February 3, 2024 • 48 mins
The Tigers gear up to face down the Cavaliers 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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We s e FM Greenville, SpartanburgAndersen. Time for the Ingles Countdown to
tip Off Show, brought to youpie Ingles Markets, low prices, love
the savings, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, Harley Davidson of Greenville, Greer Flooring
Center, the Surgery Center at PallaMcGhee eating an air hand by Pallameadow State
(00:22):
Armory. Now Here are your hostssehn Alism Richmond Weaver. Time for some
more Clemson Tigers basketball. Welcome intothe Ingles Countdown to tip Off Show,
getting you primed and ready for yourClemson Tigers against the Virginia Cavaliers. Tipping
off here shortly on ninety two pointfive WeSC. I'm John Ellis Richmond Weaver
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in the house as well. What'sup, my friend? No, another
wonderful Saturday of college basketball. Youcan't ask for anything better Saturday afternoon basketball.
So I'm amped up Clemson obviously comingoff of that Louisville victory, and
there was some I guess times withinthat game. Yes, you're like,
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hold on, hold on, it'sthat interesting. You have a twenty four
point lead and all of a suddenthat lead continues to evaporate. But Clemeson
holds on obviously for that victory againstLouisville. There in Little John, the
Late Night, the Grit after Darkday we talked about, and of course
I think I'm still tired from stayingup too late. Now. I know
that sounds so bad that you canstay up past eleven o'clock and shouldn't still
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feel the effects come Saturday. Sure, but here we are Saturday, and
I'm still tired. It took alot out of all of us. I
think late night a nine pm tipoff. Of course, Grit after Dark.
We're going to recap that game infull detail. Got some interesting audio
from Brad Burnell will share with youin the second segment here, talking about
the game itself and a little narrativegoing around about the ACC. Brad has
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never short on opinions and shared histhoughts on met Rich and I will share
our thoughts on his thoughts coming uphere. Later in the show, we'll
take a closer look at what Virginiais all about. A team coming in
with sixteen wins, they're seven andthree in the ACC, and certainly when
you've got the kind of coaching theyhave historically there with Tony Bennett, never
an easy out if you're taking onVirginia, even if you're at home.
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So we're gonna look at that inmore detail as well. I want to
remind you we are brought to youby Ingles Low Prices Love the Savings.
Rich guys. Did you know it'sonly eight days away from the big game
between San Francisco and Kansas City.I'm stopping at Ingles getting all my Super
Bowl party needs. You should aswell. Low prices love the savings at
Ingles dash markets dot com. Soyou're right, I mean this game,
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you end up with a seventy tosixty four win over a Louisville team that
came in with six wins only onewin in the conference. I think maybe
you look at this game and youunderstand. You know, you got a
Louisville team that's short on scores.Of course, you had one player in
particular that we'll talk about, TreyWhite, who had a great game,
but Clemson had a hard time sustainingshooting in this game. You look at
this game in particular, we'll talkmore about it with Brad Burne's comments later
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in the show. Shooting was abit of a problem and offensive rebounding was
a bit of an issue as well. Rich. Yeah, well, and
I think it's from a perspective,when the shooting is bad, typically the
opposing team's going to get all ofthe defensive rebounds, and so it's difficult,
you know, from a standpoint forthat team to get those offensive rebounds.
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But when you have a scenario playingout where somebody gets twenty one offensive
rebounds, that's something that you donot see that often because obviously that's showcasing
that a team is having a badshooting night that they have the opportunity of
so many offensive rebounds. But thatmakes you wonder what in the world was
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going on with Clemson, just froma standpoint of giving up so many offensive
rebounds which would lead to second chancepoints, which Louisville was able to convert
those twenty one rebounds into seventeen secondchance points, and a lot of those
were in the paint, thirty pointsin the paint for Louisville, and that's
why they were able to have thatrun down there at the end of the
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game, as there's just under thirtyseconds to go and it's a four point
game. After Clemson, as Imentioned, had a twenty four point lead
there in the second half, andso you thought that game was going to
be put away. But that justshows you once again that on any given
night, regardless of what the teamrecords are, these teams, they're talented
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enough. They have Division IE players, guys that play at the Power five
level. They can get hot,they can do some certain things, and
that's what Louisville was able to dodown the stretch. And as you talked
about it, the offensive rebounding side, and I would imagine there were a
lot of rebounding drills going on overin Little John this week in practice,
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because I've been in that scenario whereyou have a game where you give up
those offensive rebounds. From a coachingperspective, I should say and what you
emphasize, And there's a lot ofrebounding drills that were going on this past
week. I can promise you thatstudying the angles, as we always talk
about, Yes, the Chef andcompany, Chefland had three of those offensive
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rebounds for Clemson the other night.Joseph Girard had the other one, and
it was interesting to watch the gameunfold. Obviously, the biggest lead Louisville
had in this game was three pointsabout midway through the first half. That's
when this game started getting a littlenervous, the first of several nervous legs,
I think for Clemson, a teamthat was highly favored to win this
game, but as we talk aboutin the ACC, anything can happen.
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Clemson led this game for over thirtytwo minutes. They built a twenty four
point lead into the second half,and I think that stretch, even though
they had some struggles there in thefirst half before in the second half,
I should say, just before halftime, a nice job by Clemson to stabilize
things, build a bit of alead. They go up eight. They
went on an eight run before halftime, and again those are little moments in
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the game you look at and say, that could be the margin of victory
right there in terms of a sixpoint win, and ultimately, you know,
they let Louisville hang around. Whatin your mind, Rich when you
look at this game, was therea bit of a hangover effect from that
win or that loss I should sayshould have been a win, and a
lot of people's minds at Duke thatwas a very emotional game to come back
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home in somewhat of a trap game. If you will. Did you sense
maybe a bit of a hangover effect. Oh, no, question about it.
And we talked about it that youcan't let that duke loss beat you
twice, and how many times havewe seen that, And historically we have
seen that from Clemson from a basketballperspective. That's just the reality of it.
This is not disparaging Clemson at all. It's just what we have seen.
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And so I think that's why thefan base was a little bit on
edge. Obviously even more so therein the second half as Louisville is making
their run. Good sense from thevery beginning of this game that the players
seem to be tense, They seemto have a little bit of this pressure
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that we cannot lose this game.Rather than going into the game, Hey,
let's go out there and win thisgame, right, it was oh
my goodness, you know, ifwe lose this, we're in real big
trouble. So it was almost likethey were putting added pressure on themselves rather
than just focusing on, Hey,do the things that you need to do
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to go win the game. Notlet me make sure that I don't make
mistakes to lose this game. Playingtight, playing tight, and we saw
that. I mean, when you'rehaving a team that as Clemson is,
but we know defensively they're going tobe able to slow some things down,
They're going to be able to holdsome teams in terms of their scoring average.
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A lot of times Clemson does agreat job keeping teams below their scoring
average. But there's also this aspectof Clemson in this game was struggling also
just doing some scoring. And ifit wasn't for that run that you talked
about there right before halftime, Imean, we could be looking at a
scenario where the score could have beenlike twenty six to twenty two at halftime.
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Yes, yep, yeah, Imean, and that's not I mean,
that just emphasizes just the tightness ofClemson and how they were. And
fortunately they were able to relax alittle bit, get some things going,
some positive things going into halftime,and then they were able to continue that
they're into the second half. Butthen that's where it seemed to be some
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defensive letdowns started happening, and someof that we talked about it the offensive
rebounding. They started allowing Louisville tochip away because defensively they weren't doing the
things that they needed to do todo to get those defensive rebounds, no
question about it. Clemson had threeguys in double digits scoring in this game,
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led by PJ. Hall. Ofcourse, that seems to be the
consistent theme here with one of thebest players in the entire country. He
kicked in twenty five points, somewhatunconventional though, oh of six from downtown,
a night in which everybody had seemedin the gym was having trouble putting
the ball in the basket. Hedid get to the line seven times,
I'm sorry eight times, made sevenof those as a team. A star
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contrast from what happened at Duke Richmond. Team gets the line twenty five times,
they knocked down twenty one of those, eleven to fourteen down the stretch
in the second half, and that'sbig as well. I mean, we
could just go back and forth howmany times free throws are so important in
games. I mean, that's anotherreason why. Also though that Louisville was
able to have that run too,because they were hitting from the free throw
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line, So there is that aspect. But I would have to say,
at least you look at the freethrow scenarios here and Louisville eighteen of twenty
three, Clemson twenty one to twentyfive. As you mentioned, that seems
pretty consistent, That seems pretty balanced. That there's not a scenario of disparity
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between fouls that are called free throwsattempted. That seems pretty normal. That's
how you would want a game tobe officiated. Yeah, you want to
see some balance there. You wantto see balance in terms of how the
game is judged there. And Ithought it was interesting. We talked a
lot about Mike James, their leadingscorer coming into this game. He was
one of twelve from the field,only had eight points, and that put
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the load of the workload in termsof scoring on Trey White, who did
kick in twenty nine. But MikeJames, did you notice anything defensively Clemson
was able to do to stifle that? Is it just a case of bad
shooting? Yeah, I just thinkyou're just one of those Knights. I
mean, he's such a good playerand a good shooter, and we've seen
how he can go off on anygiven night. But I do think there
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was an opportunity there where Clemson wasfocused on making sure and when you have
guys like Dylan Hunter when you've gotguys like Chase and Josh Beetle, and
you've got to Chauncey Wiggins with hislength and height, and even r.
J. Godfrey with his size,Not that he was really matched up with
Mike James that much, but attimes you have that opportunity of moving different
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players to guard some of these guys, and I think they were able to
get Mike in some difficult situations andthen it just couldn't get things going.
