there at
three and four, because I hadtalked about it previously, when you looked
(41:14):
at that scenario where Clemson coming offsome tough losses right there and knowing that
you know, you had that scenariowhere how were they going to respond,
you know from those tough losses andI'm talking about the Georgia Tech right overtime,
double overtime loss there at home.And when you looked at the schedule
(41:36):
seeing Florida State and Duke both onthe road, could you come away with
at least one of those two roadvictories, right? And so they were
able to accomplish that against Florida State. So now you have an opportunity to
even add more to your resume andbuild more momentum by going on the road
against Duke and then you know,you have a couple of home games right
(41:58):
after that. So this is there'sa big opportunity for Clemson to be able
to capture some more momentum. Andagain the question is are they going to
be able to match the intensity ofwhere we are in the season right and
having that extra rest, how muchis that going to help the Clemson Tigers
(42:20):
here this Saturday. So there's alot riding on this game. Does it
make or break the season exactly?But you can build a lot if you
can go on the road and beatDuke at Cameron Indoor Stadium and you can
listen to it right here on ninetytwo point five WeSC as we will continue
and wrap up this edition of theIngles Countdown to tip Off Show right here
(42:45):
on ninety two point five WeSC.Ninety two point five WDSC is the Upstate's
new home for the Clemson Tigers.The Ingles count Down to tip Off Show
(43:12):
right here on ninety two point fiveWeSC continues Richmond Weaver with you, and
mister Trey Falco is joining me behindthe board and behind the mic as we
get you ready as a Tiger's travelingto Durham Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tip off
time just a little after four pm, so we'll be with you just for
a few more minutes and then we'llturn things over to the Clemson Athletic Network
(43:36):
with mister Don Munson and Tim Burray, as they will be there on site
and you can watch the game onESPN. Dave O Brian and Corey Alexander
will be there and also Myran Metcalfigedoes a great job ESPN College Basketball Reporter
analyst. However you want to sayit, so a lot of attention that
we'll be there in Cameron Indoor Stadiumbecause of these are two heavyweights in the
(44:01):
ACC. I know Clemson looking atit from respective of three and four in
the ACC right now, but thisis a veteran team, this is an
experienced team, and so this isan opportunity where can they go wreak a
little bit of havoc in the ACCand not duke off. And we know
we've talked about it that Clemson hasstruggled in Durham. Four and sixty three
(44:23):
is the record that they're in Durhamfor this series history, and overall,
this is not bode well for Clemsoneither thirty three and one hundred and twelve
against the Duke Blue Devils. Yeahso, and Brad Bronnell versus Duke four
and twelve. So it has beena difficult task against the Blue Devils,
(44:45):
But I do believe that right nowyou have an opportunity. You can go
in to Cameron Indoor Stadium and youcan beat them Becalls. We just saw
Pittsburgh do it exactly, so therecan happen. Yeah, they're not invincible.
This isn't some I mean a Titan, it's a blue Blood, but
it's right now, it's a verybeatable Titan. It is a very beatable
(45:06):
twelfth ranked Blue Devils team in thecountry right now. And I know they
coming off of a double digit tovictory against Louisville earlier this week after that
loss to Pittsburgh, but their mainguy, senior captain Jeremy Roach, did
go down with an ankle injury thatprevented him from playing most of the second
half there against Louisville. So it'squestionable if he's going to be able to
(45:27):
play, and if he does,can he even go and be close to
one hundred percent? Right I don'tthink so, so that will be interesting
from that standpoint to But the BlueDevils, again, we talked about streaks.
They've won three of the last fouragainst the Tigers and knowing that the
Tigers, though they did win lastseason in Little John, So there is
(45:47):
that aspect. So when you lookat this game, I do believe it's
going to come down to Jeremy Roachand or one of the keys. I'm
gonna say comes down to Jeremy Roachand the ankle injury and how that's going
to play for the Blue Devils.I mean, this is a guy who's
averaging fourteen points a game, threeassists, two and a half rebounds,
(46:07):
but so it's not like overwhelming numbers. But he's just the tone setter for
the Blue Devils and I think that'sa big part of it. So can
Clemson even if Roach is in there? You know, how will Clemson match
up from a guard perspective? Andthen you look at it's the front court.
This is what it's really going toboil down to in this game.
(46:29):
Kyle Philipowski and Mark Mitchell, whois back against PJ. Hall and the
chef Ian Shefflin. How is thatgoing to come together in terms of this
battle in the front court and knowingagain PJ. Hall, we talked about
All American He's averaging almost twenty pointsper game per game, seven rebounds,
(46:50):
two and a half sists per games. And then Cheflin, who is one
of the most underrated big men inthe accs averaging nine almost ten points again,
nine and a half points per game, nine and a half rebounds and
two cysts per game. So youcan see that he's doing some yeoman's work
care and you know, so thekey to the Tigers here is obviously you've
(47:13):
got to be able to protect theball. You've got to continue spacing proper
spacing, moving the ball, gettingDuke in difficult situations. And then also
for Clemson, don't be afraid toget out in a little bit of transition.
Yeah, and push the pace alittle bit. I know Brad Burnell
loves slowing down the pace, butI think there's an aspect of Duke as
(47:35):
such a good defensive team collectively,and so can you pick those opportunities where
can you push the pace a littlebit to get Duke on their heels because
they and not allow them time toset up defensively, right, transition defense
is very difficult. So if youcan get out in those opportunities and push
(47:57):
the pace just a little bit andtake advantage of that, I think that's
going to be an opportunity for Clemson. And then obviously you need somebody like
Joe Girard. You need a performancefrom him from beyond the art. He's
two to three pointers shy of movingup third place in the ACC for most
career three pointers. So you needmore three pointers from Joe Girard. And
(48:22):
we know the three point shot isthe ultimate equalizer. But so it will
be a tough task in Durham,but the Tigers they can do it.
