Published: Monday, Nov. 23, 2009 / Updated: Monday, Nov. 23, 2009 07:18 AM

Eagles set for their toughest test yet

Three games into the basketball season, Winthrop is 2-1 and that's probably where the Eagles were expected to be.

It's just the path coach Randy Peele's team has taken to get there hasn't been exactly the planned route.

They've beaten Limestone by two and USC Upstate by three at home, having to come back from late-game deficits to win. They went on the road and lost to a decent College of Charleston team by 12, but it was a two-point game with less than four minutes to play.

Despite averaging 54.3 points, allowing 56.7, shooting 33 percent overall and 13 percent on 3-pointers, the Eagles are 2-1.

“We're 2-1, but we got there harder than we thought it would be,” Peele said Sunday after a 90-minute practice. “The saving grace has been our ability to come from behind and win.

“While I'm not happy about the way we've played overall, we came back and found a way to win, and that's good.”

At 7:30 tonight, the Eagles face a challenge of a diff-erent magnitude when they go into Littlejohn Coliseum to face Clemson (3-0), the nation's 22nd-ranked team, one picked as a possible contender in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“They are good,” Peele said.

The Tigers have waltzed through three games, including wins of 33 and 40 points over Big South Conference teams Presbyterian and Liberty.

They are up front with what they do. No trickery. No gimmicks. It's 40 minutes of pressure defense and traps, trying to force the other team into as many mistakes as possible.

That pressure defense has forced an average of 26 turnovers per game. The Tigers are averaging 18 steals. They're outscoring opponents 84-49, beating them on the boards by 11 a game and pulling an average of 17 offensive rebounds.

In one regard, the one-day turnaround the Eagles had following Saturday's win over USC Upstate is a simpler deal than if they were playing a more structured, complicated team.

Peele and the Eagles know what's coming. That's why the 90-minute practice on Sunday was nothing more than running offense against the 1-2-1-1 full-court press they will see tonight almost from the time they get off the bus.

“They're forcing 26 turnovers a game, unbelievable,” Peele said. “We've got to handle the pressure, attack it and not just jack up jump shots.”

Coach Oliver Purnell's Tigers are big, quick and athletic, with 6-foot-9 freshman Milton Jennings the point man on the pressure and 6-7 bull Trevor Booker handling the back line. In between, there's 6-8 Jerai Grant, 6-6 David Potter and 6-2 Demontez Stitt.

But Purnell has used his bench liberally, with 10 players averaging at least 11 minutes a game.

Four Tigers average double figures, led by Booker (13.3). The Tigers are shooting 48 percent overall and 45 percent on 3-pointers, led by Potter, who has hit 10 of 15 from behind the line (67 percent).

While the Tigers like to push the tempo, that might not be a bad thing for the Eagles, who came back from seven down against Limestone and 13 down against USC Upstate by using their own full-court press and getting out in transition.

Asked about using more full-court pressure after Saturday's win, Peele said, “there's no question we play better at a faster pace.”

Peele didn't rule out pressing the Tigers, who believe faster is better.

“We'll see what that does for us,” he said.

It did plenty against Upstate, when the Eagles scored 21 points in the final five minutes. Seeming to play with more confidence and fire, the Eagles shot 50 percent in the second half, easily their best shooting half of the young season.

Redshirt freshman Gideon Gamble had eight of his 12 points in the final five minutes, including a huge 3-pointer. The late-game shooting, he said, “should give us confidence going to Clemson.”

More important will be the ball handling. The Eagles average 13 turnovers but have had trouble producing points consistently in the halfcourt offense. Clemson's goal will be to keep it from being a halfcourt game.