And that's where Louisville just from ateam, if you look at it,
obviously there in that first half theystruggled. And this seems to be the
Achilles Hill with Louisville that they seemto struggle offensively because they don't seem connected
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offensively, and it seems like there'sa lot of one on one type of
scenarios. This is not a teamthat distributes the ball. They only had
four assists total as a team,and so when you're having a scenario playing
out where you have twenty two fieldgoals and you only have four assists,
that's not a good ratio. WhereClemson had twenty two made field goals,
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but they had thirteen assists, soit's much better distribution spacing, and I
think that's what's hurting Louisville right now, a lot of one on one type
of situations, and Mike James,I think got caught up in that and
then trying to do too much attimes and forcing some things rather than just
really getting the offense going. Butobviously give Clemson a lot of credit because
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that's what they do. Brad Burnew, He's going to continue to preach defense,
defense, defense, and if you'renot willing to play defense, you're
not going to go into the gameunder Brad bron Now we just know that,
no, if you can't play defense, he's not going to have you
in the lineup or in the rotationat all. From the bench, that's
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for sure. Brad burn Now,some comments from him coming up later in
the show as it relates to thisgame. Some of the key metrics in
this game. We talked about thetwenty five points from PJ. Hall,
Joseph Gerard only three of twelve fromthe field, but hit all five of
his free throws knock down thirteen points. And we'll talk more about the night
for Chase Hunter. Not a bitof a milestone for a guy who's been
struggling a bit over the course ofthis season. Sixteen points four or five
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from the line, one of thefew guys on this team that shot over
fifty percent from the field five ofeight and a good night for Chase Hunter
here. Hey, how many we'veI say how many times I'm actually meaning
to say, we've been waiting forChase Hunter too? Right, come out
of this slump. And I thinkthat's one of the things that Clemson was
how why they were playing so wellearly on was because Chase Hunter was playing
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well offensively and hitting down or hittingoutside shots, knocking down the three point
shot. And when you have ascenario now all of a sudden, you're
struggling from the perimeter, that makesit easier for the opposing defense to slide
off of him and put more emphasisin terms of shutting down Joe Girard.
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And so you can double team JoeGirard, you can do some other actions
against joj to make it more difficultfor him to get his shot off.
And I think we're starting to seethat because they're daring Chase Hunter. Hey,
you beat us, We're not gonnalet Joe Girard or obviously we know
PJ. Hall from that standpoint beatus. But when you have Chase Hunter
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now being able to also get involvedoffensively, then all of a sudden,
you have a better opportunity of creatingsome discomfort for the defense because they don't
know who they're going to guard.So Chase Hunter getting in a thousand points,
it's fantastic, it's awesome. Moreon that coming up next with some
comments from Brad Burnell. You'll hearaudio from him, a full breakdown of
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what's going on with this Virginia teamas they match up with Clemson for the
one hundred and thirty eighth time intheir program's history. And we got to
whip it around the top twenty fivebecause there were some upsets Richmond, including
another team here in the Palmetto State. They got a big win over a
top five team this week. Thatand much more on the Engles count Down
to tip Off show keep it righthere on ninety two point five WSC ninety
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two point five w E SE isthe Upstate's new home with a Clemson Tigers,
a much more palatable tip off timefor US old timers here and the
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Eastern You got the Ingles Countdown atip off show right here. That's Richmond
Weaver. I'm John Ellis. Thanksfor being a part of our weekend.
Here, a nice saturday here inthe Upstate getting you're ready for another big
ACC game as Clemson tries to climbout of a bit of a hole they've
been in here in the ACC nowfour and five, trying to even that
record at five hundred. Virginia offto a nice start in conference play seven
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and three. It's a big timegame. It's also an opportunity for you
before the game to stop into yourlocal angles get everything you need for the
game this weekend, the big gamenext weekend in the NFL. Of course,
Ingles had to get covered for allyour home gating needs, low prices,
love the savings with our friends atIngles. Yesterday was Groundhog Day,
and I'm sure Brad Burnell doesn't wantto repeat sort of the heartburn he's been
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dealing with here with the bad shootingand some of the lack of the killer
instinct. He talked about this.Yeah, that's right, and we're excited
that now we're gonna have spring,we can do away with the summer.
I mean, we do away withthe winter. What about talking about here
and say you, I'm already discombobulatedin terms of where we're going because of
Groundhog Day. Yeah, man,but yes, this is now an opportunity.
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Hey, we got spring coming,so we're all excited and basketball is
right here. Well, if it'snot gonna snow, let's turn the page.
That's my thing. I want tosee some snow on the ground.
But if that ain't gonna happen,we're good to go with the early spring.
Thanks Groundhog, Thanks Phil, punksa tawny Phil. All right,
here we go. Brad Burnell hadsome comments this week. Of course,
after the game, we always bringyou some audio from what he had to
say. Here's Brad Brunell's opening statementafter the big win against Louisville. Give
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the Louisville kids and coaches a lotof credit, man, they just kept
battling. Yeah. I told ourguys you watch them on film that they're
playing hard, really hard, andobviously always got just looking at the rebounding
we've had of the probably two ofour best rebounding games of the season against
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Duke and Florida State defensive rebounding andI got to watch the film. Now
we played some zone and I dothink they got some rebounds against our zone,
but I don't think our guards dida good job at all tonight rebounding,
and that was obviously a big factorin them having a chance to come
back. Having said all that,I thought we played. We didn't shoot
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the ball well again and very slowstarting some because we missed a lot of
good shots. Again, but therewas a stretch there last ten minutes of
the first half and first ten minutesof the second half we played very well
obviously, built the big lead.I think our defense is improving, and
we got a lot of first shotmiss obviously, so that part was really
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good. We had some very carelessturnovers down the stretch and they made some
shots. And sometimes that happens.You know, you get behind and you're
really kind of playing with a freemind and the shots are there's a lot
less stress, and I think that'spart of the reason why you see comebacks
in college basketball. The swings areso so great. The team that has
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the league gets a little tight,which we did, and then the team
that's behind is kind of playing free. But again, we'll take it.
Really happy. The way we playedfor about twenty five minutes of the game
and give the Louisville kids and coachesa lot of credit. I thought they
really busted it and competed, andthey whipped us on the glass and on
Chase Hunter. A big night forChase Hunter. Of course, Brad Brunel
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had some thoughts on what he's beenthrough a new father, by the way,
Chase Hunter having a milestone night withthis game. We Chase has been
playing better. Really happy for him. He's had a lot going on,
new father, just had a baby, and his eming from it, which
I think is really cool. ButI think he's played well these last couple
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of weeks. He's kind of comingout of it. He made a couple
of threes. Certainly, it's beenfun to coach him in his career here.
He's had a lot of adversity upsand downs, especially as a young
player with injuries and then you know, just kind of trying to find your
way like most freshmen and sophomores do. But he's really blossomed into a nice
player and he's had a nice career. To score a thousand points speaks to
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how good he is. And certainlyI've enjoyed coaching him and I'm really happy
for him. Yeah, and aswe talked about with Chase Hunter, what
a nice milestone for him, athousand points. And this is one of
those scenarios that we've seen before withBradbury Nail's teams. You have guys that
stay within the system and develop andhow they've been able to grow and evolve
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over the years, because there wasa time period where I think there were
some questions as far as just whatthe ceiling was for Chase Hunter and now
having the opportunity of what we're seeinga thousand points in his career, I
mean, that's a milestone that nota lot of college players get to.
So for him to be able todo that, that's absolutely fantastic. And
again it just showcases, you know, what can happen when you stay within
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a program. Not obviously, Iknow he could have left and would still
you know, potentially get a thousandpoints, but to do it with one
school, I think that's significant Andkudos to Brad Burnell keeping guys obviously there
in their program, and then obviouslyalso for Chase Hunter not just searching for
the next opportunity, but hey,I can stay right here and have success
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with Clemson. This is a teamthat can make a run and he wants
to be a part of it.It's great to see. Brunell also talked
about Chase and the entire team bouncingback from what was a tough, draining
loss at Duke. This is whatit is. I mean, we've you
know, win a game and losea game, win a game, lose
a game, and just kind ofwe haven't been able to kind of build
a streak, you know, hopefullywe can play well Saturday. Uh yeah,
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I mean it's again, that wasan emotional, heartbreaking, brutal loss.
You know, it's and it's it. It sticks with you for a
while, just human nature. Anduh but I thought we came out fine.
You know, if we make shots, we have a good lead early.
Now maybe they say the same thingif they made some of their shots
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early, you know, the gameis different. But uh, I thought
we got a lot of good shots. We just again, for whatever reason
this building, we're having a hardtime making them. And uh but defensively,
I thought we played hard. Ithought, uh we we mixed in
some zone tonight, which was goodfor us. We just wanted to try
that on some bobs and uh,you know, but there was a little
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segment I had. I thought acouple guys off the bench, maybe not
quite as much juice as I wouldhave liked. But you know, again,
I thought the middle half of thegame we played great and that's why
we had a twenty point lead.And you could hear sort of a tepid
response to that question. He's nottotally satisfied because Richmond he also had this
to add about wanting to see abit of a more killer instinct from his
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team, and yeah, sure,yeah, I'd love it, you know,
but again I think, yeah,that's you know, the killer instinct.
It's not you know, the GeorgiaTech game is. I don't think
that's a good example of killer instinct. Tonight is you know, we just
made a couple of dumb plays ondefense in the last end of the game,
and they made some big shots.This was killer instinct. And I
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was imploring them at the you know, twelve minute mark, let's let's not
let's finish it. Knock him outright here, this is our chance.
And then the next time out,let's knock him out. This is our
chance. And we just we didn'tget it done. And again, some
of that's credit to Louisville. Youknow, some of it is we had
we missed some shots, had acouple of silly turnovers, and they're starting
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they started making a few and sothey got confidence and they started putting some
little bit of game pressure on us. But to give our guys credit to
we did make four free throws downthe stretch, got a couple stops down
the stretch. You know, youkind of sometimes gloss over those, you
know, but certainly if the outcomehad been different, we wouldn't be doing
that. So and that's kind ofwhat happened to Georgia Tech. Yeah,
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and there's no question that now inconference play you're going to have to have
a different mindset and that type ofmindset that, hey, when we have
somebody down, you got to putthem out. You've got to be able
to end the game continuing the wayyou started, say that second half against
Louisville. You can't have these letdownsbecause these teams are too talented. They
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can make these runs, they canmake these comebacks. And so Clemson,
I think Brad Vernell is really tryingto emphasize to these guys, hey,
you can't just rest on, Oh, we had a good ten minute stretch
there. No, you've got toput a first half together and a second
half together that emphasizes that type ofmindset and to be able to focus on
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making sure you don't have those letdowns. Clemson had a tough night shooting.
