Clemson Basketball: Three takeaways from a big win over Boston College

Clemson's men's basketball team was finally able to end its ACC skid as the Tigers took down Boston College on Saturday.

The sky that was briefly falling for the Tigers has, at least momentarily, paused. Fans were given a reprieve from their angst about the direction the season was going when Clemson beat Boston College by double digits with a final score of 89 to 78.

Here are our three main takeaways from the big win:

PJ Hall's double-double helped lead Clemson to a much-needed ACC win over Boston College / Clemson Athletics

1. Return of the Stars

- Welcome back PJ Hall and Joe Girard. As these guys go, so does the team. It's no accident that the losing streak coincided with some of the worst games of the year for both of these players. This duo, in synchronized fashion, made their comeback by both scoring 26 points on the evening. Hall finished with a double-double after grabbing 11 rebounds and Girard found his shooting stroke again by hitting 5 of 11 from 3. 

2. Steady in the 2nd Half

- The second half of this game marked the first time in the new year that Clemson had won the second period. While they were up by 9 at the half and only won the second half by 2, it's a marked improvement from losing the leads they'd been accustomed to building over the last few games. The final score looks a lot closer than the finish truly was as the Tigers were up by as many as 19 with about 4 minutes remaining in the game. Fans will understandably want to see that strong of a finish against better competition in the future but sometimes a team just needs to remind themselves that they are capable of securing the win.

3. The Importance of the Boards

- Another first for this team in 2024 was winning a rebound battle. Clemson outrebounded the Eagles by a margin of 37 to 22. They also had 9 offensive boards to BC's 4. That's a pretty dominant performance by the Tigers and one that they were accustomed to before the losing streak occurred. This has become one statistic on the season that's been a pretty solid indicator of wins and losses. The team is now 10-1 when winning the glass advantage, with the lone loss coming by 2 points to Memphis, and just 2-3 when losing it. Both of those wins, by the way, came early in the season against UAB and Davidson so not nearly the competition they'll face in the ACC.

The Tigers will next take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Tuesday, January 16th as they'll hope to start a new winning streak and regain the momentum they had before conference play began.