Clemson is seeking answers

It took several tape rewinds of Clemson's loss to Miami for Tiger coach Oliver Purnell not to feel as bad as he did on the sidelines Wednesday night.

Two days after the 62-38 loss - a game where the Tigers led 12-1 - Purnell says things were not as dire as it seemed for much of that contest.

"As a coaching staff, it felt bad. A lid was on the basket. We had 20-some offensive rebounds, we couldn't tap the ball in," Purnell said. "I think sometimes when that happens, you think your offense is worse than it is. But on tape, it certainly wasn't as bad it looked."

It surely must have looked hideous for Clemson's coach. The Tigers made just 15 of 59 shots from the floor, just slightly better than 25 percent.

Things were worse from 3-point range as Clemson finished 4 of 28. From the foul line? Clemson was 4 of 11.

That's the way it has been most of the season for the Tigers (13-5, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who are last in the league on 3-point percentage and in free throw shooting.

And that's why Purnell has relied on defense, crisp execution and solid fundamentals like rebounding to drive the team.

The team travels to play Georgia Tech today.

Clemson was off to its best start in four seasons at 11-0 and won the San Juan Shootout in December. But the start of conference play has exposed the Tigers shooting problems and given opponents the green light to use zone defenses and dare shooters to hit shots.

Some of Clemson's problems come from the off shooting of the team's big outside threats, Shawan Robinson and Cliff Hammonds.

Robinson, a senior, led the team in 3-point shooting his first three seasons and was counted on to elevate that his last time around the ACC.

Right now, though, Robinson's converting at less than 30 percent, far and away the worst of his career.

Hammonds was second behind Robinson in overall 3s (69 to 60) and percentage (.404 to .361) as a freshman last season. Hammonds, too, has found it difficult to convert from the outside this year, hitting at less than 25 percent (25 of 102). Both have shown signs of better play lately.

For now, Purnell will let his shooters keep shooting and try and find more ways to get the ball to Clemson's bigger players like Akin Akingbala and Steve Allen for the easy-to-make, higher percentage shots.

The panic that might have set in for Purnell during the Miami game has faded. "I guess the point I was trying to make is I guess it wasn't as bad as well felt it was at the time," he said.