It's no secret we've talked about that. Brunelle after the game addressed that very
situation. I don't know that Iknow, you know, I don't talk
about it a lot. I don'tthink you make a mountain out of a
molehill. But you know, we'vedone a lot of shooting. Guys are
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coming in and shooting all the time, shooting with coaches before practice, after
practice, during the day. PJcomes in in the mornings. You know,
you just kind of work your waythrough, Like Chases made a couple
here lately and I needn't make it. Didn't make as many at Duke,
but PJ just had a tough shootingnight. From three. You know,
I mean, I think five ofthe six shots are probably really good shots,
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and usually he's going to make atleast two of them, two of
the five, but tonight, justexcuse me, it didn't go down with
that said. Brad also mentioned thefact that they have pg A Hall on
the roster, which is something that'ssignificant for many reasons, and he talked
about how nice it is to havea guy like pg Hall in critical moments
of the game to help close thesetype of games out. Yeah, huge,
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huge player, I mean obviously,yeah, he's I mean, he's
a stud you know. I mean, he's a first team All Conference player,
and you know, we're trying togo to him when we can,
you know, and most of thetime he delivers. I mean, he's
just that's why he's good. Andhe makes plays at crunch time, he
makes plays when you need him.He wants the ball. You know,
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he's an outstanding player and you know, lucky to coach him. So a
big win for Clemson. There there'ssome thoughts from coach Burnell, but he
did speak up later in the weekon a subject I know Richmond and I
have talked about on this show.The scrutiny to the ACC comes under come
bracketology season and comparing that to thatof other conferences out there. Listen to
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this. I'm really tired of thenarrative like our league. I think the
narrative with our league is ridiculous andthere's gonna be stats. You know,
somebody said we're nine to three againstthe Big twelve, and you know it's
teams are different, right, teamsimprove. These guys battled some good teams
in the non conference. Maybe itwas they lost by a basket or two
(26:18):
to Indiana and Texas. You know, those are two that just popped off
my off my head. Like GeorgiaTech is completely different. I don't even
know what happened in their game againstCarolina. Do they win? Yeah?
Like that's a joke, right,I mean, so they're good enough to
be Carolina, Duke and Clemson andlike, but they're not very good.
That's that's insane, right, Like, let's get some other teams to try
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to play beat all three of us, right, it's those guys are freshmen,
are completely different, and those guysweren't even playing at the time.
So it's just it. It's obviouslyfrustrating from the coaches and players in the
league the narrative that is not right, and hopefully our league and everybody else
will do more. But you know, this is what happens is we cannibalize
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each other. And you know,I think the net over is an overreach
because you can completely pad your statsby playing a week schedule and winning by
forty and pad your offensive efficiency andyour defensive efficiency, and so the fact
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you whatever, they cap it atten, but your efficiency numbers change,
right, And so then the questionis, like we SCT overschedule. Probably
we've sced the last two years.We've scheduled less guarantee games, and it
almost feels like it's not. Youknow, this year we're winning, so
maybe that'll prove to be the thereal big help. But I'm watching other
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teams that are doing the opposite.They're scheduling seven and eight guarantee games and
winning by thirty as much as theycan, and like their net numbers are
higher than I would expect them tobe. A lot of the Big twelve
is doing that. You know,we need to study it better as a
lead, if that's part of thetrick, and we need to study it
better because I don't think ar Leaguedoes that as much, and partly because
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we play twenty league games. Andso I again, maybe we need to
advocate again for eighteen. So nevershort on opinions and defending his conference an
ACC man true and true here well, of course, And I think right
now the ACC seems to be gettinga bad rap. There's still a lot
of basketball left, and I knowright now it does seem that the ACC
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can be cannibalizing on itself with NorthCarolina getting beat by Georgia Tech, who
obviously we've seen Georgia Tech struggle,but remember Georgia Tech has beaten Duke this
year. So Damon Sodomeyer is doinga really good job. But just this
aspect that we're in a scenario wherethere might only be two teams that get
into the NCAA Tournament from the ACC. And I would say, right now
(28:52):
the two locks would be North Carolinaand Duke if you're just going just based
off net rankings. But you can'ttell me that Clemson is not right there.
They should be an automatic log nowif they fall apart the rest of
the season. I get that.But you've also got Virginia, You've got
Virginia Tech, You've got Wake forestAll knocking on the door. So there's
a lot of basketball left that theseteams can make sure to get themselves in
(29:18):
contention and also be locks for theNCAA Tournament. Some compelling stuff from the
head coach of the Clemson Tigers BradBurnell, who leads his team into an
opportunity today to even their record withinthat ACC conference. We were just talking
about here, big game against theCavaliers, Tony Bennett's team. What are
they all about this year? Well, some new names. We'll give you
a little update on this Virginia team, some of the matchups later in the
(29:40):
show. Coming up next to lookaround the top twenty five, some games
to look out for today, andsome storylines from the week that was in
college basketball. This is the EnglesCountdown, a tip off show on ninety
two point five WeSC. Ninety twopoint five WDS is the Upstate's new home
for the Clemson Tiger. You know, when Tony Bennett and Brad Burnell flash
(30:15):
in a game, there's gonna besome defense, and you're gonna see some
of that today. I would assumewith Clemson at fourteen and six, four
and five in the ACC, takingon those aforementioned Cavaliers at sixteen and five,
they are seven and three in theACC. You got Don Munson and
a much more tame Tim Burray.I would assume this time around, after
what happened to Duke last week onthe call right here courtesy of the Clemson
(30:37):
Athletic Network. On ninety two pointfive we sc This is the Engles Countdown
to tip Off Show. That's RichmondWeaver. I'm John Ellis. We've got
Trey Falco in the house as well. Don't forget. You can catch us
every single weekday on our sister station, Fox Sports Upstate one oh four nine.
Tune into the Richmond Weavers Show atthree pm, and of course you
got Trey Falco and John Ellis thereon Game On at four pm all the
(30:59):
way up to six pm, somegreat afternoon content and enjoy spending some time
with you guys. Every single weekday. Tune into a starting at three pm
each weekday on Fox Sports Upstate.We've got a lot of things to talk
about this time of you're on thoseshows, my friend, Oh yeah,
we definitely do. Obviously, you'vegot NFL wrapping up next weekend with the
Super Bowl and obviously the Chiefs andforty nine Ers that rematch. But also
(31:22):
we've got NBA coming up to theirhalfway point. The All Star Game will
be coming up, and what Iam excited about also is that Steph Curry
and Sabrina and Nescu are going tobe competing in a three point shootout against
each other. Yeah, and Iand Nescu. I mean, she's obviously
a fantastic shooter. She holds therecord for thirty seven points in three point
(31:48):
challenge. She was twenty five oftwenty seven, twenty five of twenty seven.
Yes, and she broke Steph Curry'srecord of thirty one points. But
obviously different scenarios. But I dolike the fact that they're going to compete
against each other, and they've beentrading back and forth on social media,
so it's going to be a fantasticevent. So to your point, John,
(32:10):
there is so much content and thatdidn't even mention obviously college basketball,
but then also even college football that'sstill in the headlines when you have Jeff
Haffley Boston College right head coach forthe football team, Leavin to go to
the Packers as the defensive coordinator.Ye, this late that was a bit
(32:34):
of a stunter from NFL circles.I've been covering the league for a long
time and that's something that people didn'tsee happening. There were a lot of
candidates that were mentioned, including theformer coach of the Panthers, Ron Rivera
among others, but obviously Jeff Hafleyshaking things up and Rich it's a bigger
conversation. We can touch on thisfor a minute. You're seeing some of
this within the college ranks. Ithink ESPN had talked about this news with
(32:55):
Jeff Haffley and they were quoting asource saying, Jeff just wants to coach
football. With all the headaches thatgo on right now with some coaches,
at least their perspective on NIL theportal, it just speaks to the nature
of college athletics. Now you haveto have a different breed of coach to
participate and thrive in that environment.Now you see Jim Harball leaving, Jeff
Hafley's going back to the NFL.It's an interesting time in college athletics.
(33:16):
Oh, it definitely is. Andso to your point, the sources according
to ESPN, this is not directlyfrom Jeff Hafley, but this is from
a source connected with Jeff Haffley,and he's quoted or she's quoted as saying
he wants to go coach football againin a league that is all about football.
(33:37):
College coaching has become fundraising NIL andrecruiting your own team and transfers.
There's no time to coach football anymore. And obviously we're talking football here,
but you could also just transfer thatto basketball. It's the same thing in
terms of what you're dealing with withthe fundraising the NIL and making sure you're
(34:00):
retaining your players, while also youmight have to go recruit some of these
transfers in the transfer portal. Andyou know, I talked about it on
the Richmond Weavers Show earlier this week, and my point was, we can
look at NIL and transfer portal.I don't think it's the aspect of NIL
(34:22):
or transfer portal per se, it'sjust how it has been rolled out by
the NCAA. And that's what hascaused a lot of these issues where these
coaches are getting frustrated because there wasreally no thought in terms of how NIL
would be utilized, how the transferportal would be utilized. And then you
(34:44):
throw in the whole aspect of COVIDhappened all within that same timeframe, so
then all of a sudden, youhave players throughout all college athletics that have
an extra year of eligibility, andso roster management is completely thrown out the
window. As far as how coacheshad known how to manage their rosters.
(35:08):
And then you throw in, obviouslythe transfer portal and how NIL is affecting
some of the transfers that we seein college athletics. I just think we're
putting the emphasis in the wrong placein terms of oh, NIL is bad
or the transfer portal is bad.No, those are not necessarily bad.
(35:29):
It's just how the NCAA rolled themout. Yeah, no doubt about it.
Well, we get back to collegebasketball here, some of the storylines
in the top twenty five, evenwithin the top five, let's just talk
about that what happened last week andcongrats once again. I know Arch rivals
here to Clemson, but South Carolinawith Lamont Paris, they continue to look
very strong early in this season,even the midpoint of the season. As
(35:51):
we get to that middle of February, are going to see them emerging as
a team. People keep talking aboutsixty three to fifty nine win at Tennessee,
their first top five road win inover twenty five years Richmond. Yeah,
and this was a Tennessee team cominginto that game was averaging basically seventy
nine points per game. So tohold them to fifty nine points in Tennessee.
