Ingles Countdown to Tipoff #84 - Clemson vs Louisville 1-30-2024

The Tigers gear up to face down the Cardinals 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!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
W E, S E F M. Greenville, Spartanburg, Andersen. Time
for the Ingles Countdown to tip Offshow, brought to you Pie Ingles Markets,
Low Prices, Love This Sadies,Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, Harley davioton
of Greenville, Greer Flooring Center,the Surgery Center at Pella McGhee, Eating
in Air and by Palmeadow State Armory. Now Here are your hosts, John

(00:25):
Alice, I'm Richmumbe Weaver. We'refull swinging into college basketball season in the
ACC and Clemson coming off a toughloss at Duke, back at home at
Little John and I taking on theLouisville Cardinals tip off coming up at nine
pm. So brew that coffee andget ready for the tip off coming up

(00:46):
between the Tiers and the Cardinals.I getta locked into Ingles Countdown to tip
Off Show. I'm John Elist That'sRichmond Weaver and rich It's good to be
back with you, my friend.I missed the show last week. I'm
glad we're back together to talk aboutnot only this opponent today, Hey,
but what about the drama last weekin Cameron in Dorina? My friend?
Oh, well, first and foremostgrit after dark then Little John Coliseum.

(01:11):
He's talking about the coffee too.Yes, and you know, as a
Clemson grad as part of the basketballteam with Cliff Ellis back in the day,
I love me some Clemson Tigers,oh yeah, But I don't love
me some nine o'clock tip off times. I mean, and I know I'm
sading like the old man, getoff my lawn. I completely understand that

(01:34):
nine o'clock tip off time. Imean, playoff. It is. It's
it's a little frustrating, but Iget it. I mean, I know
it's TV. That's what is drivingeverything. And I've got to stop being
such a fuddy duddy, you know, from that perspective. But I mean,
I do enjoy getting into bed andgoing to sleep by like ten o'clock,

(01:57):
ten fifteen night. It's get thatluxury. My kids are in their
prime right now, obviously, soyou know, my daughter is eleven,
she's my young semester. So I'mgood, right, those are the golden
years right there. This series,look, we'll talk about Louisville in particular
their roster this season. I didnot know this till I looked at the
game preview here provided by the Clemsonpr folks that Clemson on the road,

(02:22):
which they're not tonight is oh toeight all time against Louisville, but at
home five and one against the Cardinals, So we'll preview that matchup. Don't
forget Don Munson, Tim Burray onthe call coming up later at nine pm.
Right here on ninety two point five, WSC want to remind you were
brought to you by Ingles, LowPrices, Love the Savings. Stop in
and see our friends at Ingles beforethe big game tonight. Get a nice

(02:43):
meal to cook, Get some goodfestive things to have around the house for
a big acc matchup tonight. Ingleshad you covered low prices, Love the
Savings at Ingles dash markets dot comand hopefully mister Bray, who he is
not one to express his opinions publiclythat often officiating it sort of was the
storyline coming out of this duke matchupbetween Clemson and Duke. The opportunity for

(03:07):
Clemson obviously to overcome a lot ofobstacles, to exercise a lot of demons,
if you will, And Tim Brayhad paraphrasing here said in his tweet,
in my forty something years of doingthis, I've never seen officiating that
bet or was a top five badYes, one of the worst, one
of the worst specifically, I thinkthat speaks volumes. And look, we
don't want to cover this entirely inthe officiating spectrum, but it's worth noting

(03:30):
that in this loss, this verynarrow loss up there in Cameron Indoor Arena,
seventy two to seventy one, Clemsonfell in this game. There were
a lot of positives to take awayfrom that loss, but at the end
of the day, the Tigers areleft with a thirteen and six record and
now three and five in the ACC. Yeah, and so the question is
am I more hot under the collarfor this grit after dark nine pm tip

(03:52):
off time or what we saw onSaturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium and the Duke
Blue Devils continuing to who pushed theirmight so to speak, from an influence
standpoint, Yes, with the refereesthere, and you can look at some
of the key plays down the stretchthat Clemson did not execute. I get

(04:15):
that the turnovers, that was apart of this game. And obviously you
missed some other opportunities earlier in thegame. So you can't pinpoint necessarily that
it was all just based on onecall right there against Tyre's proctor, and
that was what decided the game.There were other scenarios that obviously played into
it, but you do have toexamine some certain things. And as we've

(04:40):
talked about several times, I'm astat guy, I'm a stat nerd.
I've got all that and I understandthat. And I'm not saying that stats
always tell the story, but theydo give you an insight into how the
story is unfolding. And so forme with this game against Duke, I

(05:00):
did take a lot of positives,and this was another opportunity where Clemson fell
behind a little bit but was ableto regroup and get back in the game
through some of that defensive pressure,being able to make some big shots and
some key shots, having some guysoff the bench contribute. So you had
all of those things that were verypositive for Clemson. But obviously you can

(05:25):
focus on the few turnovers right thereat the end that had a huge impact
on the game, but also obviouslythe free throws and the fouls that Clemson
took on versus the fouls that werenot called against Clemson. And so Clemson
tied the game at fifty nine,and there was five minutes and fifty four

(05:47):
seconds to go five minutes and fiftyfour seconds YEP. From that point on,
Duke shot thirteen free throws YEP,thirteen free throws in less than six
minutes. Seven of their final twelvepossessions were at the free throw line based
on fouls called against Clemson, andso I'm not so much frustrated with the

(06:12):
last call. There was contact thereby Josh Beetle. There definitely was no
you could argue to Tyrese Proctor didhe initiate the contact there? And I
do believe he did initiate the contact. But what I get frustrated with is
the inconsistency of how the game wascalled. And this is not just for

(06:36):
this Duke Clemson game, and obviouslyhow it impacted the game from a fan
perspective and even from coach Brownail's perspective. And I totally get it because as
a former coach, I understand you'reviewing it from a different set of lens
and the disparity in free throws andespecially down the stretch that is head scratching.