They just have to be patient andpush where they can. And obviously you
got to protect the ball. Youcan't have turnovers. And so the Clemson
Tigers taking on the Duke Blue Devilswill turn things over to mister Don Munson
(48:43):
and Timbray with the Clemson Athletic Network. You've been listening to the Ingles Countdown
to tip Off show right here onninety two point five. WeSC have a great Saturday
W E s E FM, Greenville, Spartanburg, Andersen. Time for the
Ingles Countown to tip Off Show,brought to you pie Ingles Markets, Low
Prices, Love the Savings, BlueRidge Electric Cooperative, Harley davioton of Greenville
Career Flooring Center, the Surgery Centerat Pella McGhee, Eating an Air and
(00:20):
by pal Meadow State Armory. NowHere are your hosts Sehn Alisam Richmond and
Weaver. It might be Championship weekendin the NFL, but it is also
a Saturday jam packed with college basketball. As you're listening to the Ingles Countdown
to tip Off Show right here onninety two point five WeSC Richmond Weaver with
(00:44):
you and mister John Ellis is outtoday with some family events going on.
But mister Trey Falco, who's theproducer, extraordinary and always behind the board
and behind the mic. On oursister station one O four nine Fox Sports
up dat As you can listen tothe Richmond Weavers show from three to four
each weekday and also Game On withJohn Ellis from four to six, So
(01:06):
he does a yeoman's job, alwaysworking, it seems. And mister Falco,
thank you for joining me. Herethis Saturday afternoon as we get ready
for the Clemson Tigers on the roadonce again, but this time a little
bit different scenario in a very hostileplace, Cameron Indoor Stadium. Oh,
we know, it's always hostile upthere. Yes it is. I mean,
(01:27):
it's Duke. It's one of theblue bloods. This is they are
college basketball as far as I'm concerned. When you think of college basketball,
there's obviously teams that you think about, right and as you just stated,
and knowing that this is not disparagingyou whatsoever, right, right, But
everybody has their tendencies and especially youknow what they gravitate towards from a sports
(01:53):
perspective. Yeah, and basketball isnot your first love. Football. I'm
a football guy. You are ina football guy. Yes, there's no
question from that standpoint. But that'swhy it just shows you the power some
of these schools that, I mean, you know of Duke, you know
of Kentucky, you know of NorthCarolina, all of those type of blue
bloods out there. And that's whyyou're for the Clemson Tigers. It seems
(02:16):
to be at times if you lookat the history of this series, that
there is something about seeing that DukeJersey playing in Cameron Indoor Stadium, right,
seems to have some type of mentalhold on the Clemson Tigers because they
(02:37):
just have not had a whole lotof success there in Cameron Indoor Stadium,
and that is a tough place toplay. We know that. And so
Clemson trails this series four to sixtythree, sixty three in Durham. Yes,
so you can understand that is avery difficult place to play. Now,
(03:00):
there's other teams across the country thathave struggled there in Durham. So
this is not just a pinpoint thatClemson is an inferior program, but we
know just historically that Duke is obviouslya championship type of basketball program. And
now Clemson has an opportunity to atleast for this season. Can you go
(03:21):
on the road and follow up yourvictory on the road against Florida State and
now do it in Cameron Indoor Stadiumwhere you haven't had a whole lot of
success. But Clemson was able tobeat Duke last year. Now that was
in Little John Coliseum, so youdo have that aspect. And so we'll
break this down this game in muchmore detail as we continue here on ninety
(03:46):
two point five WeSC as you're listeningto the Engles Countdown to tip Off show.
But we have to rewind a littlebit. That was as we always
do, to look back at theprevious game and that game against Florida State,
and it seems like we haven't evenbeen able to talk basketball in forever
because of Clemson hasn't played for aweek. That's right. Yeah, they
(04:10):
had some rest and that's a greatopportunity for Brad Burnell and his team to
get some rest and regroup, soto speak. And especially knowing that you
have this opportunity now down the stretch, how important it is to finish strong.
And it's one thing that you're lookingat the calendar and January twenty seventh,
(04:31):
you're thinking, my goodness, here, it's already February, right,
and where did the month of Januarygo? And knowing that once you get
into February, it's basically March madnessat that time pretty much, Yeah,
because how fast it goes. Andthat's why it's very important for Clemson.
Now we know that they are alegitimate NCAA tournament team, but they now
(04:57):
are fighting for position, fighting fora higher seed in the NCAA Tournament,
and obviously, can they have anopportunity for a higher seed in the ACC
Tournament, because that's still the onething that Clemson does not have is an
ACC Tournament championship. Now they havea regular season championship, right And I
(05:18):
was part of that team back innineteen eighty nine as they beat Duke in
Little John Coliseum to secure that regularseason championship. And it was wild in
Little John Coliseum, I can promiseyou. And I was talking to my
daughter. I went and visited heryesterday because her birthday is actually today,
(05:39):
So have your birthday, Kate.And so we were talking about actually because
she goes to South Carolina, that'sa different story obviously from that standpoint.
