February 10, 2024 • 48 mins
The Tigers gear up to face down Syracuse in today's matchup! As always, John and Rich preview today's game, and set the scene with interviews, clips from the players, and more!
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W E, S E F M. Greenville, Spardenburg, Andersen. Time
for the Ingles Countdown to tip Offshow, brought to you Pie Ingles Markets,
Low Prices, Love this Abs,Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, Harley Davidton
of Greenville, Rare Flooring Center,the Surgery Center at Pella McGhee eating an
air hand by Palmeadow State Armory.Now Here are your hosts John Alism,
(00:26):
Richmond and Weaver. Dan A gloriousSaturday to each and every one of all
out there listening to us here onninety two point five WeSC getting you ready
for more Clemson basketball action. Happyday today when we're talking about this Tigers
team coming off a big win againstNorth Carolina. The Tigers are back in
action on the road today ACC Gamenumber twelve, Road Game number nine as
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they're traveling to Syracuse to take onthe Orange. I'm John Ellis, produced
by Trey Falco here and that's myco host Richmond Weaver. How you doing
with Fred doing fantastic? It isfully college basketball season as now we're getting
close, what five weeks away fromhaving our bracket. I know everybody wants
to talk the NFL Super Bowl BigGame tomorrow. I get all of that,
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Yes, I understand, but especiallywhen the Clemson Tigers have a big
road victory in Chapel Hill only thesecond time. I know. People have
talked about it all week after theTigers go up to Chapel Hill and get
that victory going into that game onein sixty and I've been saying it for
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quite a while as they were gettingready to play that sixty second game in
Chapel Hill. Nobody beats Clemson sixtyone out of sixty two times. Nobody
does. So we knew Clemson wasgoing to win that game. Yeah,
it was it's time to turn thepage on that. There were some comments
we'll play from you from Croach BradBurnell later in the second segment here,
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talking about it's good to get thatbehind them. It's even Coach Brunell's talked
about getting sick of the araf,getting sick of being asked questions not only
for media but by Clemson fans aboutHey, what's going on with you guys
up in Chapel Hill. Well,we'll talk about that game in detail what
happened here coming up here later inthe show. Yeah, and I think
part of it, too, John, is that not only the narrative as
far as what's going on with theClemson Tigers in Chapel Hill. Yes,
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we know the history, but Ithink there was this narrative building what we
talked about before the game in termsof what's happening to Clemson just overall this
season yep, right now. Obviouslywith the start that they had in the
non conference some of the big winsand then an acc play. Obviously,
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have some tough losses and even anon conference tough loss against Memphis which was
a close game. And then youlose to Duke on the road by one,
lose to Virginia at home by one, you lose to Georgia Tech at
home by three in double overtime.So you can look at that scenario and
I know in sports we do itall the time, but you really can't
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get into that mindset of doing it. But the the what iff? Yeah,
what if Clemson you know, hasan additional eight points, how would
the season look at this point allthey would need? Yes, it could
look completely different. It was abig win, and we'll talk about it
here as we get you ready forSyracuse and Clemson coming up at twelve pm.
You got Don Munson and Jim Davison the call today. Is our
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buddy Tim Bray is doing golf thisweekend. That's right, hey, And
Tim is everywhere. He's got theultimate retirement. He gets just to travel
around and be a color guy fornot only football, for basketball, and
then oh hey, I'll go doan NBC Sports got a tournament and sit
there and help with all the stats. And as much as we like to
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joke as far as me being astat nerd, Tim Bray is the stat
nerd of all stat nerds. Yes, he's AI generated. I think he's
a good human, but I thinkat times the man is like AI.
You just punch him up and say, hey Tim, I need something Tim.
We love you, man. SoClemson getting the big win, a
wire to wire victory Richmond eighty toseventy six over number three North Carolina back
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on Tuesday night. The win wasthe program second ever win on the road
against the Tar Hills, as youmentioned at the top, also the highest
ranked opponent Clemson has beaten on anopponent's home court since January twenty first,
nineteen seventy six. FRED against thoseMaryland Terrapins led by Lefty Drizzel yes,
yeah, the bi centennial. Thatwould have been the last time you could
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see a Clemson win of this manner, of this regard, and it was
just a great game. Look,you talk about shooting. We talked about
this Clemson team had lacked that abilityto come out strong early in games and
make their shots. And sometimes youand I talk about this game and simplify
it down to its basic form.You have to make your shots, yes,
and compete against these great teams.You play against any team. In
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the first half, I mean,look at how they start here, both
teams to contrast and styles. Sixteenof thirty three from the field, that's
forty eight point five percent from Downtown. Good shot selection and good conversion forty
two point nine percent on fourteen attempts, get to the line six times they
knock down five. On the otherhand, good defense in the first half,
really good defense. Eleven of thirtyfive. North Carolina was thirty one
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percent. Let's talk about that firsthalf. Richmond getting off to a fast
start, which was critical in anenvironment at the Dean Smith Center where you're
not used to winning a lot ofgames. I don't even know if critical
is the right word, or canyou emphasize that even more imperative, so
important for the Tigers to come outand punch North Carolina in the nose metaphorically,
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and that's exactly what they were ableto do in this game. And
we talked about it also, John, just in terms of could the Tigers
come into Chapel Hill with some confidenceknowing that, yes, people are going
to be talking about the record onlywinning one time. I get that,
but how could they come out inthis game, especially from the beginning,
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and remove that noise as far astalking about the record that how hard it
is to win there. But canyou then flip it and say, well,
we've done it once before, Yeah, we did it in twenty twenty,
so why can't we do it again? And I think there was something
to be said about how Brad Burnelltalked about that to his team and in
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relation to the loss that the Tigershad against the Tar Hills in Little John
where the Tigers shoot one of eighteenfrom beyond the arc, and how Brad
Burnell seemed to be making sure tosend a message to the team that it
was just a few little things inthat game that lost to North Carolina.
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If we would have done differently,then that would have been a win.
So you can beat this team,you can compete with this team, regardless
of home court, away court,whatever it might be. And I think
that was evident that you saw Clemsoncome out with some confidence there early on,
and you could see it in notonly their mannerisms, but also you
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could start seeing it in the playand the statistics back that up, as
you talked about shooting almost fifty percentfrom the field, shooting forty three percent
from beyond the arc, and thisis a Clemson team that on the season
is shooting thirty five percent from beyondthe arc. So they were in much
better rhythm. And a lot ofthat had to do with the simple fact
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that I think they came out andweren't having the pressure necessarily. And even
though it's ironic, we say that, because there was a lot of pressure
on the Tigers because of how theseason is going. Sure, and you
needed a big win because we're startingto hear the narrative, Oh, the
Clemson Tigers, they're falling off andnow they're going to be a bubble team,
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They're not going to make the NCAAtournament. You know, all of
that narrative that was going on rightnow, pressure to oh, we've got
to win this game. We've gotto win this game. And I think
the Tigers came out and said,you know, we're just gonna go play.
Yeah, We're just going to goplay and not worry about all of
the narratives out there, and alsonot worry about what court they're playing on,
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and obviously that they have not hadsuccess in Chapel Hill in a long
time. Well, and it wasbig too. You're coming off the tough
loss to Virginia of course a coupleweeks back, the tough loss at home
against Georgia Tech in double overtime.And we're gonna get Brunelle's comments later in
the show as well about the natureof the ACC. He keeps pushing home
this conversation, which I think isimportant, the fact that anybody can beat
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anybody on any given day. Youlook at the net rankings where you might
be, Yeah, you look atClemson. He even mentioned this. They're
well down in the ACC standings,and they own that they're five and six
right now. But the fact thatthey can compete and win on the road
against the third ranked team in thecountry, a team that was coming off
a huge win against Duke is huge. I'll ask you about the too.
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There were some comments, some chirpingafter the game from the North Carolina locker
room about maybe, you know,not having their focus for us right,
and we had talked about that alittle bit. Overt know, maybe there
was a bit not of a trapgame mentality, but you know, man,
it's overwhelming when you beat your crosstownrival there and you know, coming
into this game because Clemson, maybethey didn't overlook Clemson, but man,
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the energy quotient just wasn't there earlyin the game for North Carolina, that's
for certain. I think there's definitelysomething to be said about whatever you want
to say, the hangover effect aftera big game like Duke in North Carolina,
that rivalry and the energy that youput into that. Now, I
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say that, and I'm not tryingto give North Carolina an excuse or try
to diminish the effort that Clemson putinto this game, because Clemson they won
this game. It was not NorthCarolina losing this game. Clemson went in
there and they were the aggressor.So all of the kudo go to Clemson,
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and obviously some kudos go to NorthCarolina that they fought back after being
down big in this game and wereable to tie it at seventy there at
the end almost end of the secondhalf. But it was Clemson that ultimately
prevailed because of the grit and thegrind and the confidence that they had.
But I do believe that North Carolinacame into this game just from a perspective
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not as focused in Armando Baycott.As you mentioned, he talked about that
they didn't have a good practice onMonday, and then on Tuesday shoot around
was not great either. There weresome I guess, you know, frustrations
amongst the players, and then forwarm ups there were players that were late,
and you know, so when youhave those type of things going on,
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there just seemed to be some disarraygoing on with the North Carolina team
there as they prepared to take onClemson. And there was also stories about
fans that were going around and whenyou would see on campus still signs up
saying beat Duke, beat Duke,and this is on Tuesday, yes,
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and so it was almost like,oh, that's right, we do have
a game on Tuesday, and we'restill focused on Duke. It's an afterthought,
yes, team, but the fans. That's right. I think there
is something to be said about that. Well, in good teams like Clemson.
We've talked about this on this show, you and I both how talented
they are, how well coached theyare, and how it's just been a
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shot here or a shot there.Yeah, if there was indeed some type
of lull or strife behind the scenesof North Carolina, good teams make you
pay for that, and that's exactlywhat you look at what Clemson was able
to do. That's exactly what they'reable to do to come up with a
seventeen to four advantage in the openingSTANDSA there. I was stunned seeing that.
I know Clemson's good, but manseventeen to four lead. Yes,
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you don't see that too often.You geinst North Carolina, especially this year.
And that's why I know people cantalk about Clemson getting that victory in
twenty twenty that was a North Carolinateam that was completely different than this team.