(06:57):
But it was the scenarios that wereplaying out where Clemson was not getting
the calls that Duke was getting,so the inconsistency of how they were calling
it down the stretch versus also howthey called it earlier in the first half.
It was a completely different type ofgame in terms of how the refs
were managing the game from a foulperspective. And the foul that fouled out

(07:25):
the chef Ian Shefflin against Stilipowski whichended up being a three point play.
I'm still trying to find the foulon that one where that's the one I'm
more upset about. And then I'malso upset about one of the turnovers from
PJ Hall where the Duke defender justcompletely just defended right through PJ Hall to

(07:48):
knock the ball out of his handand nothing was called. That resulted in
obviously a turnover there for Clemson anda mispossession, and we knew how valuable
those possessions were. Down the stretch, you couldn't have a scenario of turning
the ball over. So again wecan talk about again how frustrated it can

(08:09):
be that oh Duke continues to getall of those calls, and there is
something to be said about the mystiqueof Cameron Indoor Stadium. There just Is
and the influence that does happen,and thinking that you were also close for
Clemson for the first time in twentyyears to win on the road in Cameron
Indoor Stadium, and we had talkedabout it after you had that lost to

(08:33):
Georgia Tech in double overtime, facingtwo road games, could you come away
with one win on the road outof those two road games, and now
you are also close to having bothof those. How fantastic that would be
as far as your resume and theconfidence that you could get heading into obviously

(08:54):
this game tonight against Louisville and asbrad ronnew, I mean you could tell,
I mean he was, Oh,he was under the collar and that
is an understatement, so hot thathe took his jacket off, Yes,
because he was so frustrated and rightfullyso. And you know what we've seen
also with college coaches that they've beenable to relax their attire, which is

(09:16):
great. I've been a big proponentof, Hey, they don't need to
be in suits on the sidelines.As a former coach, I even questioned
it, and this was back inthe nineties because there was one time on
a road trip I forgot my suit, and that was not fun when you
show up to the arena and yourealize, oh, I don't have a
suit and you showed up like TomHanks from Big and the White TUXI you

(09:37):
know, you got to go foreverrental. Yes, And so from that
point on, I was questioning,why do we even have to do it?
And you don't have to remember tobring a suit. It's a that's
a that's another story. And Iknow people can say, well, hey,
that's that's on you. You gotto be responsible. Yeah, I
understand that, But this was ascenario where Brad, now he's moved away

(09:58):
from wearing a suit, wearing asport coat. But right now we're in
the midst of coaches versus cancer suitsand sneakers, so guys are dressing up
a little bit more than they typicallyhave. But Brad was hot enough that
the jacket came flying off, andBrad didn't He didn't mince any words after
the fact that he was not happywith how that officiating played out down the

(10:24):
stretch, obviously, but he alsohas talked about you can't dwell on it,
you got to move on it.He got to move forward. Now,
made a point to come back duringthe week and talk about that.
But in the heat of the momentafter the game, quote from Brad Brudell
here, I've been here in thissame situation about four times within a possession,

(10:45):
and i haven't won one yet.We got to one second, had
it taken from us. It's hardto win here. I'm really disappointed with
how it ended. And that's toput it lightly. He went on to
say, that's the emotion affecting theofficials and creating stuff that wasn't even there.
Yeah, Brunell said, I'd haveto watch. I do think there

(11:05):
were some times our guys were gettinghit. It didn't seem to be the
same on the other side. AndI think if you look at some of
the just the still photos that wereposted on Twitter, on x on all
the social accounts, yes, orthere was some hard contact that wasn't called
from Duke where the other side somemarginal contacted Boom, the whistle come out.
I know the whistle would come out, and that's what was so frustrating.
And you could even look at thevery end of the game when there's

(11:28):
one second and Joe Girard throws thebaseball pass, Yes, and PJ Hall
basically gets tackled and the bench isgoing nuts. It's right in front of
him, right in front of them, And how was that not called?
And I do believe it was basedon because there was only one second and
those res wanted to get out ofthere. They didn't want to have that

(11:48):
game continue in any type of controversybecause even if they call that, then
it's the other side Duke fans,Duke oh, people there are going crazy,
and you know all of the scenariosthat would play out. So I
understand that that the referees are ina difficult situation, but some of that

(12:09):
is on their shoulders that they itplayed out that way, because again,
I felt it was just inconsistent basedon what we saw the game being called
and how it was being called earlier, and even there earlier in the second
half, those last seven to eightminutes were called completely differently, and that's

(12:31):
what's frustrating, and that's why fansthey get frustrated when they see the inconsistency
and how down the stretch, allof a sudden, the rest view the
game differently just based on where theyare, what the score might be,
and how much time is left.And you mentioned it being harder and harder
for this team to stomach these lossesbecause of how hard it's been recently with

