Clemson drops the ball against BYU, misses out on big opportunity

For the first 20 minutes inside Madison Square Garden, Clemson looked like a group ready to control the entire night. A crisp offense, active defense and a 21-point cushion had the Tigers firmly in command against No. 10 BYU, but everything that worked early disappeared after the break.

Clemson’s offense went nearly silent to open the second half, producing only four points in roughly a dozen minutes. BYU steadied itself, kept applying pressure and slowly turned the game into a grind the Tigers struggled to answer. What had been a lopsided scoreboard reset entirely, and with just a few minutes left, the Cougars finally surged ahead for the first time since the opening moments. Their lead grew to six with a little over a minute to play.

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“Obviously, a tale of two halves,” Brad Brownell said. “I thought we played outstanding the first 20 minutes, had them frustrated. The second half, they flipped the script.”

Brownell said BYU’s talent eventually surfaced while Clemson failed to adjust offensively.

“Which we knew they were really good players and would start making some plays. We didn’t do a good enough job as a coaching staff helping our players on the offensive end in the second half. Thought we got a little stagnant. Their little zone-press was bothersome, and it should not have been.”

Despite the freefall, Clemson didn’t walk away quietly. In the final seconds, Dillon Hunter delivered five points in 17 seconds, erasing the deficit and knotting the game at 64-64 with 5.5 seconds remaining.

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“My guys fought like crazy,” Brownell said. “I thought the first 20 minutes we might have played our best basketball of the season. Some guys made some plays down the stretch to give us a chance to go to overtime, but to their credit, they made a pretty tough shot to beat us.”

That shot came immediately after the timeout. BYU advanced the ball, inbounded with 1.4 seconds left, and Robert White III buried a contested three as time expired,…

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Publish date : 2025-12-10 18:47:00

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