So much for the idea that Will Wade's players were going to quit on him.
The real questions for so long Thursday centered on the energy and motivation level of the other guys.
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Clemson finally figured out how to shoot, but the hole was just too great as the No. 5 seed Tigers followed up last year's Elite Eight run with a one-and-thud in a 69-67 defeat to Wade and 12 seed McNeese Thursday afternoon in Providence R.I.
A day earlier, what a time it was to be alive as a Clemson basketball fan.
Brad Brownell pulled his name out of the finalist list at home-state Indiana and was at work on a long-term extension with Clemson, something that seldom happens at this school when its basketball coaches are in demand for bigger jobs.
The Tigers had won a school-record 27 games and were a remarkable 18-2 in the ACC.
And Wade, the Clemson alum, had to deal with the fallout of his reported departure for N.C. State.
The vibes seemed to favor the Tigers. And so did the matchups, as Clemson was really big and McNeese was really small.
Wade even said going in that his goal was to keep from getting annihilated in the paint.
And then the first half happened. Surely one of the most brutal 20 minutes of basketball in Clemson history (and yes, that list is probably long).
The Tigers' 13 points were the fewest for an NCAA 5 seed or higher in a first-round game since 1999.
Yes, it was that bad.
And then it kept getting worse as the Cowboys stretched their lead to a whopping 40-16 at the 16:14 mark of the second half.
The Tigers were 1-for-16 from 3 when Jaeden Zackery knocked one down at the 12-minute mark to make it 45-27.
But it was still a 22-point game at the 7:45-minute mark.
Clemson valiantly battled back, similar to how the Tigers devoured a 15-point deficit late against Louisville in the ACC Tournament.
The Cowboys had no answers for Clemson's full-court press, and the Tigers were 8-of-15 on 3-pointers in the second half.
Zackery finished with 24 points while playing all 40 minutes and was 4-of-8 from long range.
Chase Hunter's point total of 21 looks normal on the stat sheet.
But with a little over 10 minutes in the game, Hunter had as many points as the McNeese student manager who's created such a sensation recently.
Zero.
The guy who put the team on his back for last year's NCAA run -- the guy who earned first-team All-ACC honors this year -- had a big, fat goose egg before he finally attacked the rim and drew a foul with 10:02 on the clock (he hit the two free throws to cut the deficit to 18).
His first field goal came with less than eight minutes left.
Add to that a startling one point from Ian Schieffelin in 30 minutes, plus some whiffed box-outs by him and plenty others, and this was truly a confounding end to the season for a team that won 15 of 16 games before the last two defeats.
And that was just the start of Clemson's March badness stats from this game.
The undersized Cowboys ended up annihilating Clemson in the paint, using their speed and desire to outscore the Tigers 44-24.
McNeese pulled down 18 offensive rebounds and scored 16 second-chance points.
At the 10-minute mark of the game Clemson had two assists and 13 turnovers. The Tigers ended up closing that margin to nine assists and 13 turnovers thanks to their their roaring comeback, but all was not well that ended well.
Against Louisville, Jake Heidbreder's four points were it for Clemson's bench.
This time the Tigers had five bench points. To 35 for McNeese.
If Wade had one fault in this game, it was probably pulling back offensively late instead of attacking.
Because it seemed like every time the Cowboys attacked, they were getting into the lane.
Clemson entered with some serious shooting issues, having made just 21 on 87 attempts (24.1 percent) over the previous five games.
Brownell said Sunday that his team just needed to relax, and he vowed to work a lot on shooting in the days before the first-round matchup.
The Tigers seemed totally spooked from the outset when Wade threw a zone defense at them that was combined with switches to man when Clemson sent cutters.
Wade called it "the junk."
Brownell said the Cowboys hadn't shown it on film.
Clemson missed 14 of 15 shots from long range in the first half, and at one point the Tigers had 80 3-point misses on their previous 102 attempts going back five-plus games.
Awful.
Wade's team was playing fast and loose. Brownell's team was playing slow and tight.
It's no news flash that the former usually trumps the latter during March.
For far too long in the Big Dance, Clemson looked like it was in the big trance.
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The big statement this week was supposed to come from Brownell opting to remain and Clemson locking him up to a longer-term deal.
Leave it to a Clemson boy to make the biggest statement of all while giving McNeese its first-ever NCAA Tournament win on his way out the door to Raleigh.
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Turned out, the N.C. State thing wasn't a distraction at all for Wade's players.
Turned out Clemson looked like the more distracted team for far too long.
It's going to be a longer offseason than most everyone in these parts envisioned.
