Clemson Tigers head coach Brad Brownell delivered a somber message following his team's NCAA Tournament loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The Clemson Tigers fell to the Iowa Hawkeyes in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night, falling behind early and never recovering in a 67-61 defeat.
Clemson's poor start doomed the squad in the affair, and the Tigers trailed by as many as 14. They staged a late rally, but ultimately came up short.
Afterward, Clemson head coach Brad Brownell offered a somber message on the loss.
"That’s what’s going to be haunting, right, with this loss, is you had a chance," Brownell told reporters. "I told the guys at halftime, we’re in a good position to win the game. We really are."
The Tigers were behind 32-25 at halftime, which actually seemed fortunate given that they missed 15 of their first 20 shots.
"We haven’t played great. They’ve got a little bit of a lead. You’re kind of right where you want to be when you’re a team that maybe played a little better the last part of the first half, built a little momentum," Brownell added. "If we can just get off to a good start in the second half, we can really make a shot at winning the game, and there’s plenty of time left."
Unfortunately, Clemson was never able to get into any kind of consistent offensive rhythm, as it shot just 40.7 percent from the floor.
The Tigers did get to within four points with 1:28 remaining, but they were never able to get over the hump.
"And we just didn’t quite have it tonight," Brownell added. "We just couldn’t quite make the timely play. And again, some of that is Iowa. They’re very well coached. The kids play extremely hard. They don’t give you anything. And obviously they made a couple more plays than we did throughout to keep the lead, two or three possessions."
The biggest difference in the game was at the free-throw line, where the Hawkeyes went 24-for-31. Meanwhile, Clemson made just eight of its 12 foul shots. Iowa also outrebounded the Tigers, 36-24.
Clemson entered the contest as the higher-ranked team (No. 8), but the Hawkeyes (No. 9) were definitely the better ballclub on the evening.
Brownell has been at the helm for the Tigers since the 2010-11 campaign and has gone 316-207 across that span, leading Clemson to six NCAA Tournament appearances.
Clemson Roundtable also offers a fan community and message board. We’d love to have you join us to talk all things Clemson Tigers. Click the “Join” button at the top of the page to join our community for free.