(36:15):
I mean that's significant, but Ithink Lamont Paris from his days back
at Wisconsin, in terms of howhe wants his team to play, it
is going to be much slower pace. You're going to have be more physical,
and that's what I was surprised becausealso Tennessee does a great job as
(36:35):
far as they can slow things downon the defensive side, holding teams to
sixty five points. So they dida good job again only allowing South Carolina
to score sixty three, but theyjust couldn't get anything going offensively. And
kudos to Lamont Paris and the gameCocks there that they were able to stifle
them defensively and then also hit somekey shots down the stretch. And I
(37:00):
think that's what we haven't seen whenyou have a Talan Cooper eighteen points and
hit a huge three pointer with aboutthirty seconds left in that game, and
then you've got Miles Study hitting somebig free throws down the stretch for South
Carolina, And obviously that's a bigconfidence boost for the game Cocks as they
seem to be the surprise in theSEC right now, not only in that
(37:22):
conference, but people are starting totalk about them nationally and how Lamont paris
his name should be in consideration atleast at this stage for national Coach of
the Year. Yeah, no doubtabout a Congrats to them. And then
another stunner that happened last week,and I know you talked about it on
the Richmond Weavers show. I didthe same on game on on Fox Sports
Upstate. You can hear us everysingle week day. By the way,
(37:42):
how about Nathan George and Georgia Techfor the first time in forever, I
think two thousand and five was thelast time they'd beaten a top three team.
They beat North Carolina, a teamthat we were just singing their praises
on this very show last week.And here you go another case example of
an ACC team any given day onthis schedule, a team that was a
(38:02):
nine win team coming into this thing, overcoming a big deficit and getting a
huge win against North Carolina. Yeah, and I think it's more showing that
it's the ACC and conference play.We've talked about it not just relicated to
just the ACC, but it's inevery conference, just like I mean,
(38:24):
South Carolina got beat by Georgia YEPat home earlier this year, and obviously
they've got Georgia today. But theaspect of how hard it is to be
able to go on the road andwin, and regardless of the record,
regardless of how long it's been sinceGeorgia Tech has been able to beat a
(38:46):
team, as you had mentioned.But David Sodomyer, he's doing some positive
things there at Georgia Tech. Andagain, I know they were, you
know, a five game losing streakcoming into that game, but again being
able to make some of those keyshots down the stretch. And then also
there's a little bit of controversy,but you know, was there a foul
at the end North Carolina And obviouslyClemson fans don't want to be talking about
(39:10):
controversial endings. We're talking about itwith fouls, you know, from that
perspective, But again, a bigwin for Georgia Tech, and it just
shows that as good as North Carolinais and this is the parody of college
basketball, So North Carolina will bejust fine. They'll still be, in
my opinion, one of the topteams in the country and seems to be
(39:32):
playing right now like a national contender. But there's no one clear cut favorite,
and even in the ACC obviously,I would say North Carolina it is
a clear cut favorite, but itdoesn't mean they can't get beat No,
not at all. Let's look atthe scoreboard and what's ahead today in the
top twenty five, we'll go inorder of time here underway right now,
Number one Yukon against Saint John's.They just got tipped off a little while
(39:55):
ago. Coming up at two pm. Along with this game, you'll hear
on ninety two point five WEC.You've got Marquette number nine against Georgetown number
twenty five. TCU is hosting Texasnumber seventeen. Utah State traveling the San
Diego State, another team that's agood lot of high host here. Yeah,
you're talking about a team that cameout of nowhere last year. How
about San Diego State, my friend, no, no question. Now it's
(40:16):
a little bit different team, butthere's still a solid team. But the
surprise right now in the Mountain Westis Utah State sitting there nineteen and two
overall, so a big opportunity forthem to continue their resume going on the
road against San Diego State. Allright, some powerhouse matchups here we'll get
to, but let's talk about OklahomaUCUF that's coming up at four pm on
(40:37):
the Big twelve network. Cincinnati atTexas Tech. Auburn number sixteen in the
country, traveling the Old Miss,an Old Miss team that's got eighteen wins
on the board right now here.Garry Gristpeard is another guy head coach for
Ole Miss that his name is incontingent for National Coach of the Year.
Also, all right, powerhouse gameshere. Blue bloods Houston, Kansas number
(40:57):
four, Houston at number eight,Kansas out there in Laura. Yeah.
Now, I wouldn't say necessarily Houstonis a blue blood, but I know
the aspect of it's Kansas that's ablue blood obviously. But what Houston has
been able to do over the pastseveral years with Kelvin Sampson, and this
is a huge matchup in the Bigtwelve. You talking about a defensive team
with Houston. How can they slowKansas down? I think that's going to
(41:21):
be a massive game. A littlebit later this afternoon, Number twenty FAU
tangling with Tulsa coming up at sixpm BYUS Rank twenty second. They're traveling
to West Virginia with the West Virginiaprogram. Obviously that's having a hard time.
Right now at eight and thirteen,blue Blood Alert, here we go,
this will get your attention. Numberseven Duke and number three North Carolina.
(41:42):
Thoughts on that one, Oh,that's I mean, do we have
to even say anything about we knowthat rivalry and what that means for both
of those teams, but also justfrom a perspective of what it means for
college basketball. How many times we'relooking at football and we can say,
Ohio State, Michigan, you knowthe game, you know, Iron Bowl,
(42:06):
when you have Alabama and Auburn,you can obviously look here within the
state Clemson in South Carolina. Obviouslythat's a big rivalry game from that standpoint,
But I don't know if there's abigger rivalry game in college basketball than
Duke in North Carolina. I mean, this is the epitome of teams that
(42:28):
do not like each other, butalso the epitome of teams that historically have
been really, really good and justanother continuation of the series, especially with
them in both of them in thetop ten. I think this is the
forty ninth meeting between the two wherethey've both been in the top ten.
(42:50):
That's unbelievable. That's amazing when youlook at it from that perspective. A
couple other big matchups to keep aneye on. Number twelve Iowa State at
number eighteen Baylor. Of course,you got number five Tennessee looking to come
from that loss against South Carolina teamthat South Carolina also beat earlier in January,
Kentucky tenth in the country. Theytangled at eight thirty on ESPN number
twenty four Alabama hosting Mississippi State.That's a top twenty five round up.
(43:12):
Coming up next. A closer lookat what Virginia is all about this year
is they tangled with Clemson coming upat two pm right here on ninety two
point five WSC. Ninety two pointfive WDSC is the Upstate's new home for
the Clemson Tigers. You got Clemson, you got Virginia. Tipping off here
(44:00):
very shortly on ninety two point fiveWEESC. We're taking up to Clemson Athletic
Network coverage with Don Munson, TimBurray on the call this afternoon, Happy
Saturday to all out there. Thisis the Engles Countdown to tip Off show.
John Ellis Richmond. We were TreyFalco taking you all the way up
to the play by play call herewith the great Don Munson, who I
(44:21):
spoke with last week. And youknow, obviously Don and Tim had some
strong opinions about what happened at Duke, but I think we can all agree
we have turned the page following thisClemson program, and you have no time
to lick your wounds and feel sorryfor yourself when a Tony Bennett team comes
to town. Such is the casetoday, Richard, Oh, no question
about you talking about putting a gamein the mud. That's what Tony Bennett
(44:45):
in Virginia they want to do.They want to slow things down to a
snail's pace. And I know,just from a perspective of what we saw
with Furman in the NCAA Tournament,being able to beat Virginia the way they
did last second shot, just theeuphoria that happened, and knowing that Tony
(45:06):
Bennett now has this opportunity of tryingto get back to the NCAA tournament.
Obviously, but this is a teamthat historically, I mean, it will
make you if you're a college basketballfan that loves offense, well, you
might be in some trouble if youare wanting to watch a Virginia game because
(45:29):
this is a team that, asI said, I mean, they will
slow things down, but they dohave some really talented players that led by
Reese Beakman and Tony Bin over theyears, has had a lot of success
against Clemson. He's had a lotof success overall. Of course, NCAA
champion back in twenty eighteen, twentynineteen, and you look at how they
were able to come back from certainmoments that were heartbreaking moments. It's been
(45:51):
impressive. And they've reset the rostera little bit, but one guy still
remains, Reese Beakman, who rightnow is averaging about thirteen point three points
per game and about rebounds per game. Rich. Yeah, and this is
a guy who he's right on thecusp of a thousand points also, but
he's not the only guy. Now. They obviously lost key Hey Clark and
(46:12):
some experience you know, from thatstandpoint at the guard position. But again,
this is a team that defensively,they're going to continue to slow things
down. Teams are only averaging fiftyseven points. Fifty seven points, yeah
against crazy Virginia. Remember there wasa time Clemson scored sixty points in a
(46:32):
half. Yeah, right, youknow, I mean so that's insane when
you think about it from that standpoint, But that's that's a Tony Bennett team,
that pack line type of defense,and so it's going to be paramount
obviously for Clemson today. They're goingto have to be able to hit some
outside shots, no doubt about it. And it starts with PJ. Hall
from the perimeter. Had a toughnight the other night, but how important
(46:55):
is it to get on the boardsin this game? You saw Clemson offensively
struggle that department. The physicality isgoing to be there in this game.
How important is it in the lowpost for Clemson to put on a good
effort here at Little John Well?Obviously after the poor performance from a defensive
rebound standpoint, that they have tofocus on that also because Virginia is not
a great shooting team either, sothere's going to be those opportunities. But
(47:17):
then obviously on Clemson side, thingsneed to go through PJ. Hall.
They just need to because PJ Hallhe has an advantage in this game,
and why not take advantage of PJHall? Again? PJ Hall doesn't have
to come out there and score twentyfive. Now you'll take that, don't
get me wrong, But you justneed the offense to go through PJ.
(47:39):
Hall. Positive things happen when theball goes through PJ Hall because he's going
to garner double teams at time andif he doesn't, and again, Virginia
does a really good job with hispack line defense and almost it feels like
a zone at times. But he'sgot to be able to find the open
guy. And we've seen that fromPJ Hall in the past. Just named
(48:01):
to the late season Top twenty watchlist there for the John R. Wooden
Awards. So right there at PJHall, Better call Hall, as they
say, better time, time togo, get it done the Hall American.
Yes, boy got a big gametoday. Clemson trails the series overall
fifty four to eighty three, butin Clemson they lead this series thirty five
to twenty seven all time. It'sClemson Virginia, Don Munson, Tim Beray
(48:24):
standing by their live from Little John. They'll take you to the two pm
tip off and give you all theplay by play action for Richmond Weaver,
for Trey Falco. I'm John Ellis. We are brought to you by Ingles
Low Prices. Love the savings atIngles Dashmarkets dot Com. Thanks for listening
to another edition of the Ingles Countdownto tip Off Show. Enjoy the game
all day long right here on ninetytwo point five WSC
We s e FM Greenville, SpartanburgAndersen. Time for the Ingles Countdown to
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(00:22):
Armory. Now Here are your hostssehn Alism Richmond Weaver. Time for some
more Clemson Tigers basketball. Welcome intothe Ingles Countdown to tip Off Show,
getting you primed and ready for yourClemson Tigers against the Virginia Cavaliers. Tipping
off here shortly on ninety two pointfive WeSC. I'm John Ellis Richmond Weaver
(00:45):
in the house as well. What'sup, my friend? No, another
wonderful Saturday of college basketball. Youcan't ask for anything better Saturday afternoon basketball.