But knowing that I went to Clemson, her brothers went to Clemson, her
mom went to Clemson, she wantedto create her own path. I get
it, Okay, whatever, Yeah, But she was there for the South
(06:00):
Carolina Kentucky game in Columbia there andactually was part of the crowd that stormed
the court after the game Cocks beatKentucky there at Colonial Life Arena, and
I joked with her that, yeah, you're part of the reason that South
Carolina got fined one hundred thousand dollars, but she was all happy about it.
(06:27):
She didn't care worth it was.It was definitely worth it. But
she talked about how crazy it wasthat she couldn't stay out there that long
because the crowd and just that feelingof claustrophobia, you know, all of
that. And I said, Ican totally understand because I remember when we
(06:50):
beat Duke and the crowd stormed thecourt and Little John and there was moments
that you could not move and itwas hard to breathe, and you were
wondering, how do I get outof here? And we're trying to get
the players out of there, they'retrying to get the coaches out of there,
(07:11):
all of that, but they're alsotrying to cut down the nets at
the same time. I mean,all these things, this chaos was going
on there in Little John at thattime. But it just shows you,
I mean, the excitement obviously ofcollege basketball, you know, from from
that standpoint. And so now,as we talked about just can Clemson continue
(07:36):
to put themselves in a position fora higher seed in the ACC Tournament and
obviously a big opportunity to be ableto do that is go on the road
and beat Duke. And following obviouslythat victory that you had with Florida State
on the road, and this wasa game where coming into it again,
(07:57):
Clemson has not fared well against FloridaState on the road. But you had
four double digit scores there for thatseventy eight to sixty seven victory again on
the road, and the eleven pointwin was the largest by Clemson in Tallahassee
since nineteen ninety eight. So forwhatever reason, yeah, Clemson has just
not been able to farewell on theroad in Tallahassee either. But you had
(08:20):
Chase Hunter and PJ Hall who scoredfourteen and thirteen respectively, And that's what
I think. It was nice tosee that Chase Hunter was actually getting into
the offensive action there. And weknow, I mean, he's a defensive
guy also, but I do believethat the Tigers do go as Chase Hunter
(08:41):
goes, just he gives you thatextra offensive opportunity. You're going to lean
on PJ. Hall, we knowthat, Oh, of course you're going
to lean on Joe Girard the thirdjust with his shooting, but I think
you have to have Chase Hunter beable to contribute offensively and be in control,
and I think that was a bigpart of it. But this was
(09:01):
a game about the bench players forClemson. As we saw, Josh Beadle
had a huge boost coming off thebench, both off points, yes,
yeah, both offensively and defensively.Had a career best twelve points as you
mentioned. And then Joe Girard againknowing what he can provide. He wasn't
shooting really well, but he didhave ten points in seven rebounds. And
(09:24):
then also just from a perspective,we've talked about Jack Clark, the NC
State transfer and having him back inthe lineup, how pivotal it is for
Brad Brunnell and his team to havehim back, and this was just his
second game back after not playing sinceNovember twenty six in Alabama, but he
(09:45):
had seven points, seven rebounds,and four assists off the bench, and
that's all season highs because he hasn'tplayed much. But you can see the
versatility there for Jack Clark and whyit's so important, and that's why Clemson
was able to have guys off thebench that not only provided minutes but also
provided production. Clemson had twenty eightpoints off the bench to Florida State's eighteen,
(10:11):
and I do believe that was abig part of the reason why Clemson
was able to win oh without adoubt. I think that's the most impressive
thing that I've seen from this Clemsonteam this year is just how productive and
helpful these guys are off the bench. Like you said, not only with
minutes, because I mean you've gotJack Clark with twenty one minutes. Let's
see Josh Bietle with twenty seven minutes. I mean it's that's a good amount
(10:33):
of rest for these guys. Butalso twelve points for Josh Bietle, seven
points for Jack Clark, four assists, seven rebounds. I mean, that's
a lot of production to have inthose twenty one minutes. That helps these
other guys tremendously to get rest.They're not having to play from behind because
they were on the bench, becausethey had to come out of the game.
I mean it's crucial. It isvery crucial, and we're starting to
(10:56):
see now some guys even step upeven more. And again, it doesn't
have to be that they have toplay fifteen to twenty minutes. It can
just give some spurts. But that'swhat you want to look for if you're
brad Renel, is that when guysare out there, they're productive in those
minutes. And I can promise youI've been to practices with Brad Renell.
(11:18):
I've seen enough that if you're notgiving effort, you're not playing. That's
just the reality of the game.And I know there's obviously a lot of
other coaches out there like that.I mean, and that's just the reality.
Yes, you have to continue togive that type of effort to be
able to play. And it's nicewhen you start seeing it then translate from
(11:39):
practice to game because that that doesbecome a little bit different because there's some
guys that perform much better in practice, but for whatever reason, when the
red light comes on when it's gametime, maybe they don't have the same
type of production. And obviously partof it is maybe the other team is
playing really well. True, itmight be matchup issues, whatever it is.
(12:01):
But Clemson was able to get thatvictory seventy eight to sixty seven.
That they're on the road against FloridaState and so now sitting at thirteen and
five and three and four in theconference. And what I also did like
here too is that PJ. Hallplayed twenty seven minutes, but he didn't
(12:22):
have to play thirty five minutes rightexactly, and so that is a big
component of it there. And hewas also able to stay out of foul
trouble there, and I think thatwas significant there because we've seen PJ.
Hall have some foul trouble from thatperspective, and we know Ian Shefflin had
another solid game, but maybe notup to the standards that we've seen,
(12:45):
but he made some key shots,especially down the stretch. But he did
end up with seven point six rebounds, but did end up fouling out.