People can say, oh, well, you caught North Carolina on a
down year in twenty twenty. Well, I can promise you here in twenty
twenty four, this is not adown year for North Carolina. This is
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a really good team and they area national contender. Now. I do
think there are some deficiencies there andwe saw some of that, and part
of it was Cormack Ryan could notget going from the field, and he's
been a difference maker in my opinionfor North Carolina the Notre Dame transfer,
just from his outside shooting perspective.He was one of ten from the field
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and zer of six from beyond thearc, and he's a guy that opens
up the spacing so much for NorthCarolina. But with him not getting into
the game offensively, that put NorthCarolina in a buying there. And then
you couple that with RJ. Davisdidn't have a good first half and he's
an All American candidate for the TarHill, and so there was that aspect
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of they just from a perimeter offensively, they couldn't get things going. But
Armando Baycott, he was still doinghis work. It was a great matchup
to watch him and PJ. Hallgo after it. Yeah, those are
such great comments there, Richmond,and I thought watching that game just compelling
theater, if you will. Inthe ACC when you're talking about Baycot and
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Hall, and let's talk for aminute about Ian Shefflin. I mean the
chef, the chef ten used tocook my friend, especially in the second
half of this game. That's wherehe did most of his damage. In
terms of scoring, rebounding. Youbring down eleven rebounds, three on the
offensive glass, which is something coachBrenell will talk about here shortly on the
show, the advantage they had interms of rebounding and the fact that they
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got back on the wagon there,if you will, in terms of getting
those rebounds on the offensive side.Cheflin had fourteen points, eleven rebounds,
was five to seven from the field, and had twelve of those points in
the second half. A big nightfor the Chef and his sixth double double
of the season and his seventh ofhis career. And I'm telling you right
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now, there's no doubt that heis in consideration for acc most improved player
this season. What he's been ableto do and he's basically averaging a double
double. I mean, that isimpressive in itself from that standpoint, and
so what he continues to bring thatswagger, And there was that play where
he gets fouled and has an opportunityfor an and one, and after he
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gets fouled, he turns and he'swalking back to the free throw line to
celebrate with his teammates, and he'sgiven that facial expression in that little shimmy,
you know, and just like yeah, just like get off me,
right, And that's what Clemson needs. They need those type of guys,
and we see that energy from PJ. Hall. But it's great when you
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can have somebody else that can have, you know, that type of perspective.
And speaking of PJ Hall, thiswas interesting and this has made its
way around some of the college basketballyou know, pundits out there and celebrating
PJ. Hall. We know he'sa competitor. We know how aggressive he
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can be and he can get intoa game and like we saw with him
and Armando Baycott going at it witheach other. But there was a play
in that second half where Harrison Ingramgets hurt in that game in the game
and PJ Hall, while the playis going on, he sees it.
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And then finally there's a stoppage andit's PJ Hall attending to Harrison Ingram who
is in the middle of cramps andhaving a leg issue. And it is
just something that you don't normally see. And I loved that. A lot
of the college basketball pundits were reallymaking a big you know, making or
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bringing attention to that that, Hey, look how this guy is such a
competitor and the ultimate competitors for Clemson, but at the end of the day,
he's just a good human being.And look that, you know,
he's attending to an opponent on theirhome court. I just thought it was
a special moment. I saw it. I thought it was a cool moment
too. And I didn't see itin real time. I didn't notice it
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that much. But when they showedthe clips on Twitter and x and all
the social media outlets out there,and you could see a lot of,
like you said, the people thatfollow college hoops a lot closer than I
think I do. We're making,you know, a good point to say,
Hey, this is a great showof sportsmanship by a guy who,
as you mentioned, you know,you're coming off a twenty five point game
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here, eight of twenty from thefield, kicking in nine rebounds, and
you certainly can't call him anything buta fiery competitor, but to still take
a moment to one of his competitorsa great show of sportsmanship. Yeah,
right in the middle of a criticalpart of the game. It was right
in the middle of the crazy stillmanaged to keep his eye on the ball.
It was like, yeah, you'redoing okay, Ef, Yeah,
I got this going on here.Play was still going on and he's you
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know, bended now intending to hersand Ingram I thought it was very special
and obviously you know what he's beenable to do in some of these key
games. And that was the otherthing that we talked about John, that
for Clemson to be able to beatNorth Carolina on the road, and we
know how hard it is for teamsto win on the road in the ACC,
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Clemson was going to have to havetheir stars play like stars, and
Joe Girard and PJ Hall they playedlike stars, and obviously the chef Ian
Shefflin he continued stellar play, butit was really led by PJ Hall playing
to that type of level where heis also in consideration for an ACC into
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the Season award, and that wouldbe ACC Player of the Year. There's
no question that he is not inthat discussion. Well, coming up on
the show, we're going to talkabout net rankings, the top twenty five,
some key games to look out forToday, We're also going to dive
to this opponent today, Syracuse.What are they all about? As Joe
Gerard makes a bit of a homecominghome. Yeah, I'm went back to
Syracuse. Coming up next, BradBurnell, we'll hear from him his comments
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from the postgame. Certainly a moreenergetic, happier Brad Brunell after this game
had some interesting comments about the winat North Carolina. It's Clemson Syracuse Today,
getting you ready for tip off atnude. This is the Ingles Countdown
to tip Off Show. You gotus live here on ninety two point five
WSC ninety two point five WDS isthe Upstate's new home with a Clemson Tigers.
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Big game today for Clemson, ofcourse, they're fifteen to seven,
five and six in the ACC travelingto Syracuse to take on the Orange.
They are fifteen and eight, sixand six in conference play. You've got
it locked into the Ingles Countdown totip Off Show. That's Richmond Weaver,
I'm John Ellis Trey Falco in thehouse as well. We are brought to
you as always by Ingles Low Prices, love the savings Ingles dash markets dot
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Com and here we like to takea little time during the show as always
to share some commentary from coach BradBurnell. Never short on comments, never
short on thoughts after the game,and here were Brad Brunell's thoughts after the
big win in North Carolina. Well, certainly a great win for our guys.
Really happy for my players. We'vewe've had some close losses here recently,
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and I've said many times I thinkwe're playing better than our ACC record,
but I think our league is goodand I don't think it's getting the
credit it deserves in some ways.And you know, we haven't finished some
games, and today we were ableto do that. Obviously. The great
start, probably as good as halfas we've played all year, was the
first half, and then we justheld on. The crowd was great,
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they got some life and came backat us, certainly, but our guys
finished, which was really nice tosee. So really happy for my players.
We've been working really hard and they'vestayed connected and stayed positive through some
of the adversity. And I gota lot of great kids in there,
so hopeful that you know, youkeep working good things having to good people.
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So today was that day. CertainlyA happy coach Brunelle after the big
win, and he talked about this, the team's composure down the stretch to
capture this win in a season wherethere's been so many close losses. Here's
the coach on that. Now,we've been good most of the year.
You know, sometimes we've made somepoor plays. Sometimes we've had some tough
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breaks. You know, we've hada shot or two go in against us,
you know, waning seconds, andwe've had a couple of chances to
win one. Obviously against Virginia wehad to ball in the back of the
rim. You know, you're twoinches shorter, and we win. So
the outlook is completely different. Andthat's one of the things I told our
players is try to encourage them thatwe're playing better than our record. If
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we can just build some momentum thatwe've proven that we wanted Alabama, who's
winning the SEC. We just knockedoff Carolina. We've played Duke to the
last second on other people's court.So I think you know that takes composure,
it takes good basketball play. AndRichmond, we talked about it last
week. Offensive rebounding was a bitof a bugaboo for this team and something
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Brad Brunell had talked about in thepostgame presser was getting back after it on
the offensive glass. Here's coach Brunellon attacking the rebounding. Yeah, No,
it was important, and that's youknow, that's what Ian Shefflin does.
PJ does a good job of it. Yeah. We you know,
one thing we do is we havewe always have somebody under the basket almost
all the time, not all thetime, but a majority of the time.
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And other times we have guys comeinto the basket. So you know,
it's a little more of an emphasiswith our team, even more this
year than last, and obviously ithelped us for extra possessions, free throws,
getting fouled. You know, Iwas proud of the way our guys
played at the end. I thoughtwe were pretty aggressive. We got downhill
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on some plays, got some fouls, got some offensive rebounds, but didn't
just settle. Yeah, And Ithink that's one of the big factors in
this game is that Clemson came outwith that mindset that they were going to
attack the boards and not allow teamsto have a big opportunity on the offensive
glass, which we saw in acouple of games. And that's been a
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scenario where it seemed to be AchillesHill for Clemson over the past several games
in those losses, giving up someof those key offensive rebounds. But Clemson
did a great job against North Carolinaon the glass. The coach was also
asked about defense, what was theirstrategy and how did they deploy this against
North Carolina, But he mentioned theoffense is a complimentary piece through the defense
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here. Well, we mixed insome zone and I thought it helped us
at times and at other times itwasn't as effective as we would have liked,
you know, But I just Ithought we competed, and I thought
our offense helped our defense. Weonly had five turnovers. He turned them
all over and take a lot ofbad shots and Caroline is going to get
out and run against you. Ithought we had a good mix to our
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offense. Certainly we had a lotof threes early, but I thought we
were cutting and moving and the ballwas moving extremely well. I thought we
got tired at times, and thenNorth Carolina, you know, came after
us, which they're going to do. And I mean, this environment is
hard to play in. The crowdwas into it really because we jumped on
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him. The crowds like, waita minute, we better help tonight,
and they did, and so wehad to withstand all of that, and
you know, we're very fortunate.And not lost on Brenell was the fact
that PJ Hall got himself in somefoul trouble and here he talks about the
fact that, hey, how importantwas it for PJ down the stretch to
stay out of foul trouble to beable to finish that game? Big?
I mean, I was really upsetwith him on his third file because I
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thought it was, you know,one of those one on one blockouts that
he didn't win. And obviously Armando'she's a load. I mean, he's
a tremendous player, but he's gotto try to win that for us to
win these games. And so obviouslywe talked about it when he was sitting
down and coming over, and youknow, Pj's an unbelievable kid. I
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mean, he's a terrific player,but he's a better person than kid,
and he wants to win so bad. And I think that's part of why
he's not shooting the ball well,is he's putting so much pressure on himself
to help carry this team that youknow, I've tried to just tell him
to relax and enjoy this, andtoday he played much freer once he saw
the first one go in. Hewas he was outstanding veteran guys like PJ.
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Hall. There has to be ascenario that starts playing out that you
have to be able to learn toplay with three or four fouls in certain
games because games they get obviously biggeras the season progresses, and how important
they are, and especially down thestretch of games, how important it is
that you have your superstars out thereand you have to have a PJ.
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Hall out on the court. Andso I think it is a scenario where
at this stage in Pj's career thatBrad Burnell he has to lean on him
and trust him that, hey,PJ, you know the importance of this
game. You know, we wantyou to still play solid defense, but
you've got to play smart and you'vegot to be able to be on the
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court for us because offensively, wehave to have you rich to your point.
Earlier, Coach Brnell had talked aboutafter the game, a point here
or a point there, you know, in the acc can be all the
difference in the world, even earlyin the season, here's Brad Brunell on
the importance of closing out and winningclose games. You know, I think
we always forget about. We hadtwo games early in the year Uab and
Davidson in a tournament that you know, we didn't play as well, and
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Uab had his beat and we wanton a late drive and foul and big
free throws for our guys, andthen Davidson on one by three and they
had a couple of threes at theend and missed, And so then you
have some games that you lose atthe end and people kind of forget that,
Hey, we have one a fewnow down the stretch, and our
guys know that. We remind ourguys of that, but certainly when you
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haven't done it recently, it feelsgood to make some plays down the stretch.