So I'm amped up Clemson obviously comingoff of that Louisville victory, and
there was some I guess times withinthat game. Yes, you're like,
(01:06):
hold on, hold on, it'sthat interesting. You have a twenty four
point lead and all of a suddenthat lead continues to evaporate. But Clemeson
holds on obviously for that victory againstLouisville. There in Little John, the
Late Night, the Grit after Darkday we talked about, and of course
I think I'm still tired from stayingup too late. Now. I know
that sounds so bad that you canstay up past eleven o'clock and shouldn't still
(01:30):
feel the effects come Saturday. Sure, but here we are Saturday, and
I'm still tired. It took alot out of all of us. I
think late night a nine pm tipoff. Of course, Grit after Dark.
We're going to recap that game infull detail. Got some interesting audio
from Brad Burnell will share with youin the second segment here, talking about
the game itself and a little narrativegoing around about the ACC. Brad has
(01:53):
never short on opinions and shared histhoughts on met Rich and I will share
our thoughts on his thoughts coming uphere. Later in the show, we'll
take a closer look at what Virginiais all about. A team coming in
with sixteen wins, they're seven andthree in the ACC, and certainly when
you've got the kind of coaching theyhave historically there with Tony Bennett, never
an easy out if you're taking onVirginia, even if you're at home.
(02:14):
So we're gonna look at that inmore detail as well. I want to
remind you we are brought to youby Ingles Low Prices Love the Savings.
Rich guys. Did you know it'sonly eight days away from the big game
between San Francisco and Kansas City.I'm stopping at Ingles getting all my Super
Bowl party needs. You should aswell. Low prices love the savings at
Ingles dash markets dot com. Soyou're right, I mean this game,
(02:36):
you end up with a seventy tosixty four win over a Louisville team that
came in with six wins only onewin in the conference. I think maybe
you look at this game and youunderstand. You know, you got a
Louisville team that's short on scores.Of course, you had one player in
particular that we'll talk about, TreyWhite, who had a great game,
but Clemson had a hard time sustainingshooting in this game. You look at
this game in particular, we'll talkmore about it with Brad Burne's comments later
(02:59):
in the show. Shooting was abit of a problem and offensive rebounding was
a bit of an issue as well. Rich. Yeah, well, and
I think it's from a perspective,when the shooting is bad, typically the
opposing team's going to get all ofthe defensive rebounds, and so it's difficult,
you know, from a standpoint forthat team to get those offensive rebounds.
(03:20):
But when you have a scenario playingout where somebody gets twenty one offensive
rebounds, that's something that you donot see that often because obviously that's showcasing
that a team is having a badshooting night that they have the opportunity of
so many offensive rebounds. But thatmakes you wonder what in the world was
(03:46):
going on with Clemson, just froma standpoint of giving up so many offensive
rebounds which would lead to second chancepoints, which Louisville was able to convert
those twenty one rebounds into seventeen secondchance points, and a lot of those
were in the paint, thirty pointsin the paint for Louisville, and that's
why they were able to have thatrun down there at the end of the
(04:10):
game, as there's just under thirtyseconds to go and it's a four point
game. After Clemson, as Imentioned, had a twenty four point lead
there in the second half, andso you thought that game was going to
be put away. But that justshows you once again that on any given
night, regardless of what the teamrecords are, these teams, they're talented
(04:30):
enough. They have Division IE players, guys that play at the Power five
level. They can get hot,they can do some certain things, and
that's what Louisville was able to dodown the stretch. And as you talked
about it, the offensive rebounding side, and I would imagine there were a
lot of rebounding drills going on overin Little John this week in practice,
(04:54):
because I've been in that scenario whereyou have a game where you give up
those offensive rebounds. From a coachingperspective, I should say and what you
emphasize, And there's a lot ofrebounding drills that were going on this past
week. I can promise you thatstudying the angles, as we always talk
about, Yes, the Chef andcompany, Chefland had three of those offensive
(05:17):
rebounds for Clemson the other night.Joseph Girard had the other one, and
it was interesting to watch the gameunfold. Obviously, the biggest lead Louisville
had in this game was three pointsabout midway through the first half. That's
when this game started getting a littlenervous, the first of several nervous legs,
I think for Clemson, a teamthat was highly favored to win this
game, but as we talk aboutin the ACC, anything can happen.
(05:41):
Clemson led this game for over thirtytwo minutes. They built a twenty four
point lead into the second half,and I think that stretch, even though
they had some struggles there in thefirst half before in the second half,
I should say, just before halftime, a nice job by Clemson to stabilize
things, build a bit of alead. They go up eight. They
went on an eight run before halftime, and again those are little moments in
(06:02):
the game you look at and say, that could be the margin of victory
right there in terms of a sixpoint win, and ultimately, you know,
they let Louisville hang around. Whatin your mind, Rich when you
look at this game, was therea bit of a hangover effect from that
win or that loss I should sayshould have been a win, and a
lot of people's minds at Duke thatwas a very emotional game to come back
(06:24):
home in somewhat of a trap game. If you will. Did you sense
maybe a bit of a hangover effect. Oh, no, question about it.
And we talked about it that youcan't let that duke loss beat you
twice, and how many times havewe seen that, And historically we have
seen that from Clemson from a basketballperspective. That's just the reality of it.
This is not disparaging Clemson at all. It's just what we have seen.
(06:49):
And so I think that's why thefan base was a little bit on
edge. Obviously even more so therein the second half as Louisville is making
their run. Good sense from thevery beginning of this game that the players
seem to be tense, They seemto have a little bit of this pressure
(07:09):
that we cannot lose this game.Rather than going into the game, Hey,
let's go out there and win thisgame, right, it was oh
my goodness, you know, ifwe lose this, we're in real big
trouble. So it was almost likethey were putting added pressure on themselves rather
than just focusing on, Hey,do the things that you need to do
(07:31):
to go win the game. Notlet me make sure that I don't make
mistakes to lose this game. Playingtight, playing tight, and we saw
that. I mean, when you'rehaving a team that as Clemson is,
but we know defensively they're going tobe able to slow some things down,
They're going to be able to holdsome teams in terms of their scoring average.
(07:54):
A lot of times Clemson does agreat job keeping teams below their scoring
average. But there's also this aspectof Clemson in this game was struggling also
just doing some scoring. And ifit wasn't for that run that you talked
about there right before halftime, Imean, we could be looking at a
scenario where the score could have beenlike twenty six to twenty two at halftime.
(08:15):
Yes, yep, yeah, Imean, and that's not I mean,
that just emphasizes just the tightness ofClemson and how they were. And
fortunately they were able to relax alittle bit, get some things going,
some positive things going into halftime,and then they were able to continue that
they're into the second half. Butthen that's where it seemed to be some
(08:39):
defensive letdowns started happening, and someof that we talked about it the offensive
rebounding. They started allowing Louisville tochip away because defensively they weren't doing the
things that they needed to do todo to get those defensive rebounds, no
question about it. Clemson had threeguys in double digits scoring in this game,
(09:00):
led by PJ. Hall. Ofcourse, that seems to be the
consistent theme here with one of thebest players in the entire country. He
kicked in twenty five points, somewhatunconventional though, oh of six from downtown,
a night in which everybody had seemedin the gym was having trouble putting
the ball in the basket. Hedid get to the line seven times,
I'm sorry eight times, made sevenof those as a team. A star
(09:22):
contrast from what happened at Duke Richmond. Team gets the line twenty five times,
they knocked down twenty one of those, eleven to fourteen down the stretch
in the second half, and that'sbig as well. I mean, we
could just go back and forth howmany times free throws are so important in
games. I mean, that's anotherreason why. Also though that Louisville was
able to have that run too,because they were hitting from the free throw
(09:46):
line, So there is that aspect. But I would have to say,
at least you look at the freethrow scenarios here and Louisville eighteen of twenty
three, Clemson twenty one to twentyfive. As you mentioned, that seems
pretty consistent, That seems pretty balanced. That there's not a scenario of disparity
(10:09):
between fouls that are called free throwsattempted. That seems pretty normal. That's
how you would want a game tobe officiated. Yeah, you want to
see some balance there. You wantto see balance in terms of how the
game is judged there. And Ithought it was interesting. We talked a
lot about Mike James, their leadingscorer coming into this game. He was
one of twelve from the field,only had eight points, and that put
(10:30):
the load of the workload in termsof scoring on Trey White, who did
kick in twenty nine. But MikeJames, did you notice anything defensively Clemson
was able to do to stifle that? Is it just a case of bad
shooting? Yeah, I just thinkyou're just one of those Knights. I
mean, he's such a good playerand a good shooter, and we've seen
how he can go off on anygiven night. But I do think there
(10:50):
was an opportunity there where Clemson wasfocused on making sure and when you have
guys like Dylan Hunter when you've gotguys like Chase and Josh Beetle, and
you've got to Chauncey Wiggins with hislength and height, and even r.
J. Godfrey with his size,Not that he was really matched up with
Mike James that much, but attimes you have that opportunity of moving different
(11:16):
players to guard some of these guys, and I think they were able to
get Mike in some difficult situations andthen it just couldn't get things going.