But also I think when you lookat it, Clemson was able to shoot
the ball a few aciently and didn'thave to rely solely on the three point
shot seven of seventeen from beyond thearc forty one percent. So that is
(13:07):
a high clip right there, whenyou're able to knock down over forty percent
of your threes, but they didn'thave to rely on that. It was
key three pointers in big moments.And then you shoot fifty one percent from
the field twenty five of forty nine, and you go eighty four percent from
the free throw line twenty one oftwenty five. That's impressive. That's how
(13:30):
you can win some games, especiallydown the stretch, when you can start
making some free throws. But Ithink the other side of this, too,
is that what Clemson has been ableto do really well this year,
and we saw it in this gameagainst Florida State, and that's being able
to distribute the ball, and thatis predicated by proper spacing ball movement,
(13:50):
not a whole lot of one onone dribble penetration. It's being able to
make the defense work by passing theball because the best way to get a
defense to shift is you move theball. It makes sense they follow the
ball. They follow the ball,and so the faster you can move it
back and forth and reverse it,you're going to have an opportunity to get
(14:13):
that defense in a bad position andgo from a good shot to a great
shot. And I think that's whatClemson was able to do seventeen assists on
twenty five made field goals, andso that's a big part of it.
Where you look at Florida State,they only had seven assists in this game
total twenty two field goals made.So I think that's a big part of
(14:35):
what Clemson has been able to dois when they have opportunities to win games,
it's due to the fact that they'removing the ball and they're getting other
guys involved, right and getting thatopportunity of moving from a good shot to
a great shot. And then obviouslythese guys have to make the shots.
(14:56):
Oh, we get that. Yeah, but if you are in a anario
where you have shots that are higherpercentage shots because of that ball movement,
yes, then you can hopefully thentranslate it to a fifty one percent field
goal percentage, which Clemson was ableto do right exactly. So that's part
of it there, and they wereable to hold Florida State to forty one
(15:18):
percent from the field in. FloridaState was a team that they're dangerous,
they can do some damage at times, and we've seen how Florida State under
Leonard Hamilton has been able to gethis team to rise to certain levels even
when they might not have the sametype of talent. But this was a
great opportunity for Clemson again for peopleand double figures, as you had Chase
(15:41):
Hunter with fourteen, PJ. Hallwith thirteen, Josh Beetle with twelve off
the bench, and Joe Girard withten, So a great win for the
Tigers. They got to rest allweek and get ready for this trip up
to Duke this afternoon. And asalways, you can listen to it right
here on ninety two point five wEESC as we will continue the Ingles count
(16:04):
Down to tip Off Show. We'reback right after this ninety two point five
w d S is the Upstate's newhome for the Clemson Tigers. Don't let
(16:33):
the rain earlier this morning. Theyget you down. It is college basketball
this Saturday. As you're listening tothe Ingles count Down to tip Off Show
right here on ninety two point fiveWeSC Richmond Weaver with you, and mister
Trey Falco behind the board and behindthe mic with you. Also, as
the Tigers getting ready to travel orthey're already there, we know that they
(16:57):
better be there, yeah, tobe in trouble they're not there as Yes,
we're getting really close to this fourpm tip off time there at Cameron
Indoor Stadium. Yeah, so youbetter be sure that the Tigers are there,
as you can listen to that righthere on ninety two point five WeSC
mister Don Munson and timber Ray willbe on the call, and so obviously
(17:22):
we're going to talk college basketball andClemson coming off of the big victory on
the road against Florida State which wetalked about and now trying to utilize that
as momentum heading into this game rightthere in Durham. But I do have
to take a moment, okay.And we know NFL tomorrow, the big
matchups there, NSC and the ASCConference Championships, yes exactly, with the
(17:45):
Ravens and the Chiefs at three o'clock, and then to follow later in the
evening, you have the forty nineers and the Lions. Right, but
there's also this other sport that's goingon, the NBA. Oh yeah,
that's right. Yes, the NBAis going on also, And what we're
starting to see is some historic performances. And so we know that Joel Embiid
(18:07):
had his big night seventy points,right, and then Karl Anthony Town scored
sixty two. But how about lastnight with Luka Dancik seventy three points last
night, and then Devin Booker hescores sixty two points last night. And
this comes again less than a weekafter we saw the performances by Joel Embiid
(18:32):
and Carl Anthony Towns. So therewas some talk that I heard earlier this
morning in terms of, oh,the NBA and where things are going and
our guys still playing defense, youknow, all of that, and was
equating it to what we've seen inthe NFL where it used to be if
(18:56):
a quarterback had over three hundred passingyards, I mean that was that was
exceptional. That was exceptional exactly,and then now I mean that is ho
hum. They better be thrown throwingfor three hundred yards. Now it's more.
Can they get to four hundred yards? And then you know, even
(19:17):
from a running back, I meanyou better get one hundred yards rushing as
far as being a really good runningback, and we know in the NFL
the running back position has definitely lostsome of its luster and emphasis as far
as how much workload they get,right, we do know that, right,
it's better to have two backs andswap them out. That's right.
(19:37):
You don't have that one single backthat you can rely on. So the
stats are not going to live upto the same level of expectation for a
running back, of course, becausethe game has evolved, right, that
makes sense. But then the quarterbackposition is changing also because of how heavy
(20:00):
the expectations are and how we knowhow important the quarterback position is. And
I promise you I'm coming back tobasketball with this, okay, because this
is a basketball show, this isthe angles count down to tip Off show.