(12:54):
a double overtime loss to Georgia Techand now on the road at Duke,
you go from being possibly five andthree to now three and five. I've
coach Brenell after the game had thisto say, quote, like I said,
it's really hard to win here fora lot of reasons. It really
is. Tonight was an example ofthat. That's all I'm gonna say.
That's really disappointing. Bren now continues, where do you go from here?
What's the message to the guys?Proud of their effort, proud of the

(13:16):
way we played. I thought weexecuted a lot of really good things.
Duke did a nice job throughout mostof the game, and they played hard,
they played well. But I thoughtthat was a good point. He
brought up, where do we gofrom here? What do I tell my
guys? I mean, that's ahard one in locker room. You've been
a coach, You've been in thatseat, Richmond, you know what it's
like to come off a loss likethat, maybe not to this extent,
but to know the calls clearly wentagainst you in the final, you know,

(13:37):
ten minutes of that game, andhow do you get that message across
to your guys. If you couldgive any advice to any coach out there,
you've been in that seat. Howdo you keep them motivated? Because
this is a team that's got alot of experience, they also have some
youth, and they got to beable to, you know, hold together
emostly through the next stretch of thisseason. They do well, you have
to start right after the game ends. There that final buzzer and Brad Burnell

(13:58):
having to make sure to grab JoeGirard the third so he doesn't do anything
help that would negatively impact him forthe rest of the season. Yes,
because he knew his players were hot, and because they felt that they did
so many things right in that gameand had an opportunity to win the game,

(14:18):
but feel that the refs and howthey officiated it took the game away
or took the opportunity away from themfrom earning it. Because also the players
have to look at it in amirror type of situation and also understand that
there were some plays that they didn'texecute. Oh sure, the turnovers down

(14:41):
the stretch and there were a coupleof turnovers where it was there was no
chance for the ref to call anytype of foul. It was just bad
offensive possession there for Clemson and theyhave to own that. But what I
would focus on is obviously the positivething, and can you have film session

(15:03):
and talk about and showcase here's whatwe did really well and focus on that,
because here's the other side of ittoo. I mean, this is
a quick turnaround now, not asquickly as Duke had having to go up
to Virginia Tech and beat Virginia Techlast night, but this is still a
quick turnaround when you play on aSaturday and then have to get ready for

(15:24):
a Tuesday game. So you don'thave a whole lot of time to dwell
on that because there's so much ridingon this season right now. And how
many times have we talked about it, John that it's one thing when you're
going up against a team and you'rethe underdog. And I know when you
look at the schedule from a coachperspective and from a player perspective, and

(15:46):
even from a fan perspective, there'sjust certain games you look at and maybe
you view it a little bit differently. That. Okay, on the road
against Duke, that's probably a loss. But if you can come away with
a win, then what a bonusthat is? Yes, But then when

(16:07):
you look at the schedule and yousee Louisville at home, you're like,
Okay, that should be a gamethat we win. And that's why this
game is so important, because youcan't let that Duke loss beat you twice
and now lose to a Louisville teamat home. Because this is a Louisville
team that is obviously struggy, strugglingwith a second year head coach Kenny Pain.

(16:30):
And we saw that they struggled lastyear, but that didn't stop them
from beating Clemson on the road.Now we talked about you talked about it
obviously, uh in reference to howwell Louisville plays against Clemson. They're in
Louisville, but it's a different storyhere in Little John. So that's why
this Grit after Dark, Tiger's gotto get this win. Grit after dark.

(16:51):
Yeah, it's a nine pm tipoff, Tim Beret and Don Munson
will be on the call for youright here on ninety two point five WeSC
when we return on the Engles countDown to tip Off Show, we'll take
a deeper look inside the game againstDuke Is, some stats, some superlatives,
some positives from the game. Nowthat you've got the officiating talk out
of the way, let's talk aboutsome things they can build on from this
game. A closer look inside theACC the top twenty five, and of

(17:12):
course, a deep dive into thematchup between Clemson and Louisville. They tip
off tonight at nine pm. Righthere on ninety two point five WSC.
Ninety two point five WDSC is theUpstate's new home with a Clemson Tigers welcome

(17:49):
back to the Angeles cap down Atip off show. Did get ready for
Clemson in Louisville tonight Little Min's hoopsaction down at Little John Coliseum, tip
off at nine pm. So,like we said earlier, brew that coffee,
get yourself right, have a littlecoffee tailgate tonight for the old timers
like us. No question, itsounds like you might have had some of
that coffee here because there's a littlepipe in your voice right there with that

(18:11):
little Motley cruet right. Love mesome Motley crue, I love me some
Clemson basketball. I love this timeof year because you have everything going on.
Obviously, the NFL playoffs have cometo a head, the Super Bowl
matchup is all set. You've gotso many coaching moves in the world of
college and pros, and then you'vegot March madness knocking on the door.

