Three Takeaways from Clemson's win over Georgia Tech

We can’t stress enough how big Clemson’s 72-70 win Sunday night in Atlanta was.

In large part, because Brad Brownell’s team was able to get the job done down the stretch with Donte Grantham only able to look on from the bench.

Clemson is now 6-3 in ACC play for the ninth time in school history, and its 17 wins matches the total from last season with nine games left on the schedule. The question about this team is starting to go from “will they make the tournament?” to “what seed will they be in the tournament?”

Speaking of which, Seldom Used Reserve will have a weekly "Resume Check" to give you a look at where the Tigers are likely to land in the postseason.

Here are three takeaways from Sunday night’s win against Georgia Tech.

Marcquise Reed is Clemson’s closer:

Mariano Rivera is known as one baseball’s greatest closers. For 17 seasons, he walked out of the bullpen to collect save after save for the Yankees. It almost became certain that Rivera would get the job done when the ball was in his hands.

Reed isn’t basketball’s Rivera here, but there is a similar type of look in Reed’s eyes when crunch time strikes.

When a play needed to be made in the closing minutes of Clemson’s win against the Yellow Jackets, Marcquise Reed took control. He made the two biggest plays of the night on both ends of the court.

The first, obviously, was the go-ahead layup that gave Clemson the lead back with 25 seconds left after it had just let an 8-point lead slip away. The other play, or plays, came on back-to-back defensive possessions where he stole the ball for breakaway layups.

Reed is also a closer because he does most of his damage in the second half. His 13 points on Sunday night, for example, all came in the second half, including Clemson’s last six points. He also posted 21 second-half points at North Carolina that got the team back in it.

Reed’s ability to control the game down the stretch against Miami and Louisville were big reasons Clemson won those games at home. He’s Clemson’s best scorer.

As the season moves forward and games continue to be tight, look for Clemson to put the ball in its closer’s hands and watch him go to work.

Gabe DeVoe can light you up if you let him:

You don’t win Sunday night’s game in Atlanta without Gabe DeVoe’s career-high performance, especially in the first half.

When Clemson seemed lost in its ways, DeVoe took it upon himself to get Clemson out of its funk. He went on two separate runs by himself, one a 9-0 run and the other a 7-0 run to give the Tigers life.

He didn’t make too many key plays in the last ten minutes, but what he was able to do gave Clemson confidence offensively for the rest of the game. He’s a confident shooter, to say the least, and DeVoe seems to be getting more confident as he plays more games. Clemson needs his confidence.

At this point, DeVoe is Clemson’s most improved player. He has become a little more of a consistent scorer from behind the arc and has come up at other important times when Clemson has needed him this season.

DeVoe is shooting 38 percent from three-point range, a six-percent increase from last season, and 43.8 percent overall. At times when he shoots, you tell yourself, “that was a bad shot,” but then it drops. He’ll continue to pull up from Seneca as the season continues. As Brownell has noted, he’s got the green light.

Don’t let DeVoe get into a rhythm. If he starts feeling it, he could make you pay.

Someone has to step up every game in Grantham’s absence:

Brownell said post game some of his veteran guys didn’t need the confidence boost of winning a game without Grantham on the floor. Others needed it tremendously.

You don’t need a career-night every night as DeVoe had, but someone has to carry the load on a nightly basis if Clemson is going to make a run in the ACC. It doesn’t have to be Reed or Shelton Mitchell every game, but it’s going to take one player to play a bit beyond what they average every night for Clemson to remain successful.

Maybe it’s Aamir Simms scoring in double-figures one night or Mark Donnal playing more minutes and playing better on both sides of the ball. Unfortunately for Clemson, it appears Donnal maybe out tonight, but the point is: it can happen.

This team proved that it could win in a tough environment without their leader when other guys stepped up their game when needed. That may have been all it took for them to believe that this team is still capable of playing like a top-20 team.

The game the Tigers played against Georgia Tech is just what they needed before a rematch Tuesday night against No. 19 North Carolina.