RESTORE • RENEW • REPRODUCE
Season Outlook
CLEMSON
Lady Tiger Basketball
Indeed, Coleman’s 2011 freshman class grew up has the ability to put points on the board in a hurry, and quickly, and she’ll need the same from this year’s group. she’ll be looked at early and often. “One of the challenges is that I need my freshmen to Four-star prospects Aisha Turner, a point guard, and grow up fast,” said Coleman. “Even though we have a lot of Nyilah Jamison-Myers, a post player, were the other gems experience coming back, we are fairly young. The role that of the recruiting cycle. Turner is quick and has great floor we talk about is to get better every day, and to control the vision, and Jamison-Myers is an immediate impact player things that we can control.” on the defensive end and rebounding with her height (6-3) Defensively, Clemson has improved greatly over the and length. Coleman’s first two seasons. Opponent scoring average Another sleeper for the Lady Tigers is Charmaine Tay. dropping from 69.2 to 65.1 points per game, and field goal Tay will sit out the fall semester after her transfer from Loupercentage defense went from .417 in 2009-10 to .403 in isville. She’ll bring grit and experience to the guard spot, 2010-11, and finally to .382 last season. Three-point field as she played on Louisville’s Sweet 16 team in 2010-11 goal percentage defense also improved from .332 in 2010- before her move to Clemson. Tay was a high school All11 to .306 in 2011-12. American, and ranked We want to hang our hats on defense. Every- as the 17th-best player With the added length thing that we’ve been doing thus far has really in the 2010 recruiting and number of players, Coleman will begin to concentrated on our defense - our help side, cycle. institute her pressure With many of the our ball pressure, and what we’re doing in the defense, and hope to foundation pieces in half court.” drop these levels even place, Itoro Coleman is further. excited about this sea “We want to hang our hats on defense. Everything that son. The Lady Tigers are poised to make a jump, and can we’ve been doing thus far has really concentrated on our build on the notion that in 2013-14, they’ll have the exact defense - our help side, our ball pressure, and what we’re same group as well. “We’ve been able to take a lot of strides in recruiting,” said doing in the half court.” If they’re looking for an indication of the future rewards Coleman. “We are definitely attracting the types of players of the defense, they need not look farther than Coleman’s that are going to help us return to national prominence.“ signature win thus far, a 52-47 win at No. 21 North Caroli- If they keep up this pace, the rebuilding effort may not na last season. The Tigers held the Tar Heels to their lowest take as long as originally intended. scoring output at home in school history, and a 1-17 mark behind the arc. Anchoring the post defense is junior Quinyotta Pettaway, who led Clemson in rebounding a season ago during a breakout sophomore campaign. She tallied 9.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while also blocking 1.1 shots per game. Her length and quickness coupled with her leaping ability will again likely ave Pettaway amongst the league leaders in rebounding. Fellow junior Chancie Dunn has drawn praise from teammates and coaches early in the preseason for her improvement on both ends. She’s worked on a more consistent jump shot, and is the team’s eldest stateswoman, at just more than 1100 career minutes played. With the solid foundation of the players in place, Coleman welcomes the nation’s 16th-ranked recruiting class, which includes what Coleman hopes is a franchise-player in Jonquel Jones. Jones, a 6-4 wing from the Bahamas, attended Riverdale Baptist High School in Maryland, and shot up recruiting boards as last season progressed. “Jonquel can play the two through the four, and we’ll use her that way. She’s so long, and creates so many mismatches. She can shoot the jumper, she can shoot the pull-up, she’ll get in there and rebound, and has a great all-around game.” Jones was rated as the 17th-best player in the nation by ESPN Hoopgurlz, and the No. 6 post player overall. Quinyotta Pettaway had a breakout sophomore season, Joining her in the freshman class is Danaejah Grant averaging 9.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. (Piscataway, NJ), who was a four-star prospect and ranked 65h nationally by Hoopgurlz. A slasher and scorer, Grant
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