(18:32):
I mean, look, as wetalk about on our old show, Game
On Together, and you do theRichmond Weavers Show three pm now on Fox
Sports upstay catch us every weekday,start at three pm, all the way
up to six pm. Rich I'lltell you it's the time of year.
I know you love because it's basicallyhere. I mean, we're in the
midst of it right now where wecan start looking at bracketology a little bit,
start looking at the real meat ofwhat is going on with these teams

(18:53):
in Clemson right now at thirteen andsix, three and five. Look back
to that Duke game and obviously it'sa disappointing loss, but some positives.
They're a team that obviously you knowthis is you can only control what you
can control. They were down twelvein the first half with three minutes left
in that arena, in that environment. To fight back from that, it

(19:14):
shows not only they have the coordination, the coaching the hard to do it,
but they have the talent, theyhave the horse they do to be
able to go the distance. That'swhat makes it so disappointing. But at
the same time, I think ifyou look at it from another perspective,
you go to Duke, you givethem their best shot. You know,
you have to play the duke throughthe blue levels, and some would argue
that the referees at end of thatas well, you come out with a
one point loss, and I thinkthe further away you get away from that,

(19:37):
you got to take some positives away, including the fact you got scoring
from a lot of levels there andyou continue, you get a lot of
production from a lot of people.It's going to mean something. I think
the early tempo setter there was,and it's good to see Jack Clark back
on the court. But man,that technical foul. I don't want to
harp on it too much. Ohyeah, we know that. We haven't
even talked about that. The heckwas that? Yeah, that's what is

(19:59):
mind blow. Also that you canhave a technical foul on that the ball
landed in his hands after the shotand he's handing the ball to the Duke
player who was out of bounds.There was no malicious like intentional shove,
extra shove or anything like that.So for the ref to, I understand

(20:23):
that from the mindset of when youhave some intensity, you having some physical
play, and are the rest tryingto make sure to set the tone say
hey, guys, we're not allowingany of the extracurricular type of activity.
We want to keep this a cleangame. But that was a little much.

(20:44):
That was completely ridiculous that they wouldcall that a technical foul based on
taunting. There was no taunting there. It would I felt it would have
been more taunting if he grant whenhe catches the ball, if he just
throws it to the ground. Yeah, exactly right. I think that would
have been more taunting. It waslike, okay, hey, here you

(21:07):
go. Now it's your turn.You come back down. I'm getting ready
to play defense. The NFL officialswere in the building for that one,
with that taunting rule being so prevalentright now. But again, PJ.
Hall another big game, nineteen points, ten rebounds. Look at this game,
twelve lead changes, it was tiedeleven times. Duke led for twenty
three almost twenty four minutes in thisgame, Clemson only led for twelve minutes,

(21:29):
but it was when they led thatwas the most important stretch of the
game. Bench points Clemson led theretwenty to six. You look at second
chance points, Clemson fifteen to nothingadvantage there. They beat him in the
points in the paint category. Andagain, turnovers were key in this game.
And free throw shooting as well.You've always mentioned this, and I
know there's a lot of controversy abouthow Duke got to the line and then

(21:49):
how many times they got to theline, But at the end of the
game, you look at the amountof free throws they made versus the amount
that Clemson attempted. Twenty one madefor Duke, twenty two tempted for Clemson.
That's a big story of this gameright here. I talk about that
to quite a bit, and youlook more in relation to the first half

(22:10):
versus the second half. So inthe first half for free throw shooting,
and again I don't want to sithere and talk about the free throw shooting
all day with that Clemson Duke game, because as much as Brad Brenell talks
about you got to move forward,we have to move forward also. We
do, but I do want tomake sure to mention. This is what
I'm talking about, how the gameis called differently and inconsistent, and that's
what drives coaches, players and USfans crazy. So in the first half,

(22:37):
Clemson was five of eight from thefree throw line. Duke was four
of eight from the free throw line. Okay, in the second half,
Clemson was thirteen of fourteen from thefree throw line, but Duke was seventeen
of twenty five from the free throwline. And remember as I mentioned,

(23:00):
and thirteen free throws attempted in lessthan six minutes for Duke. So the
first fourteen minutes of that game,they only attempted twelve free throws, but
in the last six minutes they attemptedthirteen and made seventeen. And again Clemson

(23:21):
in that second half only made onlyattempted fourteen. So even in that second
half they attempted I mean, theymade more than Clemson attempted. And that's
why Clemson fans and the coaching staffand the players were so upset. But
they did so many things correct.As you talked about the second chance opportunities

(23:42):
fifteen to zero. That is fantasticbench points. This is what I really
loved seeing that Clemson was able tooutscore Duke's bench twenty to six, and
it's those guys starting to step upand having bigger games, bigger contributions,
and that's that's what Clemson needs fromthat perspective. And then also points in

(24:03):
the paint go away your strength is. I know, a lot of focuses
on Joe Girard and him being ableto now hit two three pointers in that
game, which tied him for thirdplace in ACC history for the third most
three pointers made in a career.So he's on the precipice of doing something
really special here in the ACC ashis final year of college eligibility with the

(24:26):
Clemson Tigers. But there's a lotof positives that you can take from this
game. And I think what youeven mentioned also, John, that it
was oh so close that danger zonewhen Clemson was down thirty two to twenty
and they go on a six tozero run to end the first half and
cut the lead to six going intohalftime, and I think that gave them

(24:48):
a lot of momentum heading into thatsecond half. About on the boards,
too, we talk about this fortytwo to thirty three advantage in terms of
rebounding in this game, he hada couple of guys and this is part
the course for Clemson. The chefIan Shefflin still my favorite player on this
team because he just he looks thepart and he plays the part. He's
an enforcer down there, eleven rebounds. He also kicked in six points and