And that's where Louisville just from ateam, if you look at it,
obviously there in that first half theystruggled. And this seems to be the
Achilles Hill with Louisville that they seemto struggle offensively because they don't seem connected
(11:39):
offensively, and it seems like there'sa lot of one on one type of
scenarios. This is not a teamthat distributes the ball. They only had
four assists total as a team,and so when you're having a scenario playing
out where you have twenty two fieldgoals and you only have four assists,
that's not a good ratio. WhereClemson had twenty two made field goals,
(12:01):
but they had thirteen assists, soit's much better distribution spacing, and I
think that's what's hurting Louisville right now, a lot of one on one type
of situations, and Mike James,I think got caught up in that and
then trying to do too much attimes and forcing some things rather than just
really getting the offense going. Butobviously give Clemson a lot of credit because
(12:22):
that's what they do. Brad Burnew, He's going to continue to preach defense,
defense, defense, and if you'renot willing to play defense, you're
not going to go into the gameunder Brad bron Now we just know that,
no, if you can't play defense, he's not going to have you
in the lineup or in the rotationat all. From the bench, that's
(12:43):
for sure. Brad burn Now,some comments from him coming up later in
the show as it relates to thisgame. Some of the key metrics in
this game. We talked about thetwenty five points from PJ. Hall,
Joseph Gerard only three of twelve fromthe field, but hit all five of
his free throws knock down thirteen points. And we'll talk more about the night
for Chase Hunter. Not a bitof a milestone for a guy who's been
struggling a bit over the course ofthis season. Sixteen points four or five
(13:07):
from the line, one of thefew guys on this team that shot over
fifty percent from the field five ofeight and a good night for Chase Hunter
here. Hey, how many we'veI say how many times I'm actually meaning
to say, we've been waiting forChase Hunter too? Right, come out
of this slump. And I thinkthat's one of the things that Clemson was
how why they were playing so wellearly on was because Chase Hunter was playing
(13:31):
well offensively and hitting down or hittingoutside shots, knocking down the three point
shot. And when you have ascenario now all of a sudden, you're
struggling from the perimeter, that makesit easier for the opposing defense to slide
off of him and put more emphasisin terms of shutting down Joe Girard.
(13:54):
And so you can double team JoeGirard, you can do some other actions
against joj to make it more difficultfor him to get his shot off.
And I think we're starting to seethat because they're daring Chase Hunter. Hey,
you beat us, We're not gonnalet Joe Girard or obviously we know
PJ. Hall from that standpoint beatus. But when you have Chase Hunter
(14:16):
now being able to also get involvedoffensively, then all of a sudden,
you have a better opportunity of creatingsome discomfort for the defense because they don't
know who they're going to guard.So Chase Hunter getting in a thousand points,
it's fantastic, it's awesome. Moreon that coming up next with some
comments from Brad Burnell. You'll hearaudio from him, a full breakdown of
(14:37):
what's going on with this Virginia teamas they match up with Clemson for the
one hundred and thirty eighth time intheir program's history. And we got to
whip it around the top twenty fivebecause there were some upsets Richmond, including
another team here in the Palmetto State. They got a big win over a
top five team this week. Thatand much more on the Engles count Down
to tip Off show keep it righthere on ninety two point five WSC ninety
(15:00):
two point five w E SE isthe Upstate's new home with a Clemson Tigers,
a much more palatable tip off timefor US old timers here and the
(15:22):
Eastern You got the Ingles Countdown atip off show right here. That's Richmond
Weaver. I'm John Ellis. Thanksfor being a part of our weekend.
Here, a nice saturday here inthe Upstate getting you're ready for another big
ACC game as Clemson tries to climbout of a bit of a hole they've
been in here in the ACC nowfour and five, trying to even that
record at five hundred. Virginia offto a nice start in conference play seven
(15:45):
and three. It's a big timegame. It's also an opportunity for you
before the game to stop into yourlocal angles get everything you need for the
game this weekend, the big gamenext weekend in the NFL. Of course,
Ingles had to get covered for allyour home gating needs, low prices,
love the savings with our friends atIngles. Yesterday was Groundhog Day,
and I'm sure Brad Burnell doesn't wantto repeat sort of the heartburn he's been
(16:07):
dealing with here with the bad shootingand some of the lack of the killer
instinct. He talked about this.Yeah, that's right, and we're excited
that now we're gonna have spring,we can do away with the summer.
I mean, we do away withthe winter. What about talking about here
and say you, I'm already discombobulatedin terms of where we're going because of
Groundhog Day. Yeah, man,but yes, this is now an opportunity.
(16:29):
Hey, we got spring coming,so we're all excited and basketball is
right here. Well, if it'snot gonna snow, let's turn the page.
That's my thing. I want tosee some snow on the ground.
But if that ain't gonna happen,we're good to go with the early spring.
Thanks Groundhog, Thanks Phil, punksa tawny Phil. All right,
here we go. Brad Burnell hadsome comments this week. Of course,
after the game, we always bringyou some audio from what he had to
say. Here's Brad Brunell's opening statementafter the big win against Louisville. Give
(16:53):
the Louisville kids and coaches a lotof credit, man, they just kept
battling. Yeah. I told ourguys you watch them on film that they're
playing hard, really hard, andobviously always got just looking at the rebounding
we've had of the probably two ofour best rebounding games of the season against
(17:15):
Duke and Florida State defensive rebounding andI got to watch the film. Now
we played some zone and I dothink they got some rebounds against our zone,
but I don't think our guards dida good job at all tonight rebounding,
and that was obviously a big factorin them having a chance to come
back. Having said all that,I thought we played. We didn't shoot
(17:37):
the ball well again and very slowstarting some because we missed a lot of
good shots. Again, but therewas a stretch there last ten minutes of
the first half and first ten minutesof the second half we played very well
obviously, built the big lead.I think our defense is improving, and
we got a lot of first shotmiss obviously, so that part was really
(17:59):
good. We had some very carelessturnovers down the stretch and they made some
shots. And sometimes that happens.You know, you get behind and you're
really kind of playing with a freemind and the shots are there's a lot
less stress, and I think that'spart of the reason why you see comebacks
in college basketball. The swings areso so great. The team that has
(18:19):
the league gets a little tight,which we did, and then the team
that's behind is kind of playing free. But again, we'll take it.
Really happy. The way we playedfor about twenty five minutes of the game
and give the Louisville kids and coachesa lot of credit. I thought they
really busted it and competed, andthey whipped us on the glass and on
Chase Hunter. A big night forChase Hunter. Of course, Brad Brunel
(18:41):
had some thoughts on what he's beenthrough a new father, by the way,
Chase Hunter having a milestone night withthis game. We Chase has been
playing better. Really happy for him. He's had a lot going on,
new father, just had a baby, and his eming from it, which
I think is really cool. ButI think he's played well these last couple
(19:06):
of weeks. He's kind of comingout of it. He made a couple
of threes. Certainly, it's beenfun to coach him in his career here.
He's had a lot of adversity upsand downs, especially as a young
player with injuries and then you know, just kind of trying to find your
way like most freshmen and sophomores do. But he's really blossomed into a nice
player and he's had a nice career. To score a thousand points speaks to
(19:29):
how good he is. And certainlyI've enjoyed coaching him and I'm really happy
for him. Yeah, and aswe talked about with Chase Hunter, what
a nice milestone for him, athousand points. And this is one of
those scenarios that we've seen before withBradbury Nail's teams. You have guys that
stay within the system and develop andhow they've been able to grow and evolve
(19:52):
over the years, because there wasa time period where I think there were
some questions as far as just whatthe ceiling was for Chase Hunter and now
having the opportunity of what we're seeinga thousand points in his career, I
mean, that's a milestone that nota lot of college players get to.
So for him to be able todo that, that's absolutely fantastic. And
again it just showcases, you know, what can happen when you stay within
(20:15):
a program. Not obviously, Iknow he could have left and would still
you know, potentially get a thousandpoints, but to do it with one
school, I think that's significant Andkudos to Brad Burnell keeping guys obviously there
in their program, and then obviouslyalso for Chase Hunter not just searching for
the next opportunity, but hey,I can stay right here and have success
(20:37):
with Clemson. This is a teamthat can make a run and he wants
to be a part of it.It's great to see. Brunell also talked
about Chase and the entire team bouncingback from what was a tough, draining
loss at Duke. This is whatit is. I mean, we've you
know, win a game and losea game, win a game, lose
a game, and just kind ofwe haven't been able to kind of build
a streak, you know, hopefullywe can play well Saturday. Uh yeah,
(21:03):
I mean it's again, that wasan emotional, heartbreaking, brutal loss.
You know, it's and it's it. It sticks with you for a
while, just human nature. Anduh but I thought we came out fine.
You know, if we make shots, we have a good lead early.
Now maybe they say the same thingif they made some of their shots
(21:25):
early, you know, the gameis different. But uh, I thought
we got a lot of good shots. We just again, for whatever reason
this building, we're having a hardtime making them. And uh but defensively,
I thought we played hard. Ithought, uh we we mixed in
some zone tonight, which was goodfor us. We just wanted to try
that on some bobs and uh,you know, but there was a little
(21:48):
segment I had. I thought acouple guys off the bench, maybe not
quite as much juice as I wouldhave liked. But you know, again,
I thought the middle half of thegame we played great and that's why
we had a twenty point lead.And you could hear sort of a tepid
response to that question. He's nottotally satisfied because Richmond he also had this
to add about wanting to see abit of a more killer instinct from his
(22:11):
team, and yeah, sure,yeah, I'd love it, you know,
but again I think, yeah,that's you know, the killer instinct.
It's not you know, the GeorgiaTech game is. I don't think
that's a good example of killer instinct. Tonight is you know, we just
made a couple of dumb plays ondefense in the last end of the game,
and they made some big shots.This was killer instinct. And I
(22:33):
was imploring them at the you know, twelve minute mark, let's let's not
let's finish it. Knock him outright here, this is our chance.
And then the next time out,let's knock him out. This is our
chance. And we just we didn'tget it done. And again, some
of that's credit to Louisville. Youknow, some of it is we had
we missed some shots, had acouple of silly turnovers, and they're starting
(22:55):
they started making a few and sothey got confidence and they started putting some
little bit of game pressure on us. But to give our guys credit to
we did make four free throws downthe stretch, got a couple stops down
the stretch. You know, youkind of sometimes gloss over those, you
know, but certainly if the outcomehad been different, we wouldn't be doing
that. So and that's kind ofwhat happened to Georgia Tech. Yeah,
(23:17):
and there's no question that now inconference play you're going to have to have
a different mindset and that type ofmindset that, hey, when we have
somebody down, you got to putthem out. You've got to be able
to end the game continuing the wayyou started, say that second half against
Louisville. You can't have these letdownsbecause these teams are too talented. They
(23:41):
can make these runs, they canmake these comebacks. And so Clemson,
I think Brad Vernell is really tryingto emphasize to these guys, hey,
you can't just rest on, Oh, we had a good ten minute stretch
there. No, you've got toput a first half together and a second
half together that emphasizes that type ofmindset and to be able to focus on
(24:04):
making sure you don't have those letdowns. Clemson had a tough night shooting.