But my point is, and basedon some of the narratives that I
heard, is that, oh,the NBA is just I don't even like
(20:22):
watching it anymore because guys are scoringseventy points and there's no fun in watching
that. And the NFL in collegefootball has changed because now it's just all
about, oh, you got toget three hundred, four hundred yards whatever.
And I keep thinking, what dowe not love the entertainment of guys
(20:47):
showing historic performances and how the gameis changing. I mean, do we
want to go back to NFL collegefootball where it's thirty to ten? Do
we want to see Iowa football eachweek? No? We don't. We
don't. And the same with theNBA in college basketball. Who cares if
(21:11):
they score eighty five points? Right? And I know Luka Dongit had seventy
three points and had half of histeam points, but what does it matter.
Let's let's have the opportunity of celebratingsome of these historic performances because I'm
not convinced that this is going tobe routine. And that's what the narrative
(21:37):
that I saw earlier this morning isthat, oh, this is going to
be this is where the NBA isgoing, This is where sports are going.
Is that you know you have it'sthe not running gun, but just
the scenario of it's all about offense, all about offense, right, well,
(22:00):
it is. It is all aboutoffense. Now you have to play
defense to stop the offense, butit is all about offense because the name
of the game is to score morepoints. That's right. You're a point
of the game opponent or you're youknow, the opposing team. I should
say, what blows me away aboutthese scores too? Or I guess not
the scores, but the points thatthese guys are putting up. Florida State
(22:23):
scored sixty seven points as a wholelot last game. Clemson had seventy eight
points as a whole I know,last could you imagine PJ. Hall coming
out and putting up you know,seventy points of this seventy eight score.
I mean, that's insane, Butit's the NBA. That's kind of what
(22:45):
they do. They're the exactly,they are the elite of the elite.
The NFL is the elite of theelite, and you know that is a
part of it. And so Iwelcome this opportunity to see excellence and see
these type of performances. And alsothere is an aspect that yesterday was the
four year anniversary of the death ofKobe Bryant and those people that lost in
(23:10):
obviously his daughter Gigi and the otherslost to that helicopter crash, and so
there is an emphasis and the NBAplayers talk about it on that particular day.
These guys, they're running and gunning, they're trying to have that Mamba
mentality right and honor, respect,in honor and respect yes of Kobe Bryant
(23:33):
and everything that he did, youknow, for the NBA, And so
there is that. But this isnot going to be the norm. It's
just not. Seventy points in agame is just not going to be the
norm. Right well, in theI mean, the fact of the matter
is we've seen it all the time. We've seen it in college basketball,
we've seen it in the NBA.Sometimes guys just get hot, they do,
(23:56):
and sometimes like shots just fall theway they need them to fall,
and it is hard to guard againstsomebody like that where everything just kind of
seems to be I don't know ifthey're just in a right headspace where they're
just playing differently or what it is, but everything just kind of seems to
be falling their way. Yeah.Well, and so Luca had forty one
points at halftime, and at thatpoint, wow, You're like, Okay,
(24:19):
something is special is happening, rightright, He's got the hot hand.
Let's feed the hot hand until theystop him. Then you keep feeding,
right Because if I'm the coach,I'm not going to sit there and
go, well, you know,I get that he's put up forty one
points, but you know, let'slet's let him, you know, let
him, let him take a littlebit of a break and give the give
(24:41):
the other team a breather. No, I'm gonna push it as hard as
I can go. We'll put itdown on the pedal. Yes, and
they needed to because they almost lostthe game, you know, So,
I mean you have that aspect ofit also. So there's so many different
things about it. But and that'sjust me being a little bit on the
soapbox here, It's fine, let'scelebrate excellence and let's don't try to look
(25:03):
at it from a negative perspective.That it is what it is, and
why do you And this tends tohappen quite a bit, especially with fans
and especially with teams players that starthaving success and then you get that success
fatigue. Oh yeah, basically allof the chiefs. Yeah, and like,
(25:26):
why are we having this fatigue?Right? Celebrate somebody's excellence whatever and
be happy, you know, forthe moment. How is it hurting you
if somebody else is having success?Exactly? And how many times can you
say that you lived and got towitness that stress. That's one of my
biggest points too, is that Ienjoy watching and I want to see greatness.
(25:52):
And that's why I wanted to seeMichael Jordan. I wanted to see
Kobe, I want to see Lebron, I want to see Tiger Woods because
I wanted to see great exactly.You're watching history exactly, watching history,
and I want to watch Luca.I mean, what the numbers that he's
putting up is absolutely ridiculous when youbreak it all down. But let's turn
back to college basketball. Yes,it is a college basketball Saturday. Because
(26:15):
this is also the first time there'sno football on this Saturday. Ye this
first Saturday was no football. That'scrazy when you think about it. But
as a basketball guy, I lovebeing able to turn the attention to some
basketball. All right, Top twentyfive, We obviously have a lot going
on in the top twenty five.As Yukon is in number one spot in
(26:37):
the latest polls. You've got Purdueat number two, North Carolina at number
three, Houston at number four,and Tennessee at number five, and Kentucky
was sitting there at number six.That's going to change until they went to
a Colonial Life Arena down in Columbia, and that was the team that they
were the number one scoring offense inthe country ninety points per game, almost
(27:03):
ninety one points per game, crazy, and South Carolina held them to sixty
two points. That's impressive. That'sa Then Samford out of the Southern Conference
was able to then take the topspot as the number one scoring offense and
had a seventeen game win streak untilthey came to Timan's Arena and the Furman
Paladins were able to stop that winstreak, and so a lot was going
(27:30):
on in the state of South Carolinaactually in terms of focus on basketball,
and I absolutely love that. Ohit's a great season right now to be
just a South Carolina basketball fan ingeneral. Whether you're follow in the Furman
Paladins, which they've been, Imean, we know if they've done in
the last couple of years with BobRichie's team, whether you're following you know,
the game Cock Sword. This Clemsonteam has been really good this year.
