Rebounding woes and missed opportunities haunt Clemson's tournament exit. Coach Brad Brownell dissects the factors behind their NCAA loss to Iowa.
No. 8 seed Clemson faced an uphill battle to beat No. 9 seed Iowa after losing Carter Welling to an ACL injury in the ACC Tournament last week.
Rebounds were a rough spot for the Tigers in a 67-61 loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday in front of 20,112 fans at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida.
The Hawkeyes out rebounded Clemson 40-27. It was a crucial stat in a game that mostly even between the two programs.
The Tigers made two more three pointers than Iowa and shot 41 percent to the Hawkeyes' 38 percent.
During his postgame news conference on Friday, Clemson head coach Brad Brownell pointed the finger at what went wrong on Friday. The Tigers missed opportunities in the paint and failed to rebound enough to win.
“I thought our kids, early in the game, for whatever reason, we just didn’t seem really comfortable,” Brownell said, via The Clemson Insider. “I thought we missed some shots around the rim that we probably normally make. Give their kids credit.
"They made some 3s early, which gave them a bunch of juice. I thought we stayed with our plan and hung in there reasonably well defensively, but the defensive rebounding was a problem, and obviously the fouling with the free throws. That was the big difference in the game."
Brownell noted the defense didn't get as many stops as they needed in crucial moments. Even when Clemson buckled down on defense, players made mistakes that were uncharacteristic of how they had played all season.
Despite coming up short to a scrappy Iowa team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers had a season they should be proud of. Clemson wasn't thought of as a tournament team before the season began.
The Tigers have now made three NCAA Tournament appearances in a row, and the program has momentum going into the 2026-27 campaign.
Still, Brownell and Clemson would like to make it further in the tournament. It will be up to Brownell to hit the transfer portal hard in April to try and land some players that can make a difference in a loaded ACC.