Our guys made some plays on bothends and made a couple of big
free throws, and you know,minus Pj's last pass there, I don't
know what really he was thinking,but beyond that, we were pretty good.
And he's absolutely right. He alsomentioned something we've talked about, the
error of the A C C gettinga little bit downplayed by some maybe in
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the media, maybe some fans outthere. Here's Brad Burn now talking about
how hard it is and how vitalit is to win in the ACC.
I mean good play and will towin and confidence and poise, you know.
Again, I think our guys havehung in there this There's a lot
of good teams. There's not muchdifference between all of us, right,
I mean, we're four and sixth. Carolina's third in the country, like
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and we're I don't know, Idon't even know what place we're in.
It's not good. And but youknow, Georgia Tech is beating Clemson Duke
and North Carolina. I mean,there's just a lot of really good teams
in our league, and it ishard to win, Like if you don't
have one of your main guys playwell, or if you have a bad
shooting night, or you know,the other team has a good shooting night
like we did the start, likeyou know, I mean, if North
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Carolina's like, these guys haven't madea shot in you know, months,
and now we made a bunch inthe first half. I mean, that's
that's sometimes basketball, and I thinkthat's hard for people to understand that,
you know, sometimes we're just we'reshooting thirty percent from three in the league
play. We shot almost forty innon league. It's not a lot different,
right the games we're losing if wejust make one one to three and
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two threes and some like we could. You know, the Carolina game,
the first game was back and forthgame and it was almost fifty five all
with a couple of minutes to go, we're one for eighteen from three.
We can't make a shot. Andso some of it is basketball and some
of it is just, you know, convincing your guys to hang in there
and keep battling. And you know, it's hard because the kids want to
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do well, and you know they'redown, but they've done a really good
job of coming to practice and stilltrying to work. We continue to try
to keep them positive, and certainlythis helps a lot because North Carolina's true
if the team all right and CoachBrown now is so correct. How long
have we been talking about it,since we've started here this season talking about
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ACC games that you never know what'sgoing to happen. And that's why,
yes, North Carolina seems to bethe heavy favorite to win the regular season
and potentially win the ACC Conference tournament. Championship. But I'm telling you each
and every night, you never knowwhat's going to happen. And that's why
even for the Tigers today against Syracuseon the road, and we know Syracuse
(28:55):
is a team that has struggled attimes obviously, and this is a scenario
where Clemson still has to be readyto play even on the road. Yeah,
no doubt about it. We've seenwhat happened just a couple of weeks
ago against teams like Georgia Tech andothers at home. Especially on the road,
you got to have your best gameand put your best foot forward here
in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Onething that Brad Burnell sounds excited about from
(29:18):
the postgame presser was the fact thatthey can finally maybe put to bed a
little the narrative and the commentary aboutwell what can you do at you and
see why can't you ever win atChapel Hill. Here's Brad Burnell on that.
Yeah, I'm just really happy formy guys. You know, the
first one is different the second one. Now we're just playing basketball. You
know, I didn't have any questions. I haven't had questions in a couple
(29:40):
of years, which has been nice. I used to get questions in the
summer, you know what I mean, not even the week of the game,
but in the summer, you know, not only from media, but
from like the Clemson fan base,and so to kind of put that behind
you, you know, is good. Now it's just playing basket and Richmond
he's so right, you know,he talked about look, you know,
media even fans have been bugging himfor a while here. If those are
(30:02):
my words, not his, butgenerally speaking, that's kind of what he's
getting at. He was kind oftired, his team was tired of hearing
it go in there and put astamp on it. It's not two out
of what sixty two? Now,No, it's two out of three.
That's right. Yes, it's nottwo out of sixty. Yes, it's
two out of three. It's herein uh this decade or whatever, there're
sixty seven percent against the North Carolina. So I like those type of stats.
(30:26):
Yeah, So don't think about that. Overall, this series is twenty
three and one, twenty four infavor of the Tar Hills. Don't worry
about that. Only worry about rightnow what's going on and moving forward and
how can you utilize that big winon the road against the Tar Hills,
the number three team in the country, and now going up against the Syracuse
(30:49):
Orange and in JMA Wireless Dome thereobviously not the Carrier Dome anymore. I
still refer to it as a carrierthe same with me every time. It's
just ingrain. Remember almost great dayswith Jim Behim coaching up there, and
of course they played football. It'sstill do in that arena with Donovan McNabb
back in the day. Yeah,I still call it the same thing.
(31:10):
Brad Burn now closed out his pressconference. There was a question about almost
beating Duke, and again there's nouh, you know, victories here from
a moral standpoint, but he didtalk about the fact that the environment at
Duke and competing at a close levelagainst that team in that hostile environment served
them well in this game. Idon't know that it was extra motivation or
(31:30):
anything like that. I just Ithink there's a confidence that comes from playing
in tough environments against really tough teamslike North Carolina, Duke, Alabama and
playing well in those environments. Itgives you confidence the next time. Certainly,
are you know our guys are competitiveguys. I don't think, you
know, we don't think, wedon't we didn't lack confidence, but the
(31:52):
boost and the way we started is, you know, is the joke that
you kind of need, you kindof need something like that to just reassure
you a little bit. I thinkthat helped everybody tonight. And Richmond,
I think he's right. You know, he talks about it here in this
comment, and he's talked about itwith his team. You know, you
can gain some perspective and some strengththey think is the team. You're a
former coach, you know this.You go into an environment like Duke.
(32:13):
It's a heartbreaking loss. A lotof fans in media will tell you the
cover Clemson, it should have beena win. We all know what happened
there, but it wasn't. Butyou can gain some strength from that knowing,
hey, you went toe to toewith Duke in that environment, and
let's carry that over right down TobaccoRoad in Chapel Hill. Yeah. And
I think that's a big part ofwhat Brad Bernail's message was to the team
is that, hey, we're ohso close. It's not like you're not
(32:37):
able to compete with these teams.Even against North Carolina at home in Little
John where you shoot one of eighteen, like I mentioned, from beyond the
arc, I mean, a fewother shots fall. That's a completely different
game. So they've shown the abilityto compete with the best of the best
in the ACC and it can onlygive you more confidence. And obviously that's
(32:59):
what I felt the difference how theTigers came out. They looked confident,
they look like more of the aggressor, and we're ready for the Tar Hills.
Well more aggression hopefully on the wayfor Clemson today. Another road game.
This is at Syracuse. Tip offcoming up at noon Eastern right here
on ninety two point five WeSC.Don Munson, Jim Davis on the call.
(33:20):
Coming up next, we'll take alook around the country, what's going
on in the top twenty five lately. We'll get into the middle of that
and we'll start talking about the matchupsbetween the Tigers and the Orange coming up
here at noon. This is theIngles Countdown to tip Off Show ninety two
point five WSC ninety two point fiveWDESC is the Upstate look at the song
(33:52):
selection from Trey Falco today Range Crush. I well see that today the Clemson
Tigers taking on the Orange today upin Syracuse. Tip off coming up here
shortly at noon. You got,of course, our good friend don Munson
and Jim Davis sitting in today andcoach coach Jim Davis well reached your tom
(34:12):
at Clemson. That's right, greatguy, yeah one, absolutely love coach
Davis, great guy and great coach. And of course he'll be calling this
game with our good friend Donny Munsoncoming up at noon eastern right here on
the Clemson Athletic Networks coverage provided bythem here on ninety two point five w
SC. Don't know if you guysheard or not, but there is a
huge game coming up tomorrow. It'sthe Super Bowl. Let's go, baby.
(34:35):
Yeah, that's right. T Islike, what what game is this?
Well? As a Steelers fan,Trey, let me tell you this,
it's not the Steelers this year.I'm sorry again. Uh oh ye,
little faith, you're Steelers. Youdid get a new offensive coordinator,
Arthur Smith. We did next year, nexteing the year right that. This
year, well, you find yourquarterback, you might be on your way.
There's two good ones playing this week. You got Brock Purdy going against
Patrick Mahomes. We might give ourSuper Bowl picks here later in the show.
(34:58):
You never know, but a bigand tomorrow for the big game,
stopping and get everything you need atIngles low prices. Love the savings.
You got big parties going on thisweekend. They have you covered. Never
too late to stop in Ingles toget everything you need for the big day
on Sunday, low prices. Lovethe savings Ingles, Dash Markets dot Com.
So Clemson, of course coming intrying to crawl back to five hundred
(35:19):
in this ACC. I was justchecking out the net rankings, Rich,
and it looks like they've got alittle thing going here in the ACC.
With the net rankings. Five teamsright now in the top thirty five,
including Virginia Wake Forest, Clemson,Duke in North Carolina, Clemson hovering right
there, I think, around twentynine right now in the net rankings.
And so for all the talk aboutthe ACC, you got five quality teams
(35:39):
right there nestled into that top thirtyfive. Yeah, But the narrative is
right now is that there's not manya ACC teams that are going to make
the NCAA tournament course, right,Yes, And that's what's crazy. So
I've been keeping track of this justin terms of really just trying to understand
the narrative behind that the ACC isa weaker conference right now. And so
(36:02):
we'll bring the statnerd guy out righthere. All right, So I'm gonna
give you some We're gonna give yousome stats, right, Yes, here
we go. So here the numberof teams in the top thirty five of
the net rankings. And people candebate about the net rankings all day long,
but we know that is important criteriathat seems to be part of the
(36:22):
narrative as far as how you're measuringsome of these teams. So the Big
Twelve has seven in the top thirtyfive. Yep, the Mountain West has
four, and the ACC has five. So the record of those teams in
non conference top fifty games, okay, non conference top fifty games, the
(36:45):
Big Twelve is ten and eight atfifty five percent, the Mountain West as
four and three at fifty seven percent, and the ACC is ten and six
at sixty three percent. But they'resaying that the Big Twelve is going to
get ten teams in the NCAA Tournament. The Mountain West five teams in the
(37:08):
ACC would only get four, andthat's up from what some were suggesting that
there would only be three ACC teamsthat would get into the NCAA Tournament.
So I think there's an aspect of, again, hey, are we looking
at all of the right data here? Just in terms of the Big twelve.
(37:29):
I know they're getting a lot oflove right now, but they just
not really playing anybody in the nonconference, and the people that they did
play, it's not like they overwhelmedpeople in the non conference either. So
I just don't feel the ACC isgetting enough respect just from an overall picture
standpoint. And I'm not saying theACC needs to have eight teams in the
(37:53):
NCUBA Tournament. I'm not saying thatat all. That's not accurate, five
or acceptable, but six is avery reasonable number when you start looking at
the ACC standings. And we'll talkmuch more about the ACC. But you've
got North Carolina, you've got Virginia, if you've got Duke wake Forest,
Florida State, Inn C State,Miami, Pitt, Syracuse, Clemson,
(38:15):
And I know that, yes,maybe a pit is not a team that's
in Cuba bound in c State,Florida State, Miami is struggling right there.