(27:53):
I mean they started off course wasten and one. They've had to
struggles just recently, but yes,they started off really hot, and that's
when they were getting a lot ofexposure nationally, right and that has helped
them, you know, now headinginto conference play, and I do believe
(28:14):
Clemson is going to be completely fineagain getting healthy again. But you're right,
it's just the opportunity of a lotof these schools here in South Carolina
and focusing on some of the othergames going on here in the Southern Conference.
You talk about Furman and Wafford,they're playing today, rivalry you know
(28:36):
between those two schools and that gamesthere in Spartanburg and that'll be tipping off
at six pm and so Furman hasan opportunity based on how they started the
season and seem to be struggling,but it is a scenario where right now
they've gotten things turned around obviously andbeing able to sit there at five and
(28:57):
two in the Southern Conference where theystarted out in the conference oh to two.
So they won their fast past fivegames and it's a big one against
Wafford later this afternoon. But wedo have the Clemson Tigers. We'll be
taking on the Duke Blue Devils,yes, and we have a lot of
other Top twenty five action as well, and even ACC action. But the
(29:21):
Tigers tip off at four pm,and you can listen to that right here
on ninety two point five WeSC MisterDon Munson and Tim Bray will be on
the call and we will continue theIngles countdown to tip Off show right after
this. Ninety two point five wd S is the Upstate's new home for
the Clemson Tigers. Game number nineteenfor the Clemson Tigers is today at four
(30:18):
pm and we will turn things overto mister Don Munson and Tim Burray at
the bottom of the hour, gettingyou ready for the Tigers taking on the
Duke Blue Devils. They're on theroad in Durham as you're listening to the
Ingles count Down to tip Off showright here on ninety two point five WeSC
(30:40):
game number nineteen, road game numberseven, and ACC game number eight for
the Clemson Tigers against the number twelveDuke Blue Devils, who are sitting there
at fourteen and four, five andtwo in the ACC. And when you
take a look at just the ACCstandings right now, North Carolina sitting there
(31:00):
at eight to o have not losta conference game yet to four and oh
at home and four and oh onthe road, sixteen and three overall nine
game wind streak for the Tar Hills. Right now, Florida State is sitting
there at number two, six andtwo in the ACC. And this was
a Florida State team that was pickedin the middle to bottom half of the
(31:23):
ACC heading into the season. Soas what we talked about that you just
don't know. And Florida State wasable to follow up that loss against Clemson
and on Tuesday they were able tobeat Syracuse eighty five to sixty nine.
And so Leonard Hamilton continues to worksome magic and then you've got the Duke
Blue Devils sitting there at five andtwo in the ACC, fourteen and four,
(31:47):
fourteen and four overall. As Imentioned, and this is an interesting
scenario where you saw the Pittsburgh Pantherscome into Cameron Indoor Stadium and beat the
Duke Blue Devil. And that wasa big win obviously for Pittsburgh because they
have been struggling. They were threeand four in the ACC coming into that
(32:12):
game. But we're able to getthat victory. And I know Duke didn't
have Jeremy Roach who has a kneeinjury, or Mark Mitchell, but this
is a scenario where this was aDuke team that should beat Pittsburgh. But
it just shows you that you justdon't know come conference play, right,
anything can happen. And when youhave somebody like Blake Henson for Pittsburgh who
(32:36):
had twenty four points and was sevenof seven from beyond the r that helps.
As the Panthers were able to gettheir first victory in Cameron Indoor Stadium
since nineteen seventy nine, So it'sbeen a minute, it's been just a
little bit of time there as weagain saw Pittsburgh be able to get that
(32:59):
victory. But this shows you justhow difficult it can be in the ACC.
As you continue looking at the standings, Virginia sitting there at five and
three and they're coming off of abig overtime victory against n C State on
Wednesday, And then you also haven C State right there at five and
(33:20):
three, Wake Forest at five andthree, and then Miami at four and
four, and Miami's coming off ofa victory on Wednesday, also against Notre
Dame. And obviously we have actiongoing on today with Boston College in Notre
Dame, Virginia and Louisville and NorthCarolina, Florida State, and pitt in
Miami. Then obviously got the Clemsongame, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech a
(33:42):
little bit later, and also inC State and Syracuse a little bit later.
