ACC Basketball: Each team’s worst performance of the last decade

Clemson

December 19, 2012 (at Coastal Carolina 69, Clemson 46) (GS: 3)

For many teams that have more regularly contended for NCAA Tournament appearances, your mind might immediately jump to one of those Tournament losses. However, we’re more interested in team’s worst performances of the decade, so its games like this one at Coastal Carolina that really grab the eye.

To truly understand why this was a disaster, let’s look at this particular Coastal Carolina team. They came into this contest on a five-game losing streak, and a few of those games were not pretty, including a monumental home loss to Boston University. For Clemson, who sat at 6-3, this was not a year where they were going to contend in the ACC, but surely, this team could handle the short road trip to Coastal Carolina?

If you assumed that this ACC team was going to win at this Big South team, then you were sadly mistaken. Clemson’s offense was putrid, especially from the 3 (4-21). This was just a 27-19 game at the half until Coastal Carolina pulled away late. Devin Booker (not the Kentucky one) led Clemson with 16 points but there was barely any help around him.

As you already know or could have easily predicted, this Clemson team did not contend for any sort of postseason play, eventually ending the year 13-18. The same could be said for Coastal Carolina, who finished in the middle of the pack before getting dropped by Liberty in the Big South Tournament. Clemson isn’t a team that regularly drops games to mid-majors, but this was a truly uninspiring performance, regardless of how poor of a roster this team had. Luckily, this is also a reigning Sweet Sixteen team, so five years later it’s clear that they’ve figured it out.