A few basketball thoughts as Clemson prepares for Saturday's noon game at Pittsburgh:
-- This team is banged up and still playing well.
By now you probably know about the back spasms that have limited Ian Schieffelin.
His statistics at Georgia Tech (16 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals) suggest that he was closer to his old self but he really wasn't. And isn't.
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When his back is flaring up on him he just doesn't have his same aggression and explosion.
He's ... more tentative, if that makes sense. And anyone who's had debilitating back issues can understand what it's like for a high-level athlete as he wonders when the next lock-up is coming.
He didn't practice at all last week, and not much this week from what we've picked up.
Schieffelin has also been dealing with a calf injury since early in the season, and you wonder if this is one of those classic cases of compensation for one injury causing another. Sounds like they're not sure on that count as they look for answers to try to resolve this and get Schieffelin back to his normal rampaging self for the stretch run of the season.
Also, Jaeden Zackery has been dealing with a finger injury on his left (non-shooting) hand for about a month.
Of course it hasn't affected his defense; he's been an absolute monster in that respect, to the point you could make an argument he's the team's MVP at this point.
Offensively it's affected him, though, particularly when he's dribbling.
Even amid all that -- plus the lengthy sickness that limited Viktor Lakhin -- this team can play some high-level basketball. They were sensational in the second half against Florida State.
And even though the plodding victory at short-handed Georgia Tech felt lethargic in some ways, we're probably not giving enough credit to just how good the Tigers played defensively.
They're 14-4 overall and 6-1 heading to Pittsburgh. The down state of the ACC leaves them with some work to do, and those narrow back-to-back losses to Memphis and South Carolina still sting.
Yet given the circumstances -- and given what they lost from last year's team -- this group has played well and isn't going to be easy to beat.
The key moving forward is finding a way to get more contributions from the bench.
They were in a better place in that respect last year when they had RJ Godfrey, Dillon Hunter and Chauncey Wiggins coming off the bench.
-- Speaking of Godfrey...
They miss him this year.
We're not in any way saying Clemson screwed up in letting him get away, but last week at Louisville is when it really jumped out to us how much this team could use a big, quick, athletic, bouncy presence in the post.
Transfer Myles Foster is listed at 6-7 but probably closer to 6-6 and 245 pounds. Godfrey could switch onto a guard and was quick enough to hold his own. Foster doesn't move or jump as well. Godfrey could guard an opposing 5-man. Foster has his struggles there.
Foster is averaging four minutes per game in conference play and didn't play at Georgia Tech.
-- It's critical that Lakhin stay out of foul trouble.
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Given Schieffelin's back problems, Lakhin's ability to stay in games becomes ever more important.
He picked up only one foul in 35 minutes at Georgia Tech (while drawing five and scoring 10 points while handing out four assists).
But in the past two home games (Florida State and Cal) he totaled just 25 minutes on the floor while drawing four fouls in each game.
If Scheffelin and Christian Reeves are playing 30 minutes at the 5 spot, that's going to make it hard.
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