But when you look at just howwe talked about trying to win on
the road and how difficult it canbe. Right now, home teams in
the ACC are thirty two twenty seven, a fifty four percent win percentage in
(34:04):
league play, the road teams havewon almost forty six percent of the time,
and that's on pace to be thethird best in ACC history. So
you have to go back to nineteeneighty seven for a forty six percent win
percentage for road teams in the ACC. And the best was in nineteen fifty
(34:29):
five at forty seven percent. Andthat's when the ACC was only two years
old, because the league was formedin nineteen fifty three. Yes, so
this is impressive right now what theroad teams have been able to do in
the ACC. As you see,a pit team who had been struggling could
go on the road in Cameron IndoorStadium and win. So there's if you're
(34:54):
a Clemson fan, there's hope.There is there's hope. There's hope when
you start looking at some of thesenumbers. And that's why as much as
we talk about, you know,home court advantage right now, I mean
we're almost close to fifty to fiftyas far as home court advantage right Well,
you're sitting there, you're you know, North Carolina, you're Florida State,
(35:15):
you're Duke. You got to bea little uncomfortable with that statistic right
there, right especially in somewhere somewherelike Duke where they do have such a
great home field advantage or home courtadvantage. I'm so used to, you're
so used to that's home court advantage. I mean, that's a historic,
prestigious place to go play. Ifyou've got road teams that are coming in
and they're winning, you you justsit here at Duke going hmm, all
(35:37):
right, well there's our home teamadvantage or home home court advantage. Now
what do we do? I knowthere is something to that, But again,
Cameron Indoor Stadium is an iconic placethere and it's just interesting too.
There's so much history that even goesback to the Southern Conference and then the
teams that left the Southern Conference toform the ACC and this was Cameron Indoor
(36:00):
Stadium was named after the athletic directorthere at Duke. It used to be
Duke Indoor Stadium. And the traditionof cutting down the nets, this is
what's fascinating. It actually started atIncy State and Case Everett was the head
coach there for a long time andhe was a predominant high school coach out
(36:22):
of Indiana, and so he broughtthis tradition and started it in college when
in c State won the Southern Conferencetournament championship and they cut down the nets
for the first time in nineteen fortyseven. And of all places they cut
down the nets in Duke Indoor Stadiumbecause it was before it was named Cameron
(36:47):
Indoor Stadium, and so the SouthernConference Tournament championship was played there in Durham
on Duke campus. And so I'mjust fascinated with the history that these programs
have and how it comes back tolike a Southern Conference and so the tradition
(37:07):
of cutting down the nets started inhistoric venue and that's now obviously Cameron Indoor
Stadium. So there's all these fascinatingstorylines that go into the history of the
ACC and the Southern Conference. Youknow from that standpoint, but it just
shows you that you're looking at theseopportunities where teams can they go on the
(37:30):
road and win some of these games, all right. Also, the Wooden
Award mid season Top twenty five watchlist was just recently announced also, and
there's several guys from the ACC thatwere named PJ. Hall. Like,
yep, that guy, And Ilove the Clemson's being able to really push
(37:52):
this narrative about PJ. Hall andplay a play on words, I should
say that it's PJ Hall American.That's pretty good. That's creative. I
do like that. Also, joiningthat list Kyle Philipowski from Duke, and
we'll talk much more about him andwhat he's been able to do this season
(38:14):
as that will be a key partof this matchup with PJ. Hall and
Philipowski there from Duke, and thenArmando Baycont who's been at North Carolina since
nineteen seventy five. It seems he'sbeen there for so long. And also
RJ Davis from North Carolina, andI think RJ. Davis is one of
the main reasons why North Carolina issitting there at eight to zero in the
(38:37):
conference, sixteen and three overall,and we talked about a nine game win
streak, and that's also I thinkHubert Davis has done a really good job
of being able to utilize his benchand then his bench is actually performing.
There is that aspect, and you'vegot Cormack Ryan the transfer coming in and
he's been a breath of fresh airfor Tar Hill fans because his shoe and
(39:00):
how he's been able to open upthe spacing for the offense there for North
Carolina, and that is a bigpart of it from that standpoint. So
with the ACC there's a lot ofbasketball left and how it's going to play
out is going to be very interesting. And so as you're coming here the
(39:21):
end of January, how that's goingto play out. This is when it
starts getting crunch time, right,This is when you're going to start seeing
the cream rise to the top,right, and who can be some of
the surprise teams. I still contendeven Clemson sitting there at three and four
in the ACC standings, I knowthat's not where Clemson fans thought that Clemson
(39:47):
was going to be based on thatstart that we talked about, yeah,
and even winning some of those toughnon conference games. But it just shows
you, and we've talked about iteven from a perspective of if you want
to look at it from the NFLside, there's preseason we know that,
oh yeah, how that intensity is. There's regular season intensity is different,
(40:10):
and then there's playoff, right,and that intensity is even ratchet up even
more. And then obviously now tomorrowwe'll see that intensity increase to a different
level as the teams are fighting fora chance to get to the super Bowl.
But it's the same thing when youlook at it from college basketball,
(40:30):
you have your non conference there's thatcertain intensity there and it depends on who
you're playing, because we know someteams play a harder non conference schedule and
then once you get into conference play, it's a different level of intensity.