But when you're talking North Carolina,Virginia, Duke, and Clemson and
Wake Forest. I think all fiveof those are legitimate n C DOUBLEA tournament
teams. They passed the eye testto me. I mean when I look
(38:36):
at these teams, they feel likethey should be. And again looking at
what Joe Lenardi does here for ESPN, you know he released something later this
week Bracket Watch. Top overall seedper Due. First team out would be
Saint John. So obviously we gotgames going on today. We'll keep a
close eye on those. Last teamin would be Cincinnati on the bubble right
now. The last four byes wouldbe Nebraska, Butler, Old Miss in
(38:57):
Florida, last four in mississip State, Washington State, Seaton Hall in Cincinnati.
First four out Saint John's, WakeForest. There's another ACC team,
yeah, Colorado, Nevada. Inthe next four I would be Providence,
Xavier, Villanova, and Memphis.And it looks like Clemson, as a
Lenardi sees it right now, wouldbe a seventh seed going seven to ten
in Omaha against Florida. So that'skind of where he has it at the
(39:21):
moment. But again all subject tochange. Amitted by minute. Oh of
course, yes, I mean westill have plenty of basketball. Now.
I know, in all respects tothe totality of the season, we don't
have much basketball left, but westill have enough games that you can have
a lot of movement and a lotof scenarios that will play out differently as
the season progresses. As far aswhere these turn, where these teams are
(39:45):
going to land. Yeah, Leonardoagain got Big twelve with ten teams right
now according to his bracketology. We'llsee that plays out. I remember how
tense it was for Clemson fans lastyear down the streetch of course, I
think Lenardi came on your show onthe Richmond We were showing game on last
year with us on Fox Sports Upstate. Here us on three pm to six
pm weekdays on Fox Sports Upstate.By the way, tune in. We'd
(40:05):
love to have you. But yeah, you just kind of was given the
warning shot that ain't Clemson fans beworrying. You just want to get to
a point where there's no stress atthe end. This team is so good,
they're so well built for a deeprun in the tournament. I think
you just hope there's no hiccups downthe stretch. We'll see at noon today
if they can tackle the Orange.Here we'll give you an update on who
they're going to be facing in termsof Syracuse's lineup coming up at noon eastern
(40:27):
as well. You got Yukon tanglingwith Georgetown, number one in the country,
Yukon twenty one and two, numbereleven Wisconsin. They've had a bit
of an up and down week herethey're taking on Rutgers on the road.
That's at noon on the Big tennetwork. And then number sixteen Alabama sixteen
and seven, eight and two inthe SEC, and you got LSU at
twelve and ten they're going on theroad the LSU Alabama is that's starting here
at noon eastern as well. Andagain that's a very interesting dynamics right now
(40:51):
in the SEC at the top whereyou've got, of course Alabama and then
all of a sudden, Lamont Paris'is game Cocks. I know this is
a Clemson show. You gotta givethem a hat tip though. They've done
a heck of a job and theywere picked I think last in the conference
this year, picked last in theSEC, and they are in first place
in the SEC conference standings right now. And now I know you can say,
(41:12):
well, no, they're not becauseyou've got Alabama and Auburn right there
for the same record, but they'retied. So they are in first place.
Yes, exactly, that's what itsays. So and that's obviously after
the big victory for Auburn against Alabamaand obviously some of the images and video
out there that we saw from thatgame earlier this week where Auburn's getting the
(41:37):
victory and there's a big dunk andCharles Barkley's on the sidelines and he's raising
his arms up and he's yelling tothe crowd, you know, and he's
all excited as obviously a faithful Auburnfan as one of the greats and maybe
the greatest Auburn basketball player that we'veever seen. But he was there celebrating
(41:57):
the Auburn Tigers as they get thatvictory over Alabama, which then calls that
three way tie for first place forSouth Carolina led by Lamont Paris to be
sitting there in first place, andmake no mistake about it, Lamont Paris
his name is in consideration for NationalCoach of the Year. Oh, I
mean, ever where you look,you see his name brought up as coach
of the week here by some writeror there, and then I think he's
(42:19):
done a great job. They takeon Vanderbilt today down there in Columbia.
That's always you know, again,the SEC, you can never tell they
should handle their business in this one. Twenty and three right now are the
game Cocks. They host the sixand sixteen Vanderbilt Commodorees. That's coming up
at one pm on the SEC network. Number nine Dukes back in action today.
They're hosting Boston Colleges at a twopm at Cameron Indoors Stadium. You
(42:42):
can find that on ESPN. Numberten. Illinois traveling to Michigan State tom
Izzo, and it's never an easyplace to play. I don't care what
the record is, that's right,Yes, in Michigan State has been an
anomaly this season, just completely fallingoff and being very inconsistent relative to what
we see from tom Izzo's teams.And that's what It's a little bit of
a surprise. But to your point, John, it would only be appropriate
(43:06):
that tom Izzo wins this game today, You or I should say the Spartans
win this game against Illinois. Yeah, it's a tom is a type of
day. I'm feeling it He's alwaysgame for a big type of game like
that. Iowa was state still fourteenthin the country, seventeen and five.
Right now, there's six and threein the Big Twelve. They're taking on
TCU at two pm. And you'vegot Auburn Florida tangling today. Auburn number
(43:27):
twelve in the country, eight andtwo in the conference. You mentioned them
earlier. They're taking on Florida downthere in Gainesville at three thirty. Have
about number three North Carolina traveling downto see our good friend Jim Larnega and
Miami. Larenega was not happy whenthey gave I think they scored with fifteen
sixteen points in the first half againstVirginia a few days ago. He talked
about it after the game. Hewas not very pleased about their performance.
This feels like a bit of agame where Miami could bounce back and beat
(43:51):
this North Carolina team. To me, this was a team Miami Hurricanes that
scored thirty eight total points a collegebasketball game against Virginia. They lose sixty
to thirty eight. Oh boy,there in Charlottesville. I mean, that
is absolutely insane. And there wasscenarios that we saw where Jim Larenega.
(44:15):
There's a time out, and youknow, the Hurricanes come over there to
the bench, and typically those thirtysecond timeouts, obviously you're not sitting down,
you're standing up, and so coachescome out there and talk to the
team while everybody's standing there. Well, in this one, Larenega didn't even
get off the bench. He stays, he stayed on the bench and it's
(44:42):
like, you guys aren't going togive any effort. Then I'm just gonna
say it right here. And hesat on the bench while his team huddled
up and the assistant coaches were handlingthings. And then at the press conference,
he ended the press conference shortness andmade his statement and then walked out
basically said he was over it.That's a it's like a Belichick par Sales
move in football, like I'm notgetting up. We're not going to play
(45:02):
better than this. Yeah, wellthey got the full Tony Bennett treatment.
To say the least thirty eight points. That's crazy. But let's see if
they can bounce back and maybe stunnNorth Carolina today. The ACC has been
crazy. You got Houston at Cincinnatitoday, that's going to be a tip
off at four pm on ESPN two. The Zags. They're taking on Kentucky
today. Kentucky seventeenth in the country. They are ten and three right now
(45:25):
at home, sixteen and six.Overall, interesting season for Kentucky as they're
looking to get a win against aZags team that we're not used to seeing
outside the top twenty five. That'sright, yes, and this is unique
scenario also playing out, which Ido love when you throw in a non
conference game during the middle of theconference season for both of these teams.
(45:46):
And this is a home and hometype of scenario for both Gonzaga and Kentucky.
So it's great from a college basketballstandpoint that you have a unique matchup,
especially there in rupp Arena, nodoubt about it. Some more big
games day, Mame. We've gota big slate coming up here four pm
UCF and number twenty three Texas Tech. How about this one six pm,
number thirteen Baylor take it on toKansas Richmond. There we go, Taylor.
(46:08):
There won't be in their two hundredmillion dollar competence I was talking about
it, but they will be inthe I guess the Palace of college basketball.
How everyone who describe it Allenfield Houseand one of the most iconic,
if not the most iconic, collegebasketball venues in the country. Number seven
(46:28):
Marquette quietly potting along there at seventeenand five. They're hosting Saint John's today
in a big game in the BigEast. That's a six pm tip off
on FS one. Number two perDue, they roll along at twenty one
and two right now, big gameagainst Indiana. You got number six Tennessee
at Texas A and M number twentyfive New Mexico hosting UNLV Arizona at Colorado,
number twenty one BYU hosting Kansas State, and then Utah State, number
(46:52):
twenty two in the country hosting BoiseState. That's a look around the top
twenty five. Coming up next,we'll cap this one off with a look
at Syracuse in detail. Who arewe facing today for Clemson. We'll give
you the details on that right hereon the Ingles count Down to tip Off
Show ninety two point five w dS is the Upstates new home for the
Clemson Tigers. Count you up totip off here. We got Don Munson,
(47:17):
Jim Davis taken over here in afew minutes on the Clemson Athletic Network.
That's Richmond Weaver. I'm John ellisisthe Ingles count Down to tip Off
show, brought to you by InglesLow Prices. Love the Savings, Richmond.
When you look at the Syracuse team, obviously a team that's got six
winnings in the ACC. They knowJoe Gerard quite well. They played for
the Lan Yes, they do.That's right. Final thoughts on this game,
my friend, Yeah, I thinkthis comes down to, obviously,
(47:38):
how can the Tigers be able toutilize that big win in Chapel Hill and
use that momentum. Judah Menz isa guy that you're going to have to
be able to defend there for theSyracuse Orange. But it goes back to
the simple aspect of Clemson on theroad. You have to have your stars
play. They did that in ChapelHill, and it's going to be pj
(47:59):
h. He has to be afactor in this game. And then obviously
how will Joe Girard, how willhe be going back to Syracuse and not
allowing Obviously the game itself overwhelmed thescenario of how important this game on the
road is also for the Tigers.Yeah, a lot of emotional components of
this game, and Clemson looks tostabilize and continue to stabilize their acc campaign.
