Tigers go cold late, lose to Rutgers in NCAA Tournament first round

Clemson's season ends with a 16-8 record. (Photo courtesy of NCAA)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Mar 19 23:41:09 GMT-04:00 2021

Rutgers won its first NCAA Tournament game in 38 years in defeating Clemson 60-56 in the first round at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis Friday night. Clemson failed to score in the final 2:28 of the game.

Clemson’s season ends with losses in the first round of both the ACC and NCAA Tournaments and finishes 16-8. Rutgers improves to 16-11 and advances to play No. 2 see Houston Sunday. Houston defeated Cleveland St. 87-56 Friday.

The Tigers suffered through too many offensive lapses in both halves and shot 6-19 from 3-point range and was 21-59 overall (32%). Clemson was outrebounded 41-32. The Tigers received just six points off the bench. Aamir Simms scored 15 and Clyde Trapp added 14, while Hunter Tyson scored 10 as the three Tigers in double figures.

"Congratulations to Rutgers. That was NCAA Tournament basketball," head coach Brad Brownell said. "Their kids played really hard, and I thought our guys did as well. Both teams were very physical and aggressive defensively. The defense was better than the offense for both teams. Rutgers had a couple of balls that seemed to fall their way, and, in a game like this, where there's some ebbs and flows, the easy baskets often make the difference. Give the Rutgers kids credit. They got a couple more easy baskets than we did, and I thought that was the difference."

Brownell said he hopes the younger players use the loss as motivation to make a return appearance in the tournament.

"Young players having the opportunity to play in games like this is always great," Brownell said. "It wasn't your typical NCAA Tournament atmosphere, with all of the usual pomp and circumstance, but it was a big stage and was big-time basketball. You could feel how competitive it was. It should serve as motivation not only to play in games like this but to play well in them and advance. We're very grateful for our three senior players, who have had outstanding careers."

Trapp saved one of his better performances of the season for the tournament.

"I thought Clyde was going to play well. He's practiced very well lately," Brownell said. "He felt great all week. Going into the game, I thought he had a lot of confidence. He played very well tonight. He played with a lot of swagger, aggressiveness and assertiveness and made some big shots to keep us in the game. When we got down, our seniors wouldn't let us cave in, and Clyde was a big part of that."

The first half was a defensive affair as neither team could pull away. Rutgers jumped out to a 3-0 lead 72 seconds into the game on a 3-pointer by Geo Baker, but the Tigers quickly tied the score on a trey by Al-Amir Dawes. The Tigers eventually pushed the advantage to five at 12-7 after an Alex Hemenway 3-pointer and breakaway dunk by Hunter Tyson.

Rutgers stormed back to take a 13-12 lead, and from then on it was back-and-forth as both defenses put the clamps on the opposing offenses. Clyde Trapp ended the half on a fast break driving layup as time expired and the Tigers led 26-23 at intermission. There were five ties and seven lead changes in the half and Clemson forced 10 Rutgers turnovers.

Trapp continued to lead the Tigers as the second half started, hitting three early shots as the Tigers took a 33-29 lead almost four minutes into the half. Rutgers once again stormed back, however, as the Tigers settled for quick long-range jumpers, and the Scarlet Knights took a 39-37 lead on a 3-pointer by Jacob Young. Rutgers then pushed the lead to 43-37 before Nick Honor knocked down a jumper to make it 43-39.

However, the Tigers got lazy on the defensive end and the Scarlet Knights ran off four more points to take a 47-39 lead with 10:17 to play, forcing the Tigers into another timeout after the 13-2 run. Caleb McConnell knocked down a 3-pointer coming out of the timeout for a 50-39 lead, but Simms hit a running one-hander in the lane and hit a free throw that made it 50-42 with just over nine minutes to play.

Hunter Tyson followed that with a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 50-45, giving the Tigers new life, and 90 seconds later Jonathan Baehre put back a missed shot that made it 50-47. Chase Hunter made a short jumper in the paint that made it 50-49, but Rutgers answered with a 3-pointer from Jacob Young that put Rutgers back ahead by four at 53-49.

Simms then made an old-fashioned three-pointer after a short jumper in the paint and a free throw to make it 53-52, but the Scarlet Knights got a lucky break after a missed shot bounced off a Clemson defender and back to Caleb McConnell under the basket to make it 55-52.

Baehre delivered a beautiful pass to Trapp under the basket on the ensuing possession, and Trapp got the defender airborne and drew a foul before hitting the layup. Trapp hit the foul shot and the score was tied at 55-55 with four minutes remaining.

Rutgers hit another 3-pointer for a 58-55 lead, and the Tigers managed just one free throw over the next two minutes and the teams went into the final 30 seconds with the score at 58-56. Simms had a chance to tie the score but turned it over and Rutgers hit a layup with 10 seconds remaining to effectively end the game.

Clemson-Rutgers box