(25:11):
again the double double for PG Hallwith ten rebounds. And the bench production
too. You like to see guyslike Jack Clark, R. J.
Godfrey, Dylan Hunter and others getout there and get some scoring. Not
to mention Josh Beadle, who wasa key cock at the end of that
game, obviously, but you know, obviously Joseph Girard, what a game,
what a performance, What a continuedspark plug he is for this team

(25:33):
and down the stretch. Now you'retalking about some games you're gonna have to
start winning, including tonight against Louisvilleat home nine pm tip off. By
the way, right here on ninetytwo point five WBSC, he's gonna have
to come up big three point shooting. It's kind of all on his shoulders
right now, it seems for thisteam, and he's gonna have to be
that guy that just lights it upfrom downtown Yeah, And we've talked about

(25:55):
so many different times that how importantthe three point shooting is and can you
have some other guys be able toutilize the three point shot? And Chase
Hunters he struggled from beyond the arcas of late. And I think what
you saw early on you were inthe season that Chase Hunter was contributing from

(26:18):
beyond the arc, and that openedthings up for other shooters like a Joe
Girard the third there, because nowthe defenders they have to make a decision
how they're going to play the guardsout there on the perimeter. And we
know you can't leave Joe Girard openfor even a small amount of time,
small amount of space, whatever youwant to describe that, because he's so

(26:41):
deadly and he can get hot atany given moment. But teams have been
able to really emphasize their defensive pressureon him because really nobody else has been
able to contribute from beyond the arc. And that's a big problem for Clemson
offense right now, no doubt aboutit. And then you start looking ahead
for Clemson. Obviously, we'll coverthis game in detail in the final segment

(27:02):
of the show. Against Louisville ateam you can't sleep on. Let's face
it, Richmond and the ACC.Nobody sleeps on anybody, especially this year
in college basketball, where there's upsetsgalore, you can't. But we're getting
into February now, as we talkedabout, and that's basically March Madness season.
Oh yeah, you're back home againstVirginia, and then you've got a
couple of tough road games at NorthCarolina at Syracuse, then a couple tough
home games Miami in NC State.It's one game at a time, I

(27:26):
know, but this stretch coming upin February in a matter of two weeks,
You've got some tough games on thisschedule, both at home and on
the road. And none of theseare guarantees for this Clemson team. No
they're not. And anytime in theACC, that's the problem is that you
don't know who's going to step up, just like we saw where Pittsburgh was
able to go into Cameron Indoor Stadiumand beat Duke and they have been struggling.

(27:49):
And also just how well right nowNorth Carolina is playing and how they
were able to go on the roadagainst a Florida State team that has been
playing well as Florida State was sittingthere at six and three after that loss
to North Carolina and in the ACC. But North Carolina is sitting there at
nine to zero and they do looklike a national contender right now because they're

(28:12):
playing really well. RJ. Daviswas named ACC Player the Week once again,
so he's continuing to rack up accoladesfor the Tar Hills. But it's
showing you that each and every nightit's going to be a fight in the
ACC. And that's why all ofthese games are oh so important because as
much as Clemson seems to be alock for the NCAA Tournament, they could

(28:37):
easily be knocked out of that scenarioif they go on some type of losing
skid, and especially if they loseto a team like Louisville. I don't
think they will. I think thisis a team that is going to utilize
that loss against Duke as motivation forthem tonight. Not to say that that's
going to be the only thing ontheir mind, because that's where you've got

(28:57):
to be careful that focusing still onthe negative loss and trying to utilize that.
You need to make sure now youjust go play your brand of basketball
and how many times have we heardthat from a Dabo Sweeney talking about,
you know, play to our standardand you don't play to the logo on

(29:17):
the helmet, and same here,you don't play to the jersey name or
anything like that. Play to yourstandard. Go do the things that you
need to do. Move off ofthat loss, take some of the positives
that you had against Duke, andmove on. Yeah, move on is
key here. They'll try to moveon tonight nine pm tip off. Don
months in Tim Burray on the callright here on ninety two point five WeSC

(29:40):
courtesy of the Clemson Athletic Network.This is the Engles Countdown to tip Off
show. I'm John Ellis, that'sRichmond. We were coming up next,
we'll start taking a closer look insidethe ACC what's going on right now,
some updates around the top twenty fiveand give you a real good perspective of
what Clemson is facing tonight against thisLouisville team, a team that is given
and a lot of fits over theyears, especially on the road, but

(30:03):
they're back in the cozy confines ofLittle John Coliseum. Tonight, Grit after
Dark, as Richmond Weaver has coinedit, nine pm tip off right here
on the WEC. Much more tocome on the Ingles Countdown a tip off
show right here on ninety two pointfive WSC ninety two point five wd S
is the Upstate's new home with aClemson Tigers. Well the fifteenth time it's

(30:36):
going to be Louisville against Clemson,all time series history. Clemson trails five
to nine, but at home,Clemson leads this series five to one.
Certainly a good omen a nice cozyfeeling getting back home after what was a
tough trip to Duke. Clemson gaveit there all, but they came up
one point short in a controversial finish. There controversial final ten minutes of a

