Clemson got a break, a break that felt massive, when Nick Pringle and Mark Sears got crossed up against a pressuring defense.
Pringle's pass sailed wide of Sears, and Jack Clark grabbed the ball at midcourt. Sears fouled him.
The Tigers were down five with 37 seconds left, and about to be down just three.
BECOME A SUBSCRIBER AT TIGERILLUSTRATED.com!
About to be.
How do you explain Clark missing not one but both of the free throws?
How do you explain Clemson going 3-of-11 from the line in the second half?
You don't, really.
Join Tigerillustrated.com subscribers on The West Zone message board!
Yes, an opponent finally got hot from 3 after Clemson's first three tournament victims were deathly cold. Alabama piled up 16 made 3-pointers on 36 attempts, and Sears went 7-of-8 after missing his first six attempts from long range.
Unquestionably that was huge in Alabama's 89-82 victory Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena. And so were 16 offensive rebounds that Alabama turned into 15 second-chance points.
But even amid all that, Clemson still had a chance. Clemson still could've very much won it had the Tigers, so good at the free-throw thing all year, managed to convert at the line.
From the Elite Eight, to eight missed free throws in the final 20 minutes.
That's not going to cut it. As a result, the Crimson Tide was the one cutting down the nets in Los Angeles.
Clemson's March Madness joy ride was affirming in so many ways, and the second trip this far in school history is going to go down as an overwhelming positive.
Yet sitting here in the immediate aftermath, it's hard for this tight group of brothers to sit back and realize their last game together featured so many shots clanging off the rim from 15 feet away and no one defending.
The farther you go, the greater the pain when you lose.
This team of course had no plans of losing, as Brad Brownell reminded his players in the giddy celebration that followed Thursday's triumph over No. 2 seed Arizona.
So much felt like it was going to script when Clemson took a 13-point lead in the opening 10 minutes of the game.
But then cracks started to show, as Alabama pulled down 13 offensive rebounds in the first half and started to get hot from beyond the arc.
And instead of taking advantage of Grant Nelson drawing his second foul with 16:21 left in the first half, Clemson watched the Crimson Tide take a 35-32 lead into halftime.
The Tigers missed nine of 10 3-pointers in the first half and finally found their stroke by making eight in the second half, five by Joe Girard.
But Sears and Jarin Stevenson combined to go 12-of-22 from 3. They couldn't miss.
After New Mexico, Baylor and Arizona combined to make just 14 3-pointers on 75 attempts for an abysmal 18.6-percent clip, everything flipped against an Alabama team that outlasted North Carolina in a track meet Thursday night.
It didn't help the Tigers' cause that they had to play the final 3:25 without star PJ Hall. Clemson was down nine when Pringle made the and-1 off Hall's fifth foul, yet Clemson pulled to within three points with 2:16 left, within four with 1:38 left, and within five with 30 seconds left.
Hall finished with 14 points and four rebounds while missing three of four 3-pointers and committing five of his team's eight turnovers.
Girard led Clemson in scoring with 19 points in 35 minutes, followed by 18 for Ian Schieffelin.
Schieffelin's 11 rebounds gave him a double-double, but he was 4-of-8 from the free-throw line. Two were missed front-end 1-and-1 opportunities in the second half.
Clemson was used to watching its opponents melt at the free-throw line. New Mexico, Baylor and Arizona made just 48 of their 72 attempts for a 64.8-percent clip.
BECOME A SUBSCRIBER AT TIGERILLUSTRATED.com!
The Tigers, on the other hand, made 45 of 59 attempts in the previous three games and were ranked 10th nationally on the season in free-throw percentage at 78.7 percent.
They planned to cut down nets tonight. Instead they played a significant role in cutting out their own hearts.
From the Elite Eight, to eight missed free throws in the second half.
Hard to explain.
And hard to take for a team that was capable of going to the Final Four.
BIG MARCH DEALS on officially-licensed Clemson apparel and gear at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!
