NCAA Tournament First Round Recap - Clemson vs Missouri

(10) Missouri 86, (7) Clemson 78

An overarching theme for this year’s tournament involves the "offensive" offense of most ACC teams.  The question: Are ACC offenses bad because ACC defenses are so good?
 
Due to a schedule quirk, the first day of the tournament featured only one ACC team out of the six that made the tournament.  That team, being the schizophrenic, brainless (in terms of basketball smarts, not academics) and inconsistent Wake Forest Demon Deacons, does not offer an easy case study.  However, middle-of-the-pack ACC programs such as Clemson, Florida State, and Georgia Tech share a similar theme: good defense and, at times, maddeningly bad offense. 
 
Missouri offers an interesting contrast in style. Coach Mike Anderson's team has a fast-paced offense, but often falls asleep at the defensive end of the floor.  The question for these Tigers is the same, only in reverse:  Is Missouri’s offense so good because it doesn’t play the kind of bruising defenses that Clemson does on a regular basis? 
 
As is often the case, the truth is probably somewhere in between.  Yes, the ACC does have some legitimately good defenses.  Florida State, for example, leads the NCAA in scoring defense.  How then, does one explain the (relative) score-fest that ensued when Clemson beat FSU, 77-67, in Littlejohn Coliseum in early February?  Wasn’t the meeting in Tallahassee three weeks later, when Clemson beat FSU, 53-50, more indicative of a game between two tremendous defensive teams?  The reality is that Clemson has shown that it can score when it needs to, but Oliver Purnell's team would rather play the game at a slower pace and force turnovers with a stifling half-court press.  The bigger reality is that every game takes on a life of its own.

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Likewise, Missouri would like to run, but the boys from the Big 12 can adjust their game as required.  Against Baylor, another high-scoring transition team, the Tigers and Bears (oh my!) finished with a modest 64-62 score in Baylor’s favor.  Again, every game is its own single entity.  Tendencies can be instructive, but once a game is tipped off, anything can, and often does, happen. 
 
Conventional wisdom said that if Clemson could force turnovers and keep the game slow-paced, it would win.  Conversely, if Missouri could break the press, avoid turnovers, and score in transition, the 10 seed would win.  However, just as Clemson beat Florida State in a high-scoring affair in the first game, and in a low-scoring defensive struggle in the second, this game took on its own personality.  Clemson did force turnovers against Mizzou, but rather than keep the pace slow, Clemson was willing to run with the Tigers from Columbia, Mo., as well.  Mizzou could not completely avoid turnovers, but Anderson's players were able to force a large number of Clemson turnovers with unsurprising (if you’ve seen Clemson play) regularity and consistently score in transition when they managed to break the press.
 
In short, these teams played essentially the same game, but the pace favored Mizzou, and Mizzou won.  Conventional wisdom was upheld.  The ACC Tigers did most of the things they do well. Clemson pressed, forced turnovers (10), crashed the offensive boards (17, compared with only 8 for Mizzou), and was tenacious underneath on defense.  Missouri did the same.  But significantly, Missouri forced more turnovers (19) and controlled the tempo, and that was the difference in the contest, as the Tigers from Columbia beat the Tigers from Clemson in a Big XII-ACC clash. 

 
WHAT’S NEXT

On Sunday, No. 10 seed Missouri will play No. 2 seed West Virginia, who overcame a slow start to easily dispatch No. 15 seed Morgan State, 77-50.



By: John Cary
DFN Sports Guest Writer