Clemson Basketball: Three takeaways from the win over TCU

The Tigers remain undefeated, moving to 9-0 on the season.

Another game, another win for the surprising story of the year so far in college basketball. Clemson beat the TCU Horned Frogs to move to 9-0 on the season and continue a perfect start to the year. 

TCU was coming off of a miracle win with a banked three-point buzzer-beater in their last game and headed into this matchup with some confidence. It wasn't a pretty game overall for the Tigers but they finished strong when it counted. Here are our takeaways from the win.

Clemson improved to 9-0 with a win over TCU / Clemson Athletics

1. Another big second-half run was the key to victory

- After a sloppy, disjointed, and back-and-forth affair in the first half, the Tigers found themselves up by just a point. Whatever head coach Brad Brownell said in the locker room worked because it took Clemson all of seven minutes to extend their lead from 1 to 15. Chauncey Wiggins and PJ Hall both connected on big 3s but it was Joe Girard who really took the game over as he was fouled on a made 3 for a 4-point play, finished on a layup, and then followed that with yet another 3 to blow the game open. Girard finished with 21 to lead everyone in scoring for the game.

2. Overcoming missing players on and off the court

- With starting forward Jack Clark and key bench sharpshooter Alex Hemenway still unavailable, the depth of the team was going to be tested. Throw in what was an uncharacteristic performance from Chase Hunter going 0 for 7 from the field, there was a lot that had to be overcome. Thankfully, Ian Scheffelin picked up some of the slack by putting in 14 on an efficient 6-8 shooting. They also got 15 points combined off the bench between Dillon Hunter, RJ Godfrey, and Josh Beadle. Even though the bench squad didn't shoot the best from the field,  the team is going to need that production moving forward until they can get back to full strength. 

3. Fixing the turnovers

- The one area that has to be better in future games is turnovers. Sometimes the longer win streaks go, a little complacency sets in. The Tigers lost the turnover battle in this one 13-9 which isn't a terrible number but when you're playing at home against a team you're favored against it's important to not give the underdog any reason to hope. Turnovers will do that and there can't be a trend of bad habits as they move closer to conference play. 

The team will now have a week off before they take on Memphis on the road on the 16th.