It's no secret we've talked about that. Brunelle after the game addressed that very
situation. I don't know that Iknow, you know, I don't talk
about it a lot. I don'tthink you make a mountain out of a
molehill. But you know, we'vedone a lot of shooting. Guys are
(24:26):
coming in and shooting all the time, shooting with coaches before practice, after
practice, during the day. PJcomes in in the mornings. You know,
you just kind of work your waythrough, Like Chases made a couple
here lately and I needn't make it. Didn't make as many at Duke,
but PJ just had a tough shootingnight. From three. You know,
I mean, I think five ofthe six shots are probably really good shots,
(24:48):
and usually he's going to make atleast two of them, two of
the five, but tonight, justexcuse me, it didn't go down with
that said. Brad also mentioned thefact that they have pg A Hall on
the roster, which is something that'ssignificant for many reasons, and he talked
about how nice it is to havea guy like pg Hall in critical moments
of the game to help close thesetype of games out. Yeah, huge,
(25:10):
huge player, I mean obviously,yeah, he's I mean, he's
a stud you know. I mean, he's a first team All Conference player,
and you know, we're trying togo to him when we can,
you know, and most of thetime he delivers. I mean, he's
just that's why he's good. Andhe makes plays at crunch time, he
makes plays when you need him.He wants the ball. You know,
(25:33):
he's an outstanding player and you know, lucky to coach him. So a
big win for Clemson. There there'ssome thoughts from coach Burnell, but he
did speak up later in the weekon a subject I know Richmond and I
have talked about on this show.The scrutiny to the ACC comes under come
bracketology season and comparing that to thatof other conferences out there. Listen to
(25:55):
this. I'm really tired of thenarrative like our league. I think the
narrative with our league is ridiculous andthere's gonna be stats. You know,
somebody said we're nine to three againstthe Big twelve, and you know it's
teams are different, right, teamsimprove. These guys battled some good teams
in the non conference. Maybe itwas they lost by a basket or two
(26:18):
to Indiana and Texas. You know, those are two that just popped off
my off my head. Like GeorgiaTech is completely different. I don't even
know what happened in their game againstCarolina. Do they win? Yeah?
Like that's a joke, right,I mean, so they're good enough to
be Carolina, Duke and Clemson andlike, but they're not very good.
That's that's insane, right, Like, let's get some other teams to try
(26:40):
to play beat all three of us, right, it's those guys are freshmen,
are completely different, and those guysweren't even playing at the time.
So it's just it. It's obviouslyfrustrating from the coaches and players in the
league the narrative that is not right, and hopefully our league and everybody else
will do more. But you know, this is what happens is we cannibalize
(27:02):
each other. And you know,I think the net over is an overreach
because you can completely pad your statsby playing a week schedule and winning by
forty and pad your offensive efficiency andyour defensive efficiency, and so the fact
(27:22):
you whatever, they cap it atten, but your efficiency numbers change,
right, And so then the questionis, like we SCT overschedule. Probably
we've sced the last two years.We've scheduled less guarantee games, and it
almost feels like it's not. Youknow, this year we're winning, so
maybe that'll prove to be the thereal big help. But I'm watching other
(27:44):
teams that are doing the opposite.They're scheduling seven and eight guarantee games and
winning by thirty as much as theycan, and like their net numbers are
higher than I would expect them tobe. A lot of the Big twelve
is doing that. You know,we need to study it better as a
lead, if that's part of thetrick, and we need to study it
better because I don't think ar Leaguedoes that as much, and partly because
(28:06):
we play twenty league games. Andso I again, maybe we need to
advocate again for eighteen. So nevershort on opinions and defending his conference an
ACC man true and true here well, of course, And I think right
now the ACC seems to be gettinga bad rap. There's still a lot
of basketball left, and I knowright now it does seem that the ACC
(28:29):
can be cannibalizing on itself with NorthCarolina getting beat by Georgia Tech, who
obviously we've seen Georgia Tech struggle,but remember Georgia Tech has beaten Duke this
year. So Damon Sodomeyer is doinga really good job. But just this
aspect that we're in a scenario wherethere might only be two teams that get
into the NCAA Tournament from the ACC. And I would say, right now
(28:52):
the two locks would be North Carolinaand Duke if you're just going just based
off net rankings. But you can'ttell me that Clemson is not right there.
They should be an automatic log nowif they fall apart the rest of
the season. I get that.But you've also got Virginia, You've got
Virginia Tech, You've got Wake forestAll knocking on the door. So there's
a lot of basketball left that theseteams can make sure to get themselves in
(29:18):
contention and also be locks for theNCAA Tournament. Some compelling stuff from the
head coach of the Clemson Tigers BradBurnell, who leads his team into an
opportunity today to even their record withinthat ACC conference. We were just talking
about here, big game against theCavaliers, Tony Bennett's team. What are
they all about this year? Well, some new names. We'll give you
a little update on this Virginia team, some of the matchups later in the
(29:40):
show. Coming up next to lookaround the top twenty five, some games
to look out for today, andsome storylines from the week that was in
college basketball. This is the EnglesCountdown, a tip off show on ninety
two point five WeSC. Ninety twopoint five WDS is the Upstate's new home
for the Clemson Tiger. You know, when Tony Bennett and Brad Burnell flash
(30:15):
in a game, there's gonna besome defense, and you're gonna see some
of that today. I would assumewith Clemson at fourteen and six, four
and five in the ACC, takingon those aforementioned Cavaliers at sixteen and five,
they are seven and three in theACC. You got Don Munson and
a much more tame Tim Burray.I would assume this time around, after
what happened to Duke last week onthe call right here courtesy of the Clemson
(30:37):
Athletic Network. On ninety two pointfive we sc This is the Engles Countdown
to tip Off Show. That's RichmondWeaver. I'm John Ellis. We've got
Trey Falco in the house as well. Don't forget. You can catch us
every single weekday on our sister station, Fox Sports Upstate one oh four nine.
Tune into the Richmond Weavers Show atthree pm, and of course you
got Trey Falco and John Ellis thereon Game On at four pm all the
(30:59):
way up to six pm, somegreat afternoon content and enjoy spending some time
with you guys. Every single weekday. Tune into a starting at three pm
each weekday on Fox Sports Upstate.We've got a lot of things to talk
about this time of you're on thoseshows, my friend, Oh yeah,
we definitely do. Obviously, you'vegot NFL wrapping up next weekend with the
Super Bowl and obviously the Chiefs andforty nine Ers that rematch. But also
(31:22):
we've got NBA coming up to theirhalfway point. The All Star Game will
be coming up, and what Iam excited about also is that Steph Curry
and Sabrina and Nescu are going tobe competing in a three point shootout against
each other. Yeah, and Iand Nescu. I mean, she's obviously
a fantastic shooter. She holds therecord for thirty seven points in three point
(31:48):
challenge. She was twenty five oftwenty seven, twenty five of twenty seven.
Yes, and she broke Steph Curry'srecord of thirty one points. But
obviously different scenarios. But I dolike the fact that they're going to compete
against each other, and they've beentrading back and forth on social media,
so it's going to be a fantasticevent. So to your point, John,
(32:10):
there is so much content and thatdidn't even mention obviously college basketball,
but then also even college football that'sstill in the headlines when you have Jeff
Haffley Boston College right head coach forthe football team, Leavin to go to
the Packers as the defensive coordinator.Ye, this late that was a bit
(32:34):
of a stunter from NFL circles.I've been covering the league for a long
time and that's something that people didn'tsee happening. There were a lot of
candidates that were mentioned, including theformer coach of the Panthers, Ron Rivera
among others, but obviously Jeff Hafleyshaking things up and Rich it's a bigger
conversation. We can touch on thisfor a minute. You're seeing some of
this within the college ranks. Ithink ESPN had talked about this news with
(32:55):
Jeff Haffley and they were quoting asource saying, Jeff just wants to coach
football. With all the headaches thatgo on right now with some coaches,
at least their perspective on NIL theportal, it just speaks to the nature
of college athletics. Now you haveto have a different breed of coach to
participate and thrive in that environment.Now you see Jim Harball leaving, Jeff
Hafley's going back to the NFL.It's an interesting time in college athletics.
(33:16):
Oh, it definitely is. Andso to your point, the sources according
to ESPN, this is not directlyfrom Jeff Hafley, but this is from
a source connected with Jeff Haffley,and he's quoted or she's quoted as saying
he wants to go coach football againin a league that is all about football.
(33:37):
College coaching has become fundraising NIL andrecruiting your own team and transfers.
There's no time to coach football anymore. And obviously we're talking football here,
but you could also just transfer thatto basketball. It's the same thing in
terms of what you're dealing with withthe fundraising the NIL and making sure you're
(34:00):
retaining your players, while also youmight have to go recruit some of these
transfers in the transfer portal. Andyou know, I talked about it on
the Richmond Weavers Show earlier this week, and my point was, we can
look at NIL and transfer portal.I don't think it's the aspect of NIL
(34:22):
or transfer portal per se, it'sjust how it has been rolled out by
the NCAA. And that's what hascaused a lot of these issues where these
coaches are getting frustrated because there wasreally no thought in terms of how NIL
would be utilized, how the transferportal would be utilized. And then you
(34:44):
throw in the whole aspect of COVIDhappened all within that same timeframe, so
then all of a sudden, youhave players throughout all college athletics that have
an extra year of eligibility, andso roster management is completely thrown out the
window. As far as how coacheshad known how to manage their rosters.
(35:08):
And then you throw in, obviouslythe transfer portal and how NIL is affecting
some of the transfers that we seein college athletics. I just think we're
putting the emphasis in the wrong placein terms of oh, NIL is bad
or the transfer portal is bad.No, those are not necessarily bad.
(35:29):
It's just how the NCAA rolled themout. Yeah, no doubt about it.
Well, we get back to collegebasketball here, some of the storylines
in the top twenty five, evenwithin the top five, let's just talk
about that what happened last week andcongrats once again. I know Arch rivals
here to Clemson, but South Carolinawith Lamont Paris, they continue to look
very strong early in this season,even the midpoint of the season. As
(35:51):
we get to that middle of February, are going to see them emerging as
a team. People keep talking aboutsixty three to fifty nine win at Tennessee,
their first top five road win inover twenty five years Richmond. Yeah,
and this was a Tennessee team cominginto that game was averaging basically seventy
nine points per game. So tohold them to fifty nine points in Tennessee.