(31:00):
game. Really, but we turnthe page to Louisville. We turned the
page to the top twenty five.This is Ingles Countdown to tip Off show,
getting you ready for a big gametonight between Clemson and Louisville. I'm
John Ellis, that's Richmond Weaver.We've got Trey Falco here in studio taking
care of business on the production side. Want to remind you stop by and
see our friends at Ingles Market's thefine sponsor of this fine show. Low
prices, Love the savings at Inglesdash markets dot com. Tis the season

(31:25):
for home gating, of course,and you've got the big game coming up
between Kansas City and of course SanFrancisco in just about a week and a
half. Here get everything you needfor your party for the big game,
low prices and love the savings atIngles dash markets dot com. And taking
a look at what's going on inthe top twenty five tonight. Got some
games in action right now. Keepan eye on South Carolina against Tennessee number

(31:47):
five, Tennessee at home in thisgame. And you got to give hats
off so far to this Lamont Paristeam right now in Columbia, trying to
match the intensity of what Don Staleyhas built with the women's program. So
far, so good for South Carolina, no question about it. And obviously
how South Carolina struggled last year butthen able to turn things around. Had
some key transfers that came in andfitting much more into Lamont Paris's style.

(32:12):
You know, former assistant a Wisconsin, so he loves slowing things down,
being a little bit more physical,and you have a guy like bj Mack
transferring from Wafford. He fits rightinto that type of style for Lamont Paris
and for the game Cogs having thatbig victory at home against Kentucky and then
being able to follow that up witha victory against Missouri. Who I know
Missouri has been struggling this year,but how many times have we seen scenarios

(32:37):
play out that you have a bigtime win and then the next game it's
the letdown? Yeah, and whenyou should win yeah yeah. The fans
stormed the court there at Colonial LifeArena that had South Carolina was fined one
hundred thousand dollars by the SEC.We're doing all that and it was classic
though, because I had texted mydaughter, she's just that's South Carolina.

(33:00):
She's a sophomore House di vinand that'sright. So I texted her like a
day before the game and said,are you ready big game against Kentucky?
Are you going crickets? Didn't hearanything, nothing back, as typical that

(33:20):
the kids will not respond. Butif I don't respond to a text message,
it's within five seconds, I'm gettingthe question mark. If we speak
right now, I'm getting that actionfrom my kids too. It's the same
deal. It doesn't matter what timeof day it is, night right before
after dark. But then finally thenext day I text her again, Wow,

(33:43):
fantastic win. And then she respondslike thirty seconds later, and it's
a video that she is shooting andit's her on the court. She's that
colonial and she stormed the courts.And so then obviously I made the joke,
well you call South Carolina one hundredgrand. Yeah, anyway, I've

(34:05):
got a wonder about you. Shewas all excited, but it was a
from a South Carolina standpoint, youneeded to follow up and beat Missouri there
at home again, and so obviouslythey were able to do that. Yes,
but nice job what Lamont Paris isdoing right now with South Carolina far
so good. Also in action rightnow, you got North Carolina at Georgia

(34:25):
Tech, big game in the ACC, number three North Carolina climbing up the
charts fast right now. And youknow what has made this North Carolina team
rise to this occasion, richmal Becausewe talked about it. It's so uncertain
the ACC. Obviously they have alot of talent on this team with R.
J. Davison Company and Armando Baycottseems like he's been playing there since
about the Jordan days. Oh yeah, but he've talked about that, they

(34:45):
got a loaded roster and they're wellcoached. They do. And I think
one of the big additions though,is actually a comrade Ryan the transfer there,
because he's opened up the spacing forNorth Carolina and has been a difference
maker in being able to hit someof those key three pointers that we talked
about. How important that is tobe able to have a guy like that.
So I think that's a big partof why North Carolina is where they

(35:07):
are. And kudos to Hubert Davisbecause remember this, think back to last
year. Oh yeah, preseason numberone and they didn't make the nc DOUBLEA
Tournament and they said to the nIT committee, sorry, we're gonna sit
this one out right, we're NorthCarolina. We were not participating. And
that was the first time in collegebasketball history that the number one team preseason

(35:32):
didn't make the NCAA tournament. Andthe history only goes back to when they
expanded to sixty four teams because that'swhen they started officially really keeping track of
the seedings and preseason rankings. Sothere is that, but the point is
that that's a long time, that'sa lot of college basketball, and so
that was very significant that North Carolinadid not make the NCUBA tournament, and

(35:58):
so a great job by Hubert Davisas far as getting that team circling the
wagons and getting them back together andplaying an extremely high level. Right now,
Number nine, Marquette takes on Villanovatonight. You got number fourteen Illinois
traveling to Ohio State. You gota matchup in the top twenty five year
as well, Texas Tech TCU tanglingtonight. Number twenty one Dayton hanging in

(36:21):
there in the top twenty five hostingGeorge Washington. And then some other primetime
games here coming up shortly, Numbertwenty three Oklahoma at Kansas State and then
a big one tonight for Kansas inOklahoma State. Right now nine and eleven,
but Kansas sixteen and four, numbereight in the country at the moment.
They'll tip off concurrent with this gameClemson Louisville at nine pm on ESPN.

(36:42):
Rich. Yeah, And one ofthe things that I'm also interested to
see is Houston. We saw thatthey got to win. They're in overtime
against Texas, and what Kelvin Samson'sbeen able to do is absolutely remarkable.
And coming up this weekend, whenwe don't have any football going on whatsoever.