(48:23):
Right now, they're five and six. This win gets them back to
five hundred. We'll see how itgoes today. It's the fifteenth all time
meeting between Syracuse and Clemson. Comingup in just a minute. You'll hear
from Don Munson and Jim Davis takenover play by play here on the Clemson
Athletic Networks coverage Curtsey of ninety twopoint five WSC for Richmond Weaver for Trey
Falco. I'm John Ellis. Enjoythe big game today. We'll see you
(48:45):
next time on the Engles count Downto tip Off Show, ninety two point five WSC
W E, S E F M. Greenville, Spardenburg, Andersen. Time
for the Ingles Countdown to tip Offshow, brought to you Pie Ingles Markets,
Low Prices, Love this Abs,Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, Harley Davidton
of Greenville, Rare Flooring Center,the Surgery Center at Pella McGhee eating an
air hand by Palmeadow State Armory.Now Here are your hosts John Alism,
(00:26):
Richmond and Weaver. Dan A gloriousSaturday to each and every one of all
out there listening to us here onninety two point five WeSC getting you ready
for more Clemson basketball action. Happyday today when we're talking about this Tigers
team coming off a big win againstNorth Carolina. The Tigers are back in
action on the road today ACC Gamenumber twelve, Road Game number nine as
(00:51):
they're traveling to Syracuse to take onthe Orange. I'm John Ellis, produced
by Trey Falco here and that's myco host Richmond Weaver. How you doing
with Fred doing fantastic? It isfully college basketball season as now we're getting
close, what five weeks away fromhaving our bracket. I know everybody wants
to talk the NFL Super Bowl BigGame tomorrow. I get all of that,
(01:11):
Yes, I understand, but especiallywhen the Clemson Tigers have a big
road victory in Chapel Hill only thesecond time. I know. People have
talked about it all week after theTigers go up to Chapel Hill and get
that victory going into that game onein sixty and I've been saying it for
(01:34):
quite a while as they were gettingready to play that sixty second game in
Chapel Hill. Nobody beats Clemson sixtyone out of sixty two times. Nobody
does. So we knew Clemson wasgoing to win that game. Yeah,
it was it's time to turn thepage on that. There were some comments
we'll play from you from Croach BradBurnell later in the second segment here,
(01:56):
talking about it's good to get thatbehind them. It's even Coach Brunell's talked
about getting sick of the araf,getting sick of being asked questions not only
for media but by Clemson fans aboutHey, what's going on with you guys
up in Chapel Hill. Well,we'll talk about that game in detail what
happened here coming up here later inthe show. Yeah, and I think
part of it, too, John, is that not only the narrative as
far as what's going on with theClemson Tigers in Chapel Hill. Yes,
(02:22):
we know the history, but Ithink there was this narrative building what we
talked about before the game in termsof what's happening to Clemson just overall this
season yep, right now. Obviouslywith the start that they had in the
non conference some of the big winsand then an acc play. Obviously,
(02:42):
have some tough losses and even anon conference tough loss against Memphis which was
a close game. And then youlose to Duke on the road by one,
lose to Virginia at home by one, you lose to Georgia Tech at
home by three in double overtime.So you can look at that scenario and
I know in sports we do itall the time, but you really can't
(03:05):
get into that mindset of doing it. But the the what iff? Yeah,
what if Clemson you know, hasan additional eight points, how would
the season look at this point allthey would need? Yes, it could
look completely different. It was abig win, and we'll talk about it
here as we get you ready forSyracuse and Clemson coming up at twelve pm.
You got Don Munson and Jim Davison the call today. Is our
(03:27):
buddy Tim Bray is doing golf thisweekend. That's right, hey, And
Tim is everywhere. He's got theultimate retirement. He gets just to travel
around and be a color guy fornot only football, for basketball, and
then oh hey, I'll go doan NBC Sports got a tournament and sit
there and help with all the stats. And as much as we like to
(03:50):
joke as far as me being astat nerd, Tim Bray is the stat
nerd of all stat nerds. Yes, he's AI generated. I think he's
a good human, but I thinkat times the man is like AI.
You just punch him up and say, hey Tim, I need something Tim.
We love you, man. SoClemson getting the big win, a
wire to wire victory Richmond eighty toseventy six over number three North Carolina back
(04:13):
on Tuesday night. The win wasthe program second ever win on the road
against the Tar Hills, as youmentioned at the top, also the highest
ranked opponent Clemson has beaten on anopponent's home court since January twenty first,
nineteen seventy six. FRED against thoseMaryland Terrapins led by Lefty Drizzel yes,
yeah, the bi centennial. Thatwould have been the last time you could
(04:34):
see a Clemson win of this manner, of this regard, and it was
just a great game. Look,you talk about shooting. We talked about
this Clemson team had lacked that abilityto come out strong early in games and
make their shots. And sometimes youand I talk about this game and simplify
it down to its basic form.You have to make your shots, yes,
and compete against these great teams.You play against any team. In
(04:57):
the first half, I mean,look at how they start here, both
teams to contrast and styles. Sixteenof thirty three from the field, that's
forty eight point five percent from Downtown. Good shot selection and good conversion forty
two point nine percent on fourteen attempts, get to the line six times they
knock down five. On the otherhand, good defense in the first half,
really good defense. Eleven of thirtyfive. North Carolina was thirty one
(05:19):
percent. Let's talk about that firsthalf. Richmond getting off to a fast
start, which was critical in anenvironment at the Dean Smith Center where you're
not used to winning a lot ofgames. I don't even know if critical
is the right word, or canyou emphasize that even more imperative, so
important for the Tigers to come outand punch North Carolina in the nose metaphorically,
(05:40):
and that's exactly what they were ableto do in this game. And
we talked about it also, John, just in terms of could the Tigers
come into Chapel Hill with some confidenceknowing that, yes, people are going
to be talking about the record onlywinning one time. I get that,
but how could they come out inthis game, especially from the beginning,
(06:02):
and remove that noise as far astalking about the record that how hard it
is to win there. But canyou then flip it and say, well,
we've done it once before, Yeah, we did it in twenty twenty,
so why can't we do it again? And I think there was something
to be said about how Brad Burnelltalked about that to his team and in
(06:25):
relation to the loss that the Tigershad against the Tar Hills in Little John
where the Tigers shoot one of eighteenfrom beyond the arc, and how Brad
Burnell seemed to be making sure tosend a message to the team that it
was just a few little things inthat game that lost to North Carolina.
(06:46):
If we would have done differently,then that would have been a win.
So you can beat this team,you can compete with this team, regardless
of home court, away court,whatever it might be. And I think
that was evident that you saw Clemsoncome out with some confidence there early on,
and you could see it in notonly their mannerisms, but also you
(07:09):
could start seeing it in the playand the statistics back that up, as
you talked about shooting almost fifty percentfrom the field, shooting forty three percent
from beyond the arc, and thisis a Clemson team that on the season
is shooting thirty five percent from beyondthe arc. So they were in much
better rhythm. And a lot ofthat had to do with the simple fact
(07:30):
that I think they came out andweren't having the pressure necessarily. And even
though it's ironic, we say that, because there was a lot of pressure
on the Tigers because of how theseason is going. Sure, and you
needed a big win because we're startingto hear the narrative, Oh, the
Clemson Tigers, they're falling off andnow they're going to be a bubble team,
(07:55):
They're not going to make the NCAAtournament. You know, all of
that narrative that was going on rightnow, pressure to oh, we've got
to win this game. We've gotto win this game. And I think
the Tigers came out and said,you know, we're just gonna go play.
Yeah, We're just going to goplay and not worry about all of
the narratives out there, and alsonot worry about what court they're playing on,
(08:16):
and obviously that they have not hadsuccess in Chapel Hill in a long
time. Well, and it wasbig too. You're coming off the tough
loss to Virginia of course a coupleweeks back, the tough loss at home
against Georgia Tech in double overtime.And we're gonna get Brunelle's comments later in
the show as well about the natureof the ACC. He keeps pushing home
this conversation, which I think isimportant, the fact that anybody can beat
(08:39):
anybody on any given day. Youlook at the net rankings where you might
be, Yeah, you look atClemson. He even mentioned this. They're
well down in the ACC standings,and they own that they're five and six
right now. But the fact thatthey can compete and win on the road
against the third ranked team in thecountry, a team that was coming off
a huge win against Duke is huge. I'll ask you about the too.
(09:00):
There were some comments, some chirpingafter the game from the North Carolina locker
room about maybe, you know,not having their focus for us right,
and we had talked about that alittle bit. Overt know, maybe there
was a bit not of a trapgame mentality, but you know, man,
it's overwhelming when you beat your crosstownrival there and you know, coming
into this game because Clemson, maybethey didn't overlook Clemson, but man,
(09:20):
the energy quotient just wasn't there earlyin the game for North Carolina, that's
for certain. I think there's definitelysomething to be said about whatever you want
to say, the hangover effect aftera big game like Duke in North Carolina,
that rivalry and the energy that youput into that. Now, I
(09:41):
say that, and I'm not tryingto give North Carolina an excuse or try
to diminish the effort that Clemson putinto this game, because Clemson they won
this game. It was not NorthCarolina losing this game. Clemson went in
there and they were the aggressor.So all of the kudo go to Clemson,
(10:01):
and obviously some kudos go to NorthCarolina that they fought back after being
down big in this game and wereable to tie it at seventy there at
the end almost end of the secondhalf. But it was Clemson that ultimately
prevailed because of the grit and thegrind and the confidence that they had.
But I do believe that North Carolinacame into this game just from a perspective
(10:26):
not as focused in Armando Baycott.As you mentioned, he talked about that
they didn't have a good practice onMonday, and then on Tuesday shoot around
was not great either. There weresome I guess, you know, frustrations
amongst the players, and then forwarm ups there were players that were late,
and you know, so when youhave those type of things going on,
(10:46):
there just seemed to be some disarraygoing on with the North Carolina team
there as they prepared to take onClemson. And there was also stories about
fans that were going around and whenyou would see on campus still signs up
saying beat Duke, beat Duke,and this is on Tuesday, yes,
(11:11):
and so it was almost like,oh, that's right, we do have
a game on Tuesday, and we'restill focused on Duke. It's an afterthought,
yes, team, but the fans. That's right. I think there
is something to be said about that. Well, in good teams like Clemson.
We've talked about this on this show, you and I both how talented
they are, how well coached theyare, and how it's just been a
(11:33):
shot here or a shot there.Yeah, if there was indeed some type
of lull or strife behind the scenesof North Carolina, good teams make you
pay for that, and that's exactlywhat you look at what Clemson was able
to do. That's exactly what they'reable to do to come up with a
seventeen to four advantage in the openingSTANDSA there. I was stunned seeing that.
I know Clemson's good, but manseventeen to four lead. Yes,
(11:54):
you don't see that too often.You geinst North Carolina, especially this year.
And that's why I know people cantalk about Clemson getting that victory in
twenty twenty that was a North Carolinateam that was completely different than this team.