(36:15):
I mean that's significant, but Ithink Lamont Paris from his days back
at Wisconsin, in terms of howhe wants his team to play, it
is going to be much slower pace. You're going to have be more physical,
and that's what I was surprised becausealso Tennessee does a great job as
(36:35):
far as they can slow things downon the defensive side, holding teams to
sixty five points. So they dida good job again only allowing South Carolina
to score sixty three, but theyjust couldn't get anything going offensively. And
kudos to Lamont Paris and the gameCocks there that they were able to stifle
them defensively and then also hit somekey shots down the stretch. And I
(37:00):
think that's what we haven't seen whenyou have a Talan Cooper eighteen points and
hit a huge three pointer with aboutthirty seconds left in that game, and
then you've got Miles Study hitting somebig free throws down the stretch for South
Carolina, And obviously that's a bigconfidence boost for the game Cocks as they
seem to be the surprise in theSEC right now, not only in that
(37:22):
conference, but people are starting totalk about them nationally and how Lamont paris
his name should be in consideration atleast at this stage for national Coach of
the Year. Yeah, no doubtabout a Congrats to them. And then
another stunner that happened last week,and I know you talked about it on
the Richmond Weavers show. I didthe same on game on on Fox Sports
Upstate. You can hear us everysingle week day. By the way,
(37:42):
how about Nathan George and Georgia Techfor the first time in forever, I
think two thousand and five was thelast time they'd beaten a top three team.
They beat North Carolina, a teamthat we were just singing their praises
on this very show last week.And here you go another case example of
an ACC team any given day onthis schedule, a team that was a
(38:02):
nine win team coming into this thing, overcoming a big deficit and getting a
huge win against North Carolina. Yeah, and I think it's more showing that
it's the ACC and conference play.We've talked about it not just relicated to
just the ACC, but it's inevery conference, just like I mean,
(38:24):
South Carolina got beat by Georgia YEPat home earlier this year, and obviously
they've got Georgia today. But theaspect of how hard it is to be
able to go on the road andwin, and regardless of the record,
regardless of how long it's been sinceGeorgia Tech has been able to beat a
(38:46):
team, as you had mentioned.But David Sodomyer, he's doing some positive
things there at Georgia Tech. Andagain, I know they were, you
know, a five game losing streakcoming into that game, but again being
able to make some of those keyshots down the stretch. And then also
there's a little bit of controversy,but you know, was there a foul
at the end North Carolina And obviouslyClemson fans don't want to be talking about
(39:10):
controversial endings. We're talking about itwith fouls, you know, from that
perspective, But again, a bigwin for Georgia Tech, and it just
shows that as good as North Carolinais and this is the parody of college
basketball, So North Carolina will bejust fine. They'll still be, in
my opinion, one of the topteams in the country and seems to be
(39:32):
playing right now like a national contender. But there's no one clear cut favorite,
and even in the ACC obviously,I would say North Carolina it is
a clear cut favorite, but itdoesn't mean they can't get beat No,
not at all. Let's look atthe scoreboard and what's ahead today in the
top twenty five, we'll go inorder of time here underway right now,
Number one Yukon against Saint John's.They just got tipped off a little while
(39:55):
ago. Coming up at two pm. Along with this game, you'll hear
on ninety two point five WEC.You've got Marquette number nine against Georgetown number
twenty five. TCU is hosting Texasnumber seventeen. Utah State traveling the San
Diego State, another team that's agood lot of high host here. Yeah,
you're talking about a team that cameout of nowhere last year. How
about San Diego State, my friend, no, no question. Now it's
(40:16):
a little bit different team, butthere's still a solid team. But the
surprise right now in the Mountain Westis Utah State sitting there nineteen and two
overall, so a big opportunity forthem to continue their resume going on the
road against San Diego State. Allright, some powerhouse matchups here we'll get
to, but let's talk about OklahomaUCUF that's coming up at four pm on
(40:37):
the Big twelve network. Cincinnati atTexas Tech. Auburn number sixteen in the
country, traveling the Old Miss,an Old Miss team that's got eighteen wins
on the board right now here.Garry Gristpeard is another guy head coach for
Ole Miss that his name is incontingent for National Coach of the Year.
Also, all right, powerhouse gameshere. Blue bloods Houston, Kansas number
(40:57):
four, Houston at number eight,Kansas out there in Laura. Yeah.
Now, I wouldn't say necessarily Houstonis a blue blood, but I know
the aspect of it's Kansas that's ablue blood obviously. But what Houston has
been able to do over the pastseveral years with Kelvin Sampson, and this
is a huge matchup in the Bigtwelve. You talking about a defensive team
with Houston. How can they slowKansas down? I think that's going to
(41:21):
be a massive game. A littlebit later this afternoon, Number twenty FAU
tangling with Tulsa coming up at sixpm BYUS Rank twenty second. They're traveling
to West Virginia with the West Virginiaprogram. Obviously that's having a hard time.
Right now at eight and thirteen,blue Blood Alert, here we go,
this will get your attention. Numberseven Duke and number three North Carolina.
(41:42):
Thoughts on that one, Oh,that's I mean, do we have
to even say anything about we knowthat rivalry and what that means for both
of those teams, but also justfrom a perspective of what it means for
college basketball. How many times we'relooking at football and we can say,
Ohio State, Michigan, you knowthe game, you know, Iron Bowl,
(42:06):
when you have Alabama and Auburn,you can obviously look here within the
state Clemson in South Carolina. Obviouslythat's a big rivalry game from that standpoint,
But I don't know if there's abigger rivalry game in college basketball than
Duke in North Carolina. I mean, this is the epitome of teams that
(42:28):
do not like each other, butalso the epitome of teams that historically have
been really, really good and justanother continuation of the series, especially with
them in both of them in thetop ten. I think this is the
forty ninth meeting between the two wherethey've both been in the top ten.
(42:50):
That's unbelievable. That's amazing when youlook at it from that perspective. A
couple other big matchups to keep aneye on. Number twelve Iowa State at
number eighteen Baylor. Of course,you got number five Tennessee looking to come
from that loss against South Carolina teamthat South Carolina also beat earlier in January,
Kentucky tenth in the country. Theytangled at eight thirty on ESPN number
twenty four Alabama hosting Mississippi State.That's a top twenty five round up.
(43:12):
Coming up next. A closer lookat what Virginia is all about this year
is they tangled with Clemson coming upat two pm right here on ninety two
point five WSC. Ninety two pointfive WDSC is the Upstate's new home for
the Clemson Tigers. You got Clemson, you got Virginia. Tipping off here
(44:00):
very shortly on ninety two point fiveWEESC. We're taking up to Clemson Athletic
Network coverage with Don Munson, TimBurray on the call this afternoon, Happy
Saturday to all out there. Thisis the Engles Countdown to tip Off show.
John Ellis Richmond. We were TreyFalco taking you all the way up
to the play by play call herewith the great Don Munson, who I
(44:21):
spoke with last week. And youknow, obviously Don and Tim had some
strong opinions about what happened at Duke, but I think we can all agree
we have turned the page following thisClemson program, and you have no time
to lick your wounds and feel sorryfor yourself when a Tony Bennett team comes
to town. Such is the casetoday, Richard, Oh, no question
about you talking about putting a gamein the mud. That's what Tony Bennett
(44:45):
in Virginia they want to do.They want to slow things down to a
snail's pace. And I know,just from a perspective of what we saw
with Furman in the NCAA Tournament,being able to beat Virginia the way they
did last second shot, just theeuphoria that happened, and knowing that Tony
(45:06):
Bennett now has this opportunity of tryingto get back to the NCAA tournament.
Obviously, but this is a teamthat historically, I mean, it will
make you if you're a college basketballfan that loves offense, well, you
might be in some trouble if youare wanting to watch a Virginia game because
(45:29):
this is a team that, asI said, I mean, they will
slow things down, but they dohave some really talented players that led by
Reese Beakman and Tony Bin over theyears, has had a lot of success
against Clemson. He's had a lotof success overall. Of course, NCAA
champion back in twenty eighteen, twentynineteen, and you look at how they
were able to come back from certainmoments that were heartbreaking moments. It's been
(45:51):
impressive. And they've reset the rostera little bit, but one guy still
remains, Reese Beakman, who rightnow is averaging about thirteen point three points
per game and about rebounds per game. Rich. Yeah, and this is
a guy who he's right on thecusp of a thousand points also, but
he's not the only guy. Now. They obviously lost key Hey Clark and
(46:12):
some experience you know, from thatstandpoint at the guard position. But again,
this is a team that defensively,they're going to continue to slow things
down. Teams are only averaging fiftyseven points. Fifty seven points, yeah
against crazy Virginia. Remember there wasa time Clemson scored sixty points in a
(46:32):
half. Yeah, right, youknow, I mean so that's insane when
you think about it from that standpoint, But that's that's a Tony Bennett team,
that pack line type of defense,and so it's going to be paramount
obviously for Clemson today. They're goingto have to be able to hit some
outside shots, no doubt about it. And it starts with PJ. Hall
from the perimeter. Had a toughnight the other night, but how important
(46:55):
is it to get on the boardsin this game? You saw Clemson offensively
struggle that department. The physicality isgoing to be there in this game.
How important is it in the lowpost for Clemson to put on a good
effort here at Little John Well?Obviously after the poor performance from a defensive
rebound standpoint, that they have tofocus on that also because Virginia is not
a great shooting team either, sothere's going to be those opportunities. But
(47:17):
then obviously on Clemson side, thingsneed to go through PJ. Hall.
They just need to because PJ Hallhe has an advantage in this game,
and why not take advantage of PJHall? Again? PJ Hall doesn't have
to come out there and score twentyfive. Now you'll take that, don't
get me wrong, But you justneed the offense to go through PJ.
(47:39):
Hall. Positive things happen when theball goes through PJ Hall because he's going
to garner double teams at time andif he doesn't, and again, Virginia
does a really good job with hispack line defense and almost it feels like
a zone at times. But he'sgot to be able to find the open
guy. And we've seen that fromPJ Hall in the past. Just named
(48:01):
to the late season Top twenty watchlist there for the John R. Wooden
Awards. So right there at PJHall, Better call Hall, as they
say, better time, time togo, get it done the Hall American.
Yes, boy got a big gametoday. Clemson trails the series overall
fifty four to eighty three, butin Clemson they lead this series thirty five
to twenty seven all time. It'sClemson Virginia, Don Munson, Tim Beray
(48:24):
standing by their live from Little John. They'll take you to the two pm
tip off and give you all theplay by play action for Richmond Weaver,
for Trey Falco. I'm John Ellis. We are brought to you by Ingles
Low Prices. Love the savings atIngles Dashmarkets dot Com. Thanks for listening
to another edition of the Ingles Countdownto tip Off Show. Enjoy the game
all day long right here on ninetytwo point five WSC
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