And then obviously once you get intoconference tournament scenarios, then it's another level
(40:52):
of intensity. So right now,this is a big opportunity for Clemson to
come in against Doke. Are theygoing to raise their intensity level to match
the importance of what they need toaccomplish on the road and sitting there at
three and four, because I hadtalked about it previously, when you looked
(41:14):
at that scenario where Clemson coming offsome tough losses right there and knowing that
you know, you had that scenariowhere how were they going to respond,
you know from those tough losses andI'm talking about the Georgia Tech right overtime,
double overtime loss there at home.And when you looked at the schedule
(41:36):
seeing Florida State and Duke both onthe road, could you come away with
at least one of those two roadvictories, right? And so they were
able to accomplish that against Florida State. So now you have an opportunity to
even add more to your resume andbuild more momentum by going on the road
against Duke and then you know,you have a couple of home games right
(41:58):
after that. So this is there'sa big opportunity for Clemson to be able
to capture some more momentum. Andagain the question is are they going to
be able to match the intensity ofwhere we are in the season right and
having that extra rest, how muchis that going to help the Clemson Tigers
(42:20):
here this Saturday. So there's alot riding on this game. Does it
make or break the season exactly?But you can build a lot if you
can go on the road and beatDuke at Cameron Indoor Stadium and you can
listen to it right here on ninetytwo point five WeSC as we will continue
and wrap up this edition of theIngles Countdown to tip Off Show right here
(42:45):
on ninety two point five WeSC.Ninety two point five WDSC is the Upstate's
new home for the Clemson Tigers.The Ingles count Down to tip Off Show
(43:12):
right here on ninety two point fiveWeSC continues Richmond Weaver with you, and
mister Trey Falco is joining me behindthe board and behind the mic as we
get you ready as a Tiger's travelingto Durham Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tip off
time just a little after four pm, so we'll be with you just for
a few more minutes and then we'llturn things over to the Clemson Athletic Network
(43:36):
with mister Don Munson and Tim Burray, as they will be there on site
and you can watch the game onESPN. Dave O Brian and Corey Alexander
will be there and also Myran Metcalfigedoes a great job ESPN College Basketball Reporter
analyst. However you want to sayit, so a lot of attention that
we'll be there in Cameron Indoor Stadiumbecause of these are two heavyweights in the
(44:01):
ACC. I know Clemson looking atit from respective of three and four in
the ACC right now, but thisis a veteran team, this is an
experienced team, and so this isan opportunity where can they go wreak a
little bit of havoc in the ACCand not duke off. And we know
we've talked about it that Clemson hasstruggled in Durham. Four and sixty three
(44:23):
is the record that they're in Durhamfor this series history, and overall,
this is not bode well for Clemsoneither thirty three and one hundred and twelve
against the Duke Blue Devils. Yeahso, and Brad Bronnell versus Duke four
and twelve. So it has beena difficult task against the Blue Devils,
(44:45):
But I do believe that right nowyou have an opportunity. You can go
in to Cameron Indoor Stadium and youcan beat them Becalls. We just saw
Pittsburgh do it exactly, so therecan happen. Yeah, they're not invincible.
This isn't some I mean a Titan, it's a blue Blood, but
it's right now, it's a verybeatable Titan. It is a very beatable
(45:06):
twelfth ranked Blue Devils team in thecountry right now. And I know they
coming off of a double digit tovictory against Louisville earlier this week after that
loss to Pittsburgh, but their mainguy, senior captain Jeremy Roach, did
go down with an ankle injury thatprevented him from playing most of the second
half there against Louisville. So it'squestionable if he's going to be able to
(45:27):
play, and if he does,can he even go and be close to
one hundred percent? Right I don'tthink so, so that will be interesting
from that standpoint to But the BlueDevils, again, we talked about streaks.
They've won three of the last fouragainst the Tigers and knowing that the
Tigers, though they did win lastseason in Little John, So there is
(45:47):
that aspect. So when you lookat this game, I do believe it's
going to come down to Jeremy Roachand or one of the keys. I'm
gonna say comes down to Jeremy Roachand the ankle injury and how that's going
to play for the Blue Devils.I mean, this is a guy who's
averaging fourteen points a game, threeassists, two and a half rebounds,
(46:07):
but so it's not like overwhelming numbers. But he's just the tone setter for
the Blue Devils and I think that'sa big part of it. So can
Clemson even if Roach is in there? You know, how will Clemson match
up from a guard perspective? Andthen you look at it's the front court.
This is what it's really going toboil down to in this game.
(46:29):
Kyle Philipowski and Mark Mitchell, whois back against PJ. Hall and the
chef Ian Shefflin. How is thatgoing to come together in terms of this
battle in the front court and knowingagain PJ. Hall, we talked about
All American He's averaging almost twenty pointsper game per game, seven rebounds,
(46:50):
two and a half sists per games. And then Cheflin, who is one
of the most underrated big men inthe accs averaging nine almost ten points again,
nine and a half points per game, nine and a half rebounds and
two cysts per game. So youcan see that he's doing some yeoman's work
care and you know, so thekey to the Tigers here is obviously you've
(47:13):
got to be able to protect theball. You've got to continue spacing proper
spacing, moving the ball, gettingDuke in difficult situations. And then also
for Clemson, don't be afraid toget out in a little bit of transition.
Yeah, and push the pace alittle bit. I know Brad Burnell
loves slowing down the pace, butI think there's an aspect of Duke as
(47:35):
such a good defensive team collectively,and so can you pick those opportunities where
can you push the pace a littlebit to get Duke on their heels because
they and not allow them time toset up defensively, right, transition defense
is very difficult. So if youcan get out in those opportunities and push
(47:57):
the pace just a little bit andtake advantage of that, I think that's
going to be an opportunity for Clemson. And then obviously you need somebody like
Joe Girard. You need a performancefrom him from beyond the art. He's
two to three pointers shy of movingup third place in the ACC for most
career three pointers. So you needmore three pointers from Joe Girard. And
(48:22):
we know the three point shot isthe ultimate equalizer. But so it will
be a tough task in Durham,but the Tigers they can do it.
They just have to be patient andpush where they can. And obviously you
got to protect the ball. Youcan't have turnovers. And so the Clemson
Tigers taking on the Duke Blue Devilswill turn things over to mister Don Munson
(48:43):
and Timbray with the Clemson Athletic Network. You've been listening to the Ingles Countdown
to tip Off show right here onninety two point five. WeSC have a great Saturday
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