People can say, oh, well, you caught North Carolina on a
down year in twenty twenty. Well, I can promise you here in twenty
twenty four, this is not adown year for North Carolina. This is
(12:16):
a really good team and they area national contender. Now. I do
think there are some deficiencies there andwe saw some of that, and part
of it was Cormack Ryan could notget going from the field, and he's
been a difference maker in my opinionfor North Carolina the Notre Dame transfer,
just from his outside shooting perspective.He was one of ten from the field
(12:37):
and zer of six from beyond thearc, and he's a guy that opens
up the spacing so much for NorthCarolina. But with him not getting into
the game offensively, that put NorthCarolina in a buying there. And then
you couple that with RJ. Davisdidn't have a good first half and he's
an All American candidate for the TarHill, and so there was that aspect
(13:01):
of they just from a perimeter offensively, they couldn't get things going. But
Armando Baycott, he was still doinghis work. It was a great matchup
to watch him and PJ. Hallgo after it. Yeah, those are
such great comments there, Richmond,and I thought watching that game just compelling
theater, if you will. Inthe ACC when you're talking about Baycot and
(13:24):
Hall, and let's talk for aminute about Ian Shefflin. I mean the
chef, the chef ten used tocook my friend, especially in the second
half of this game. That's wherehe did most of his damage. In
terms of scoring, rebounding. Youbring down eleven rebounds, three on the
offensive glass, which is something coachBrenell will talk about here shortly on the
show, the advantage they had interms of rebounding and the fact that they
(13:45):
got back on the wagon there,if you will, in terms of getting
those rebounds on the offensive side.Cheflin had fourteen points, eleven rebounds,
was five to seven from the field, and had twelve of those points in
the second half. A big nightfor the Chef and his sixth double double
of the season and his seventh ofhis career. And I'm telling you right
(14:05):
now, there's no doubt that heis in consideration for acc most improved player
this season. What he's been ableto do and he's basically averaging a double
double. I mean, that isimpressive in itself from that standpoint, and
so what he continues to bring thatswagger, And there was that play where
he gets fouled and has an opportunityfor an and one, and after he
(14:28):
gets fouled, he turns and he'swalking back to the free throw line to
celebrate with his teammates, and he'sgiven that facial expression in that little shimmy,
you know, and just like yeah, just like get off me,
right, And that's what Clemson needs. They need those type of guys,
and we see that energy from PJ. Hall. But it's great when you
(14:50):
can have somebody else that can have, you know, that type of perspective.
And speaking of PJ Hall, thiswas interesting and this has made its
way around some of the college basketballyou know, pundits out there and celebrating
PJ. Hall. We know he'sa competitor. We know how aggressive he
(15:11):
can be and he can get intoa game and like we saw with him
and Armando Baycott going at it witheach other. But there was a play
in that second half where Harrison Ingramgets hurt in that game in the game
and PJ Hall, while the playis going on, he sees it.
(15:33):
And then finally there's a stoppage andit's PJ Hall attending to Harrison Ingram who
is in the middle of cramps andhaving a leg issue. And it is
just something that you don't normally see. And I loved that. A lot
of the college basketball pundits were reallymaking a big you know, making or
(15:54):
bringing attention to that that, Hey, look how this guy is such a
competitor and the ultimate competitors for Clemson, but at the end of the day,
he's just a good human being.And look that, you know,
he's attending to an opponent on theirhome court. I just thought it was
a special moment. I saw it. I thought it was a cool moment
too. And I didn't see itin real time. I didn't notice it
(16:15):
that much. But when they showedthe clips on Twitter and x and all
the social media outlets out there,and you could see a lot of,
like you said, the people thatfollow college hoops a lot closer than I
think I do. We're making,you know, a good point to say,
Hey, this is a great showof sportsmanship by a guy who,
as you mentioned, you know,you're coming off a twenty five point game
(16:36):
here, eight of twenty from thefield, kicking in nine rebounds, and
you certainly can't call him anything buta fiery competitor, but to still take
a moment to one of his competitorsa great show of sportsmanship. Yeah,
right in the middle of a criticalpart of the game. It was right
in the middle of the crazy stillmanaged to keep his eye on the ball.
It was like, yeah, you'redoing okay, Ef, Yeah,
I got this going on here.Play was still going on and he's you
(16:59):
know, bended now intending to hersand Ingram I thought it was very special
and obviously you know what he's beenable to do in some of these key
games. And that was the otherthing that we talked about John, that
for Clemson to be able to beatNorth Carolina on the road, and we
know how hard it is for teamsto win on the road in the ACC,
(17:21):
Clemson was going to have to havetheir stars play like stars, and
Joe Girard and PJ Hall they playedlike stars, and obviously the chef Ian
Shefflin he continued stellar play, butit was really led by PJ Hall playing
to that type of level where heis also in consideration for an ACC into
(17:45):
the Season award, and that wouldbe ACC Player of the Year. There's
no question that he is not inthat discussion. Well, coming up on
the show, we're going to talkabout net rankings, the top twenty five,
some key games to look out forToday, We're also going to dive
to this opponent today, Syracuse.What are they all about? As Joe
Gerard makes a bit of a homecominghome. Yeah, I'm went back to
Syracuse. Coming up next, BradBurnell, we'll hear from him his comments
(18:07):
from the postgame. Certainly a moreenergetic, happier Brad Brunell after this game
had some interesting comments about the winat North Carolina. It's Clemson Syracuse Today,
getting you ready for tip off atnude. This is the Ingles Countdown
to tip Off Show. You gotus live here on ninety two point five
WSC ninety two point five WDS isthe Upstate's new home with a Clemson Tigers.
(18:51):
Big game today for Clemson, ofcourse, they're fifteen to seven,
five and six in the ACC travelingto Syracuse to take on the Orange.
They are fifteen and eight, sixand six in conference play. You've got
it locked into the Ingles Countdown totip Off Show. That's Richmond Weaver,
I'm John Ellis Trey Falco in thehouse as well. We are brought to
you as always by Ingles Low Prices, love the savings Ingles dash markets dot
(19:14):
Com and here we like to takea little time during the show as always
to share some commentary from coach BradBurnell. Never short on comments, never
short on thoughts after the game,and here were Brad Brunell's thoughts after the
big win in North Carolina. Well, certainly a great win for our guys.
Really happy for my players. We'vewe've had some close losses here recently,
(19:37):
and I've said many times I thinkwe're playing better than our ACC record,
but I think our league is goodand I don't think it's getting the
credit it deserves in some ways.And you know, we haven't finished some
games, and today we were ableto do that. Obviously. The great
start, probably as good as halfas we've played all year, was the
first half, and then we justheld on. The crowd was great,
(20:00):
they got some life and came backat us, certainly, but our guys
finished, which was really nice tosee. So really happy for my players.
We've been working really hard and they'vestayed connected and stayed positive through some
of the adversity. And I gota lot of great kids in there,
so hopeful that you know, youkeep working good things having to good people.
(20:21):
So today was that day. CertainlyA happy coach Brunelle after the big
win, and he talked about this, the team's composure down the stretch to
capture this win in a season wherethere's been so many close losses. Here's
the coach on that. Now,we've been good most of the year.
You know, sometimes we've made somepoor plays. Sometimes we've had some tough
(20:44):
breaks. You know, we've hada shot or two go in against us,
you know, waning seconds, andwe've had a couple of chances to
win one. Obviously against Virginia wehad to ball in the back of the
rim. You know, you're twoinches shorter, and we win. So
the outlook is completely different. Andthat's one of the things I told our
players is try to encourage them thatwe're playing better than our record. If
(21:10):
we can just build some momentum thatwe've proven that we wanted Alabama, who's
winning the SEC. We just knockedoff Carolina. We've played Duke to the
last second on other people's court.So I think you know that takes composure,
it takes good basketball play. AndRichmond, we talked about it last
week. Offensive rebounding was a bitof a bugaboo for this team and something
(21:32):
Brad Brunell had talked about in thepostgame presser was getting back after it on
the offensive glass. Here's coach Brunellon attacking the rebounding. Yeah, No,
it was important, and that's youknow, that's what Ian Shefflin does.
PJ does a good job of it. Yeah. We you know,
one thing we do is we havewe always have somebody under the basket almost
all the time, not all thetime, but a majority of the time.
(21:53):
And other times we have guys comeinto the basket. So you know,
it's a little more of an emphasiswith our team, even more this
year than last, and obviously ithelped us for extra possessions, free throws,
getting fouled. You know, Iwas proud of the way our guys
played at the end. I thoughtwe were pretty aggressive. We got downhill
(22:14):
on some plays, got some fouls, got some offensive rebounds, but didn't
just settle. Yeah, And Ithink that's one of the big factors in
this game is that Clemson came outwith that mindset that they were going to
attack the boards and not allow teamsto have a big opportunity on the offensive
glass, which we saw in acouple of games. And that's been a
(22:34):
scenario where it seemed to be AchillesHill for Clemson over the past several games
in those losses, giving up someof those key offensive rebounds. But Clemson
did a great job against North Carolinaon the glass. The coach was also
asked about defense, what was theirstrategy and how did they deploy this against
North Carolina, But he mentioned theoffense is a complimentary piece through the defense
(22:55):
here. Well, we mixed insome zone and I thought it helped us
at times and at other times itwasn't as effective as we would have liked,
you know, But I just Ithought we competed, and I thought
our offense helped our defense. Weonly had five turnovers. He turned them
all over and take a lot ofbad shots and Caroline is going to get
out and run against you. Ithought we had a good mix to our
(23:18):
offense. Certainly we had a lotof threes early, but I thought we
were cutting and moving and the ballwas moving extremely well. I thought we
got tired at times, and thenNorth Carolina, you know, came after
us, which they're going to do. And I mean, this environment is
hard to play in. The crowdwas into it really because we jumped on
(23:41):
him. The crowds like, waita minute, we better help tonight,
and they did, and so wehad to withstand all of that, and
you know, we're very fortunate.And not lost on Brenell was the fact
that PJ Hall got himself in somefoul trouble and here he talks about the
fact that, hey, how importantwas it for PJ down the stretch to
stay out of foul trouble to beable to finish that game? Big?
I mean, I was really upsetwith him on his third file because I
(24:04):
thought it was, you know,one of those one on one blockouts that
he didn't win. And obviously Armando'she's a load. I mean, he's
a tremendous player, but he's gotto try to win that for us to
win these games. And so obviouslywe talked about it when he was sitting
down and coming over, and youknow, Pj's an unbelievable kid. I
(24:25):
mean, he's a terrific player,but he's a better person than kid,
and he wants to win so bad. And I think that's part of why
he's not shooting the ball well,is he's putting so much pressure on himself
to help carry this team that youknow, I've tried to just tell him
to relax and enjoy this, andtoday he played much freer once he saw
the first one go in. Hewas he was outstanding veteran guys like PJ.
(24:48):
Hall. There has to be ascenario that starts playing out that you
have to be able to learn toplay with three or four fouls in certain
games because games they get obviously biggeras the season progresses, and how important
they are, and especially down thestretch of games, how important it is
that you have your superstars out thereand you have to have a PJ.
(25:11):
Hall out on the court. Andso I think it is a scenario where
at this stage in Pj's career thatBrad Burnell he has to lean on him
and trust him that, hey,PJ, you know the importance of this
game. You know, we wantyou to still play solid defense, but
you've got to play smart and you'vegot to be able to be on the
(25:33):
court for us because offensively, wehave to have you rich to your point.
