Clemson's track record of defending marked men under Brad Brownell

CLEMSON — Brad Brownell probably could’ve produced a scouting report on Iowa two seconds after seeing the Hawkeyes flash onto the screen as Clemson’s first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament.

Brownell is a basketball junkie, so he watches plenty that doesn’t involve preparing his team for an upcoming game. And even though he’s been in Clemson since 2010 and will probably remain here for years more, this Indiana native still loves Big Ten basketball so he watches that too.

When Brownell spoke with the media Sunday not long after Clemson’s destination was announced, he was already well informed about the team he’ll face Friday evening in Tampa.

Now contrast that with the immediate impressions of Clemson on Sunday from his counterpart.

“None, nothing,” Ben McCollum said when asked if he knew anything about the Tigers.

Undoubtedly, that changed Sunday evening as the first-year Iowa coach and his staff got to work on breaking down Brownell’s team.

And we’re not suggesting Brownell’s surface-level familiarity with Iowa is going to make some sort of difference in helping get Clemson into a presumed second-round matchup against No. 1 seed Florida.

Yet given the dynamics of this matchup, and the dynamics of what has been a specialty under Brownell not just this season but overall during his tenure at Clemson, there’s ample reason to think this challenge might be in his wheelhouse.

Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz is at the top of the scouting report with his 20 points per game, 149 assists to 65 turnovers, and 37.6-percent clip from 3-point range.

Not saying there’s no one else to worry about, but no one else is even close.

Stirtz is a marked man. Clemson under Brownell has a pretty good track record of defending marked men, including recently.

Against Florida State last Thursday, Duke’s Isaiah Evans was masterful in totaling 32 points in 39 minutes.

Two days later he scored 20 as Duke claimed the ACC Tournament title over Virginia.

He produced six points in 32 minutes against Clemson, his lowest scoring total since Dec. 20 against Texas Tech.

The problem with Duke, of course, is the Blue Devils have other elite talent that can beat you. And that’s exactly what happened as Cameron Boozer took over in the Blue Devils’ semifinal win.

A day earlier, North Carolina’s Luke Bogovac was a marked man after he went off from 3 in the second half of the Tar Heels’ narrow victory over Clemson in Chapel Hill nine days earlier.

After scoring 20 points in the game of his life that night, he had a nightmare in Charlotte while mustering just five points in 30 minutes and not just missing from deep but also from a foot away.

Clemson also did a superb job defending Seth Trimble in its two matchups against North Carolina. Trimble came into the regular-season game on a heater, having totaled 50 points in his previous two games against Virginia Tech and Louisville. He produced nine points that night against the Tigers while missing eight of 10 shots. Trimble did score 13 against Clemson in Charlotte while handing out eight assists, but the Tigers still made it hard on him while taking an 18-point lead in the second half before UNC’s late comeback.

Other examples: Cal’s Dai Dai Ames entered a matchup with Clemsom having scored 29 against Georgia Tech. He mustered 12 against Clemson in 33 minutes, then 23 against Syracuse in the next game.

Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie had 26 points at Florida State before facing Clemson, and 40 against Georgia Tech in the game after. He had 18 points against the Tigers and worked for every bit of them.

The 6-foot-4 Stirtz, a senior who transferred with McCollum from Drake, is hard to handle. He even has an NCAA Tournament win on his resume after leading the Bulldogs to a 67-57 upset of sixth-seeded Missouri in last year’s field.

Yet Stirtz has been held in check some of late, and not coincidentally the Hawkeyes have struggled. 

From Jan. 17 to Feb. 8, Iowa won six consecutive games and Stirtz averaged 26.1 points over that stretch including 36 against Northwestern and 32 against Oregon.

The Hawkeyes have since lost seven of 10, and Stirtz has looked more mortal at times.

Eleven points in 45 minutes during an overtime loss at Nebraska nine days ago. 

A mere 12 3-pointers made over the past five games (four losses) on 42 attempts (28.5 percent), including 10 misses on 14 attempts from beyond the arc in a narrow home loss to Michigan on March 5th.

In fairness, the Hawkeyes haven’t been far off. Their last four losses have all been tight — by two to Penn State, by three apiece to Michigan and Ohio State, and the overtime affair at Nebraska.

Stirtz gets to the line a lot, having totaled 148 free-throw attempts (and made 125 for an 84.5-percent clip) over 33 games. Dillon Hunter, by comparison, has 70 free-throw attempts in 34 games.

But Stirtz isn’t getting to the line as much lately, with 22 attempts over the past seven games.

Iowa’s No. 2 scorer is Tavion Banks, who is averaging 10.5 points per game.

Clemson’s leading scorer is RJ Godfrey with 11.9 points a game. Next on the list is Carter Welling (10.2 ppg), who’s not available after suffering a torn ACL last week in Charlotte.

If you’re making the case for Iowa in this matchup, you’d probably start with the fact that the Hawkeyes have a top-shelf weapon to give the ball to when they need a basket.

That tends to matter this time of year. And that part has been in doubt for Clemson, even amid a highly impressive season (24-10 overall, 12-6 ACC) that followed so many major personnel losses from last year.

In a close game with the season at stake, whom do the Tigers turn to? That’s an open question. 

Not so much with Iowa.

“They have an elite guy who’s probably going to get drafted,” Brownell said of Stirtz. “He can do it all. I mean he’s terrific. It just shows you — he’s a Division II guy and then he goes to Drake and now he’s (at Iowa) — there’s a lot of good players everywhere. And it obviously speaks to their staff’s development also. They play together. They’re extremely well coached. They play hard. They run some unique ball-screen action and a lot of twisting and different things that are very good, as you would expect.

“So yeah, it’ll be a big challenge for us.”

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Brownell and Co. typically respond well to this type of challenge, though.

A marked man, with all this time to prepare?

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Clemson is a long way from a championship, but defense could be what keeps the Tigers in Tampa for the weekend.

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