Miami @ Clemson: LIVE BLOG

79-69 final. Miami needs a win Saturday to keep realistic NCAA hopes alive.

Clemson takes a 12 point lead. Miami just ran out of gas after a great comeback. The Canes better be more mentally prepared on Saturday when a much improved Virginia Team comes to Coral Gables.

Clemson gets away with an obvious walk, and goes up 9.

McClinton misses a three. Score is 74-67 with under a minute to go.

Rios forces a terrible three, and going the other way Collins puts Booker on the line. That's the ball game.

2:25 left. Clemson 72 Miami 65.

T/O Miami.

Lead is ten now. Miami ran out of gas and brains when they jumped into to the lead.

Rivers makes two FTs. Down eight again. Not looking good.


Rios misses the front end of the one and one.

69-63 Tigers. Under 4 timeout. During our outage, Miami briefly took the lead, and then Clemson went on a 7-0 run to go up six. We've traded baskets since and now it is 69-63. Miami ball.


We had a Blogger outage. Basically Miami blew an opportunity to tie the game, and Cliff Hammonds hit a 3 to push the Tiger lead back to six. Dwayne Collins then made a nice move in the post to cut it to four. McClinton hit two FTs. Then Jack hit a 3 to give the Canes the lead, but then Hammonds hit a 2 to retake the lead for the Tigers and McClinton took an out of control runner which led to another Clemson basket. Then Rivers hit a 3 to bring Clemson back up 6.

McClinton jumper cuts it to 3, Clemson comes back and pushes it back to 5.

Lead back to 5.

McClinton 3! Lead down to 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lead down to 6! Clemson seems to be ready to give this game away.

McClinton heaves a 30 footer out of frustration with his four points. Clemson continues to lead by 10, 54 to 44.

Graham misses a layup and then gets called for a foul that looked clean to me. He's out replaced by King. The Clemson lead is 12.

Dews three cuts the Clemson lead to 10, 52-42.

50 to 39 at the under 12 TV timeout. Rios got called for five seconds, a rule I HATE!


Rios three, Graham lay up, we're back down 9, 48-39.


KC Rivers hits a 3 from about 25 feet out. Clemson up 46-34.


Time out Clemson. 43-34. Miami starts the half on a 10 to 2 run.

Graham put back. Lead down to 9! Don't get too excited. Miami has expended alot of energy and effort to get the game back this close.


Dews hits both. 43-32.


Clemson has suddenly gone cold and James Dews is on the line with Miami undeserving but down only 13.


The Hurricanes turn the ball over on the first possession of the 2nd half.


An embarrassing first half ends 41-24 Clemson. Miami couldn't break the press and once they did begin breaking the press, the lack of team speed and poor shot selection became obvious. This game is as good as over.


41-24 Clemson. T/O Miami. I'm glad Frank Haith saved that use it or lose it timeout while Clemson built a 21 point lead early. Comes in handy now, doesn't it?

Another Tiger three. They are now 8 for 9 on the half. 35 to 18. Under 4 timeout.


Timeout Clemson. Frank Haith can learn something from Oliver Purnell about game management when the other team is on a run.


7-0 Miami run spurred by Eddie Rios hitting two jumpers and finding an open Dwayne Collins in the paint. 32 to 18.

32 to 11. 4:26 left.

29 to 8. Under eight timeout, first half.

Another Clemson three. 24 to 6. I'm going to stop posting until something changes. Six threes for Clemson already. Now it's 27 to 8!

21-6. This is a classic Miami effort in a game under Frank Haith we need. Recall the horrible road efforts at Virginia Tech and Duke late in the 2004-05 season when one win may have put Miami in the NCAAs? In 2006 we saw this same sort of "effort" against Boston College late in the year on the road when we were fighting to get into the dance.

The Clemson lead is 11, at 17 to 6, and Miami's perimeter defense as we have often seen this year has collapsed. 12 of Clemson's 17 points are on 3s.

The Clemson lead has reached 10, at 12 to 2. This team is cracking under the full court pressure and James Mays and KC Rivers are playing well for Clemson.

Clemson leads 8-0 at the under 16 timeout, first half.

KC Rivers hits a 3. 5-0 Clemson and Ray Hicks turns the ball over against the Tiger press. It is going to be a long long night.

Miami looking totally out of sorts tonight. But the score remains 2-0 Clemson, with the Tigers already turning the ball over a few times.


The crowd has really filled in here. Clemson wins the opening tip. The lights go dim after Clemson takes a 2-0 lead. Lights are now back on and Miami breaks the press.


PRE GAME:

The student section is already full at Littlejohn but the rest of the Arena is fairly empty 15 minutes from game time. The Tigers have a history of being poor around the time February turns to March. Even as accomplished a coach as Rick Barnes realized that Clemson is no place to build a consistent winner and he bolted for Texas after three consecutive NCAA appearances, the three most recent tourney bid in Clemson history.

While on paper Clemson appears to be tough, they are still Clemson. Considering Miami has gone into North Carolina and Maryland in the previous two seasons with lesser teams and won, beating Clemson is something that is not only attainable- it is something we should be disappointed about if it does not happen.