CLEMSON, S.C. _ Clemson coach Brad Brownell has what he describes as a "love-hate relationship" with his freshman point guard.
Brownell loves the confidence and swagger of Al-Amir Dawes, but at times that confidence can get the New Jersey native in trouble.
"He made incredibly bad plays against Virginia Tech and Miami that cost us the game, to be frank," Brownell said Saturday after Clemson's matchup against Florida State. "And he knows that. And we've talked about it. And if you were at the games I think everybody in the stands knew it but him, to be honest with you."
Through the ups and downs of his freshman season, Dawes kept the belief that he was the best player on the floor. Saturday afternoon against No. 6 Florida State he was, scoring the game-winning layup with one second remaining to lift the Tigers to a 70-69 victory over FSU.
The win is Clemson's third over a top-10 team this season as the Tigers previously upset No. 3 Duke and No. 5 Louisville at Littlejohn Coliseum.
"Obviously a fantastic game, an incredible win. Really just happy for my players for the way they've battled all season," Brownell said. "Our guys made some big time plays."
None bigger than the one by Dawes late. Clemson led 68-67 with 19 seconds remaining when Clyde Trapp went to the line for a pair of free throws. He missed both but Clemson forward Aamir Simms grabbed the offensive rebound. However, an inadvertent whistle was blown with 17 seconds remaining and after a lengthy discussion Florida State was awarded the ball thanks to the possession arrow favoring the Seminoles.
FSU's Trent Forrest hit a mid-range jumper on the ensuing possession to give Florida State a 69-68 lead with nine seconds remaining before Dawes' heroics.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard caught the inbounds pass and went behind his back as he started up the floor. He crossed over between his legs near the 3-point line, then crossed over again to get Forrest off balance before working his way to the hole and laying the ball up with his left hand with one second left.
"I saw areas where I could get to and slow down, get to and slow down until I'm close to the basket. Then I could make my play and score the basket," Dawes said. "I used to work out a lot just for these situations, just for these moments. Keep telling myself this is going to happen. You're going to have history like this. Just be prepared for it."
The win improves the Tigers to 15-13 (9-9) with two regular season games remaining. FSU falls to 24-5 (14-4) with the loss.
FSU appeared to have the game in control for most of the day. The Seminoles led by as many as 10 points in the second half before Clemson started to battle back.
Devin Vassell led the Seminoles with 14 points and seven boards. John Newman joined Dawes with 18 points to lead Clemson.
"He went to the basket and made a tough play," Brownell said of Dawes. "We talked this week about the importance of layups, because we gave up some layups to Georgia Tech and we had some layups we missed. Layups at this level are hard shots. They're not wide open layups. They're physical layups ... He made a tough layup to win the game. It's ironic because that was a huge point of emphasis in our film session on Thursday morning."