Earlier, Coach Brnell had talked aboutafter the game, a point here
or a point there, you know, in the acc can be all the
difference in the world, even earlyin the season, here's Brad Brunell on
the importance of closing out and winningclose games. You know, I think
we always forget about. We hadtwo games early in the year Uab and
Davidson in a tournament that you know, we didn't play as well, and
(25:57):
Uab had his beat and we wanton a late drive and foul and big
free throws for our guys, andthen Davidson on one by three and they
had a couple of threes at theend and missed, And so then you
have some games that you lose atthe end and people kind of forget that,
Hey, we have one a fewnow down the stretch, and our
guys know that. We remind ourguys of that, but certainly when you
(26:18):
haven't done it recently, it feelsgood to make some plays down the stretch.
Our guys made some plays on bothends and made a couple of big
free throws, and you know,minus Pj's last pass there, I don't
know what really he was thinking,but beyond that, we were pretty good.
And he's absolutely right. He alsomentioned something we've talked about, the
error of the A C C gettinga little bit downplayed by some maybe in
(26:42):
the media, maybe some fans outthere. Here's Brad Burn now talking about
how hard it is and how vitalit is to win in the ACC.
I mean good play and will towin and confidence and poise, you know.
Again, I think our guys havehung in there this There's a lot
of good teams. There's not muchdifference between all of us, right,
I mean, we're four and sixth. Carolina's third in the country, like
(27:04):
and we're I don't know, Idon't even know what place we're in.
It's not good. And but youknow, Georgia Tech is beating Clemson Duke
and North Carolina. I mean,there's just a lot of really good teams
in our league, and it ishard to win, Like if you don't
have one of your main guys playwell, or if you have a bad
shooting night, or you know,the other team has a good shooting night
like we did the start, likeyou know, I mean, if North
(27:26):
Carolina's like, these guys haven't madea shot in you know, months,
and now we made a bunch inthe first half. I mean, that's
that's sometimes basketball, and I thinkthat's hard for people to understand that,
you know, sometimes we're just we'reshooting thirty percent from three in the league
play. We shot almost forty innon league. It's not a lot different,
right the games we're losing if wejust make one one to three and
(27:49):
two threes and some like we could. You know, the Carolina game,
the first game was back and forthgame and it was almost fifty five all
with a couple of minutes to go, we're one for eighteen from three.
We can't make a shot. Andso some of it is basketball and some
of it is just, you know, convincing your guys to hang in there
and keep battling. And you know, it's hard because the kids want to
(28:10):
do well, and you know they'redown, but they've done a really good
job of coming to practice and stilltrying to work. We continue to try
to keep them positive, and certainlythis helps a lot because North Carolina's true
if the team all right and CoachBrown now is so correct. How long
have we been talking about it,since we've started here this season talking about
(28:32):
ACC games that you never know what'sgoing to happen. And that's why,
yes, North Carolina seems to bethe heavy favorite to win the regular season
and potentially win the ACC Conference tournament. Championship. But I'm telling you each
and every night, you never knowwhat's going to happen. And that's why
even for the Tigers today against Syracuseon the road, and we know Syracuse
(28:55):
is a team that has struggled attimes obviously, and this is a scenario
where Clemson still has to be readyto play even on the road. Yeah,
no doubt about it. We've seenwhat happened just a couple of weeks
ago against teams like Georgia Tech andothers at home. Especially on the road,
you got to have your best gameand put your best foot forward here
in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Onething that Brad Burnell sounds excited about from
(29:18):
the postgame presser was the fact thatthey can finally maybe put to bed a
little the narrative and the commentary aboutwell what can you do at you and
see why can't you ever win atChapel Hill. Here's Brad Burnell on that.
Yeah, I'm just really happy formy guys. You know, the
first one is different the second one. Now we're just playing basketball. You
know, I didn't have any questions. I haven't had questions in a couple
(29:40):
of years, which has been nice. I used to get questions in the
summer, you know what I mean, not even the week of the game,
but in the summer, you know, not only from media, but
from like the Clemson fan base,and so to kind of put that behind
you, you know, is good. Now it's just playing basket and Richmond
he's so right, you know,he talked about look, you know,
media even fans have been bugging himfor a while here. If those are
(30:02):
my words, not his, butgenerally speaking, that's kind of what he's
getting at. He was kind oftired, his team was tired of hearing
it go in there and put astamp on it. It's not two out
of what sixty two? Now,No, it's two out of three.
That's right. Yes, it's nottwo out of sixty. Yes, it's
two out of three. It's herein uh this decade or whatever, there're
sixty seven percent against the North Carolina. So I like those type of stats.
(30:26):
Yeah, So don't think about that. Overall, this series is twenty
three and one, twenty four infavor of the Tar Hills. Don't worry
about that. Only worry about rightnow what's going on and moving forward and
how can you utilize that big winon the road against the Tar Hills,
the number three team in the country, and now going up against the Syracuse
(30:49):
Orange and in JMA Wireless Dome thereobviously not the Carrier Dome anymore. I
still refer to it as a carrierthe same with me every time. It's
just ingrain. Remember almost great dayswith Jim Behim coaching up there, and
of course they played football. It'sstill do in that arena with Donovan McNabb
back in the day. Yeah,I still call it the same thing.
(31:10):
Brad Burn now closed out his pressconference. There was a question about almost
beating Duke, and again there's nouh, you know, victories here from
a moral standpoint, but he didtalk about the fact that the environment at
Duke and competing at a close levelagainst that team in that hostile environment served
them well in this game. Idon't know that it was extra motivation or
(31:30):
anything like that. I just Ithink there's a confidence that comes from playing
in tough environments against really tough teamslike North Carolina, Duke, Alabama and
playing well in those environments. Itgives you confidence the next time. Certainly,
are you know our guys are competitiveguys. I don't think, you
know, we don't think, wedon't we didn't lack confidence, but the
(31:52):
boost and the way we started is, you know, is the joke that
you kind of need, you kindof need something like that to just reassure
you a little bit. I thinkthat helped everybody tonight. And Richmond,
I think he's right. You know, he talks about it here in this
comment, and he's talked about itwith his team. You know, you
can gain some perspective and some strengththey think is the team. You're a
former coach, you know this.You go into an environment like Duke.
(32:13):
It's a heartbreaking loss. A lotof fans in media will tell you the
cover Clemson, it should have beena win. We all know what happened
there, but it wasn't. Butyou can gain some strength from that knowing,
hey, you went toe to toewith Duke in that environment, and
let's carry that over right down TobaccoRoad in Chapel Hill. Yeah. And
I think that's a big part ofwhat Brad Bernail's message was to the team
is that, hey, we're ohso close. It's not like you're not
(32:37):
able to compete with these teams.Even against North Carolina at home in Little
John where you shoot one of eighteen, like I mentioned, from beyond the
arc, I mean, a fewother shots fall. That's a completely different
game. So they've shown the abilityto compete with the best of the best
in the ACC and it can onlygive you more confidence. And obviously that's
(32:59):
what I felt the difference how theTigers came out. They looked confident,
they look like more of the aggressor, and we're ready for the Tar Hills.
Well more aggression hopefully on the wayfor Clemson today. Another road game.
This is at Syracuse. Tip offcoming up at noon Eastern right here
on ninety two point five WeSC.Don Munson, Jim Davis on the call.
(33:20):
Coming up next, we'll take alook around the country, what's going
on in the top twenty five lately. We'll get into the middle of that
and we'll start talking about the matchupsbetween the Tigers and the Orange coming up
here at noon. This is theIngles Countdown to tip Off Show ninety two
point five WSC ninety two point fiveWDESC is the Upstate look at the song
(33:52):
selection from Trey Falco today Range Crush. I well see that today the Clemson
Tigers taking on the Orange today upin Syracuse. Tip off coming up here
shortly at noon. You got,of course, our good friend don Munson
and Jim Davis sitting in today andcoach coach Jim Davis well reached your tom
(34:12):
at Clemson. That's right, greatguy, yeah one, absolutely love coach
Davis, great guy and great coach. And of course he'll be calling this
game with our good friend Donny Munsoncoming up at noon eastern right here on
the Clemson Athletic Networks coverage provided bythem here on ninety two point five w
SC. Don't know if you guysheard or not, but there is a
huge game coming up tomorrow. It'sthe Super Bowl. Let's go, baby.
(34:35):
Yeah, that's right. T Islike, what what game is this?
Well? As a Steelers fan,Trey, let me tell you this,
it's not the Steelers this year.I'm sorry again. Uh oh ye,
little faith, you're Steelers. Youdid get a new offensive coordinator,
Arthur Smith. We did next year, nexteing the year right that. This
year, well, you find yourquarterback, you might be on your way.
There's two good ones playing this week. You got Brock Purdy going against
Patrick Mahomes. We might give ourSuper Bowl picks here later in the show.
(34:58):
You never know, but a bigand tomorrow for the big game,
stopping and get everything you need atIngles low prices. Love the savings.
You got big parties going on thisweekend. They have you covered. Never
too late to stop in Ingles toget everything you need for the big day
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So Clemson, of course coming intrying to crawl back to five hundred
(35:19):
in this ACC. I was justchecking out the net rankings, Rich,
and it looks like they've got alittle thing going here in the ACC.
With the net rankings. Five teamsright now in the top thirty five,
including Virginia Wake Forest, Clemson,Duke in North Carolina, Clemson hovering right
there, I think, around twentynine right now in the net rankings.
And so for all the talk aboutthe ACC, you got five quality teams
(35:39):
right there nestled into that top thirtyfive. Yeah, But the narrative is
right now is that there's not manya ACC teams that are going to make
the NCAA tournament course, right,Yes, And that's what's crazy. So
I've been keeping track of this justin terms of really just trying to understand
the narrative behind that the ACC isa weaker conference right now. And so
(36:02):
we'll bring the statnerd guy out righthere. All right, So I'm gonna
give you some We're gonna give yousome stats, right, Yes, here
we go. So here the numberof teams in the top thirty five of
the net rankings. And people candebate about the net rankings all day long,
but we know that is important criteriathat seems to be part of the
(36:22):
narrative as far as how you're measuringsome of these teams. So the Big
Twelve has seven in the top thirtyfive. Yep, the Mountain West has
four, and the ACC has five. So the record of those teams in
non conference top fifty games, okay, non conference top fifty games, the
(36:45):
Big Twelve is ten and eight atfifty five percent, the Mountain West as
four and three at fifty seven percent, and the ACC is ten and six
at sixty three percent. But they'resaying that the Big Twelve is going to
get ten teams in the NCAA Tournament. The Mountain West five teams in the
(37:08):
ACC would only get four, andthat's up from what some were suggesting that
there would only be three ACC teamsthat would get into the NCAA Tournament.
So I think there's an aspect of, again, hey, are we looking
at all of the right data here? Just in terms of the Big twelve.