(37:04):
Now we can really focus on basketball. But you've got Houston and Kansas
that are going to be matched up, and I'm really excited about that matchup
as now we're seeing some of thesegames playing out and how they're going to
impact these teams heading down this stretchof the season. Obviously, as we're
getting closer and closer to the monthof March, and I don't even know

(37:27):
how we're here already that tomorrow isthe thirty first of January, the last
day. It's absolutely insane. CrazyFebruary is knocking on the door. Also
knocking on the doors. You TossState right now, they're seventeenth in the
country. They'll be tipping off hereat nine PM as well Eastern time.
They're eighteen and two right now,and they're taking on San Jose State.
They're pushing to twenty wins, already, seventeenth in the country. You tas

(37:50):
State. Yeah, And it's thoseteams that you have to be careful of,
especially when you get to the NCAAtournament. Is the teams that you
don't really know a whole lot aboutbecause you don't get to watch them.
That often, but it's those teamsfrom the Mountain West and then also from
some of the other conferences that youjust might not be focused on and how
that's going to play out. Andthat's why it's fascinating with college basketball,

(38:14):
just based on the parody that wehave in college basketball. It's insane right
now, and I think it's agreat thing for college basketball. Yes,
we still have the blue bloods,the usual suspects. I mean, we
still have the Kansas, the NorthCarolina, the Dukes, and even right
now Purdue. How they've been ableto play in obviously Yukon sitting there at

(38:35):
number one, and what Danny Hurley'sbeen able to do basically he lost his
entire starting lineup from last year's championshipteam and just reloaded basically, and obviously
being a part of the Big Eastand the history there with the Big East,
but there's so much parody right now. I love the fact that we
have some of these other teams thatare making some runs. And the transfer

(38:59):
portal has been a big part ofthat because now you can have an opportunity
to go getting some veteran guys,but also can you hold on to some
of those guys in like Florida Atlantic. I mean, they were able to
hold on to some of those guysoff of that final four run that they
had, and you know, soit's those type of things that I think
are very positive for college basketball.Yes, we don't have a Taylor Swift

(39:22):
Swift effect going on with college basketball. I wasn't going to be the one
to do it, folks, thankyou, But we do have a lot
of positive things going on in collegebasketball. So stay tuned. There's gonna
be a lot of excitement for collegebasketball this season. Well, of course,
you got tonight's game against Louisville forClemson and tomorrow Around the top twenty

(39:42):
five, I'm just looking at theslate here. There's upset potential across the
board. Here Perdue, number twoin the country hosting Northwestern, A couple
teams with fifteen plus wins right now. How about number twenty four Alabama traveling
down to Georgia, that could beinteresting. And then Baylor. We talked
about the what two hundred million dollarsI believe they've invested in that p down
there in terms of facilities. Thatnumber number eighteen Baylor fourteen and five traveling

(40:04):
to UCF Florida Kentucky. That couldget interesting tomorrow Number ten Kentucky hosting Florida.
That's at eight pm u CON.You mentioned them earlier taking on Providence
at home. That could be atough matchup as well. Oh goeh,
well, and we saw Providence.What happened when Ed Cooley returned to Providence.
And if you don't know the story, Ed Cooley is now the head
coach at Georgetown, but he wasthe head coach at Providence and helped him

(40:28):
win a Big East title several yearsback, and was the main stay in
Providence. And he takes the Georgetownjob almost like in the dark of night.
And so there was a lot ofanks from Providence fans and you're talking
about a fan base that it's allabout being local, the community, being

(40:52):
family, and they felt deserted byEd Cooley. So when he returned,
it was a scenario that a lotof booze, a lot of vitrol directed
towards Ed Cooley. So it wasinteresting just to see how passionate they were

(41:14):
about who they believed that was ourguy. Ed Cooley, you were a
part of us, if you wereamongst us, you helped rebuild this Providence
program, and you just leave usfor somebody else, and you leave us
for of all people, Georgetown therein the Big East, and you know,
so there was all of that,but Providence was able to get that

(41:36):
victory. And Providence is a dangerousteam, no question about it. Dangerous
team always, and there's always adangerous team around the corner in the ACC.
Tonight it's Louisville, although they're nearthe bottom of the barrel right now,
and some would say this is theworst this Louisville program has looked in
years. It's always a threat inthe ACC. Clemson will take them seriously.
Coming up next, we'll give youa preview what to expect with this

(41:58):
Louisville team, some of the matchups, some of the key is to keep
an eye on and a quick lookat the ACC standings as well. This
is the Ingles count Down to tipOff show. I'm John Ellis. That's
Richmond Weaver. Much more to comehere on ninety two point five w SC
ninety two point five w E sE is the Upstate's new home for the
Clemson Tigers. Some buff them ountmay to wait. The plan the Red

(42:40):
Wine and a way to the teamWelcome back to the Ingles count Down to
tip Off Show, taking you upto network coverage from the Clemson Athletic Network.
Don Munson Tim Burray will pass thetorchs to those two fine gentlemen here
in the next few minutes. Isthey've got the play by play and the

(43:02):
color analyst call for you here comingup on ninety two point five WSC courtesy
of the Clemson Athletic Network. Abig game tonight, tip off at nine
pm. Oh boy, for usold timers here, that's a late night
tip off time. That's a lateone. Yes again, old man,
get off my lawn. Get it. I'm with you, bro, But
I do enjoy being in bed byten o'clock and being completely lights out by