(37:29):
I know they're getting a lot oflove right now, but they just
not really playing anybody in the nonconference, and the people that they did
play, it's not like they overwhelmedpeople in the non conference either. So
I just don't feel the ACC isgetting enough respect just from an overall picture
standpoint. And I'm not saying theACC needs to have eight teams in the
(37:53):
NCUBA Tournament. I'm not saying thatat all. That's not accurate, five
or acceptable, but six is avery reasonable number when you start looking at
the ACC standings. And we'll talkmuch more about the ACC. But you've
got North Carolina, you've got Virginia, if you've got Duke wake Forest,
Florida State, Inn C State,Miami, Pitt, Syracuse, Clemson,
(38:15):
And I know that, yes,maybe a pit is not a team that's
in Cuba bound in c State,Florida State, Miami is struggling right there.
But when you're talking North Carolina,Virginia, Duke, and Clemson and
Wake Forest. I think all fiveof those are legitimate n C DOUBLEA tournament
teams. They passed the eye testto me. I mean when I look
(38:36):
at these teams, they feel likethey should be. And again looking at
what Joe Lenardi does here for ESPN, you know he released something later this
week Bracket Watch. Top overall seedper Due. First team out would be
Saint John. So obviously we gotgames going on today. We'll keep a
close eye on those. Last teamin would be Cincinnati on the bubble right
now. The last four byes wouldbe Nebraska, Butler, Old Miss in
(38:57):
Florida, last four in mississip State, Washington State, Seaton Hall in Cincinnati.
First four out Saint John's, WakeForest. There's another ACC team,
yeah, Colorado, Nevada. Inthe next four I would be Providence,
Xavier, Villanova, and Memphis.And it looks like Clemson, as a
Lenardi sees it right now, wouldbe a seventh seed going seven to ten
in Omaha against Florida. So that'skind of where he has it at the
(39:21):
moment. But again all subject tochange. Amitted by minute. Oh of
course, yes, I mean westill have plenty of basketball. Now.
I know, in all respects tothe totality of the season, we don't
have much basketball left, but westill have enough games that you can have
a lot of movement and a lotof scenarios that will play out differently as
the season progresses. As far aswhere these turn, where these teams are
(39:45):
going to land. Yeah, Leonardoagain got Big twelve with ten teams right
now according to his bracketology. We'llsee that plays out. I remember how
tense it was for Clemson fans lastyear down the streetch of course, I
think Lenardi came on your show onthe Richmond We were showing game on last
year with us on Fox Sports Upstate. Here us on three pm to six
pm weekdays on Fox Sports Upstate.By the way, tune in. We'd
(40:05):
love to have you. But yeah, you just kind of was given the
warning shot that ain't Clemson fans beworrying. You just want to get to
a point where there's no stress atthe end. This team is so good,
they're so well built for a deeprun in the tournament. I think
you just hope there's no hiccups downthe stretch. We'll see at noon today
if they can tackle the Orange.Here we'll give you an update on who
they're going to be facing in termsof Syracuse's lineup coming up at noon eastern
(40:27):
as well. You got Yukon tanglingwith Georgetown, number one in the country,
Yukon twenty one and two, numbereleven Wisconsin. They've had a bit
of an up and down week herethey're taking on Rutgers on the road.
That's at noon on the Big tennetwork. And then number sixteen Alabama sixteen
and seven, eight and two inthe SEC, and you got LSU at
twelve and ten they're going on theroad the LSU Alabama is that's starting here
at noon eastern as well. Andagain that's a very interesting dynamics right now
(40:51):
in the SEC at the top whereyou've got, of course Alabama and then
all of a sudden, Lamont Paris'is game Cocks. I know this is
a Clemson show. You gotta givethem a hat tip though. They've done
a heck of a job and theywere picked I think last in the conference
this year, picked last in theSEC, and they are in first place
in the SEC conference standings right now. And now I know you can say,
(41:12):
well, no, they're not becauseyou've got Alabama and Auburn right there
for the same record, but they'retied. So they are in first place.
Yes, exactly, that's what itsays. So and that's obviously after
the big victory for Auburn against Alabamaand obviously some of the images and video
out there that we saw from thatgame earlier this week where Auburn's getting the
(41:37):
victory and there's a big dunk andCharles Barkley's on the sidelines and he's raising
his arms up and he's yelling tothe crowd, you know, and he's
all excited as obviously a faithful Auburnfan as one of the greats and maybe
the greatest Auburn basketball player that we'veever seen. But he was there celebrating
(41:57):
the Auburn Tigers as they get thatvictory over Alabama, which then calls that
three way tie for first place forSouth Carolina led by Lamont Paris to be
sitting there in first place, andmake no mistake about it, Lamont Paris
his name is in consideration for NationalCoach of the Year. Oh, I
mean, ever where you look,you see his name brought up as coach
of the week here by some writeror there, and then I think he's
(42:19):
done a great job. They takeon Vanderbilt today down there in Columbia.
That's always you know, again,the SEC, you can never tell they
should handle their business in this one. Twenty and three right now are the
game Cocks. They host the sixand sixteen Vanderbilt Commodorees. That's coming up
at one pm on the SEC network. Number nine Dukes back in action today.
They're hosting Boston Colleges at a twopm at Cameron Indoors Stadium. You
(42:42):
can find that on ESPN. Numberten. Illinois traveling to Michigan State tom
Izzo, and it's never an easyplace to play. I don't care what
the record is, that's right,Yes, in Michigan State has been an
anomaly this season, just completely fallingoff and being very inconsistent relative to what
we see from tom Izzo's teams.And that's what It's a little bit of
a surprise. But to your point, John, it would only be appropriate
(43:06):
that tom Izzo wins this game today, You or I should say the Spartans
win this game against Illinois. Yeah, it's a tom is a type of
day. I'm feeling it He's alwaysgame for a big type of game like
that. Iowa was state still fourteenthin the country, seventeen and five.
Right now, there's six and threein the Big Twelve. They're taking on
TCU at two pm. And you'vegot Auburn Florida tangling today. Auburn number
(43:27):
twelve in the country, eight andtwo in the conference. You mentioned them
earlier. They're taking on Florida downthere in Gainesville at three thirty. Have
about number three North Carolina traveling downto see our good friend Jim Larnega and
Miami. Larenega was not happy whenthey gave I think they scored with fifteen
sixteen points in the first half againstVirginia a few days ago. He talked
about it after the game. Hewas not very pleased about their performance.
This feels like a bit of agame where Miami could bounce back and beat
(43:51):
this North Carolina team. To me, this was a team Miami Hurricanes that
scored thirty eight total points a collegebasketball game against Virginia. They lose sixty
to thirty eight. Oh boy,there in Charlottesville. I mean, that
is absolutely insane. And there wasscenarios that we saw where Jim Larenega.
(44:15):
There's a time out, and youknow, the Hurricanes come over there to
the bench, and typically those thirtysecond timeouts, obviously you're not sitting down,
you're standing up, and so coachescome out there and talk to the
team while everybody's standing there. Well, in this one, Larenega didn't even
get off the bench. He stays, he stayed on the bench and it's
(44:42):
like, you guys aren't going togive any effort. Then I'm just gonna
say it right here. And hesat on the bench while his team huddled
up and the assistant coaches were handlingthings. And then at the press conference,
he ended the press conference shortness andmade his statement and then walked out
basically said he was over it.That's a it's like a Belichick par Sales
move in football, like I'm notgetting up. We're not going to play
(45:02):
better than this. Yeah, wellthey got the full Tony Bennett treatment.
To say the least thirty eight points. That's crazy. But let's see if
they can bounce back and maybe stunnNorth Carolina today. The ACC has been
crazy. You got Houston at Cincinnatitoday, that's going to be a tip
off at four pm on ESPN two. The Zags. They're taking on Kentucky
today. Kentucky seventeenth in the country. They are ten and three right now
(45:25):
at home, sixteen and six.Overall, interesting season for Kentucky as they're
looking to get a win against aZags team that we're not used to seeing
outside the top twenty five. That'sright, yes, and this is unique
scenario also playing out, which Ido love when you throw in a non
conference game during the middle of theconference season for both of these teams.
(45:46):
And this is a home and hometype of scenario for both Gonzaga and Kentucky.
So it's great from a college basketballstandpoint that you have a unique matchup,
especially there in rupp Arena, nodoubt about it. Some more big
games day, Mame. We've gota big slate coming up here four pm
UCF and number twenty three Texas Tech. How about this one six pm,
number thirteen Baylor take it on toKansas Richmond. There we go, Taylor.
(46:08):
There won't be in their two hundredmillion dollar competence I was talking about
it, but they will be inthe I guess the Palace of college basketball.
How everyone who describe it Allenfield Houseand one of the most iconic,
if not the most iconic, collegebasketball venues in the country. Number seven
(46:28):
Marquette quietly potting along there at seventeenand five. They're hosting Saint John's today
in a big game in the BigEast. That's a six pm tip off
on FS one. Number two perDue, they roll along at twenty one
and two right now, big gameagainst Indiana. You got number six Tennessee
at Texas A and M number twentyfive New Mexico hosting UNLV Arizona at Colorado,
number twenty one BYU hosting Kansas State, and then Utah State, number
(46:52):
twenty two in the country hosting BoiseState. That's a look around the top
twenty five. Coming up next,we'll cap this one off with a look
at Syracuse in detail. Who arewe facing today for Clemson. We'll give
you the details on that right hereon the Ingles count Down to tip Off
Show ninety two point five w dS is the Upstates new home for the
Clemson Tigers. Count you up totip off here. We got Don Munson,
(47:17):
Jim Davis taken over here in afew minutes on the Clemson Athletic Network.
That's Richmond Weaver. I'm John ellisisthe Ingles count Down to tip Off
show, brought to you by InglesLow Prices. Love the Savings, Richmond.
When you look at the Syracuse team, obviously a team that's got six
winnings in the ACC. They knowJoe Gerard quite well. They played for
the Lan Yes, they do.That's right. Final thoughts on this game,
my friend, Yeah, I thinkthis comes down to, obviously,
(47:38):
how can the Tigers be able toutilize that big win in Chapel Hill and
use that momentum. Judah Menz isa guy that you're going to have to
be able to defend there for theSyracuse Orange. But it goes back to
the simple aspect of Clemson on theroad. You have to have your stars
play. They did that in ChapelHill, and it's going to be pj
(47:59):
h. He has to be afactor in this game. And then obviously
how will Joe Girard, how willhe be going back to Syracuse and not
allowing Obviously the game itself overwhelmed thescenario of how important this game on the
road is also for the Tigers.Yeah, a lot of emotional components of
this game, and Clemson looks tostabilize and continue to stabilize their acc campaign.
(48:23):
Right now, they're five and six. This win gets them back to
five hundred. We'll see how itgoes today. It's the fifteenth all time
meeting between Syracuse and Clemson. Comingup in just a minute. You'll hear
from Don Munson and Jim Davis takenover play by play here on the Clemson
Athletic Networks coverage Curtsey of ninety twopoint five WSC for Richmond Weaver for Trey
Falco. I'm John Ellis. Enjoythe big game today. We'll see you
(48:45):
next time on the Engles count Downto tip Off Show, ninety two point five WSC
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