(43:25):
ten thirty. So it's gonna bedifficult. I'm gonna have to stay up
and watch this game. Gotta doit. It's part of the gig and
we love doing it here for youon the Engles count Down to tip Off
Show. Taking a quick look atthe ACC standings as of this afternoon.
Coming into this game. Obviously,North Carolina held a nine to o record
in the ACC. Dukes seven andtwo Virginia Florida State how about the seminal

(43:46):
six and three. I mean LeonardHamilton's team, you know, say what
you want, but they just continueat the ripe old age of what now?
What is? Where is Leonard inthe seventy five? He doesn't look
seventy five coach like it. They'reimpressive at six and three right now in
the ACC. It's one of thoseteams that I have said repeatedly this season,
don't sleep on Florida State. Canthey win the ACC? No?

(44:08):
I do not think so. Ithink North Carolina is showcasing that they're the
best team not only in the ACC, but one of the best teams in
the country. Obviously, Duke isup there, Virginia is going to be
up there just because of how TonyBennett and the Cavaliers play, which can
put you to sleep at times.Also, I totally understand that. But
Florida State is one of those teamsthey can be a spoiler. And that's

(44:30):
why going on the road in Tallahassee, that was a huge win for the
Clemson Tigers, and you've got tobe able to lean on that also as
some confidence and try to get thisvictory tonight against Louisville. Among all the
teams with less than five wins inthe conference coming into play tonight, Clemston
has the most wins overall, thirteenand six. I think we can agree

(44:52):
they probably have the best roster overall. Just had some tough bumps along the
way. Here the double overtime lossto Georgia Tech and obviously the tough loss
at by a single point and Richmond. Here comes Louisville, a team right
now led by Kenny Payne, ateam that has gone through a tough stretch
with Kenny Payne ten and forty twoin his second season. Right now.
Overall they're six and fourteen. They'velost five straight. But you mentioned Virginia.

(45:15):
You go back to the last coupleof games they've had. They lost
to Virginia by about seventeen points.They did beat Miami back on the tenth
of January. Just goes to showyou in this conference, anything can happen
at any given moment. Who standsout to you in terms of this team.
I know they've struggled so far,but they still have some guys that
can make some plays. Yeah.Well, I will say one thing just

(45:35):
quickly about you mentioned in Clemson sittingthere at thirteen and six and three and
five in the ACC. And Idon't think that record gives Clemson justice.
And a lot of people can saythe record is who you are. You
are who you are. I totallyunderstand that. But when you look at
even the net rankings, and knowingright now one of three conferences with at
least six teams in the top fiftyACC is one of those, you have

(46:00):
North Carolina sitting there at number eightin the net ranking, Duke at number
nineteen, and third in the ACC. With the highest net ranking is Clemson
at number twenty eight. That shouldtell you something right there that this Clemson
team is better than that record.And I know you can look at that
record and say, oh, well, that's who you are. I do
understand that. But when you lookat Louisville, it's interesting to see statistically,

(46:24):
I mean, they've got five guysled by Mike James that score in
double figures, so they are ableto obviously have some balance scoring, and
so you look at the scenario playingout like, well, how are they
so bad just in terms of theirrecord and how they're performing, as you

(46:44):
mentioned, coming off of five consecutivelosses right now, and Kenny Paine has
struggled there as head coach and isa legendary Louisville guy. I mean,
a part of the national championship teamthere with Denny Crumb and a legend in
that area and spend a long time. I'm under Rick Patino as an assistant
coach at Kentucky, so he's gotall this pedigree, But why is it

(47:04):
in this team playing much better together? And I think that's the big issue.
You have a lot of one onone guys and they're not playing together
as a team, and I thinkthat's been a real struggle. And then
you look at it from her perspectivethat Louisville just really struggles at the beginning
of the games, and they've hadso many different starting lineups. And also

(47:25):
they just again as I talked about, from the beginning of games, they're
getting out scored at a high clipand they just fall in these big deficits
and it's too hard to overcome whenyou fall behind like they did against Virginia
by almost thirty points in the firsthalf. I think the key player to
look out for is Mike James,the red shirt sophomore averaging sixteen and a

(47:46):
half points per game over his lastseven games, shooting about forty seven percent
from the field. So obviously oneof the guys. I know they have
a lot of guys that are indouble digit scoring, but I think Mike
James is what makes this thing goright now. Oh, he definitely is,
and so obviously it's going to bea task to slow him down.
But I think it's more about whatClemson can do on their offensive side.

(48:07):
Can they get back to playing theirbrand of basketball, limit to turnovers.
They only had nine turnovers against Duke, So it was just some of those
key turnovers, but also just froma perspective of getting spacing, getting guys
open by moving the ball. AndI'm telling you you have to move the
ball through PJ. Hall. Gotto do it. Move the ball through

(48:29):
Hall. I like the sound ofthat at rhymes too. That's good.
We got Clemson, We got Louisvillecoming your wig at nine pm. Coming
up next. Network coverage begins onthe Clemson Athletic Network. Don Mounson,
Tim Beray takeover and they'll be onthe call for this game. For Richmond
Weaver, for Trey falcol I'm JohnEllis. Thanks for listening to the Eagles
Countdown to tip Off show Right hereon ninety two point five weesc enjoy the

(48:50):
big game tonight