In a rematch of the opening round of last season’s NCAA Tournament, Clemson was unable to exact revenge.

The Tigers fell 74-64 to Rutgers in the ACC/BIG Ten Challenge at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

Despite David Collins turning in his most impressive performance in a Clemson uniform — he recorded a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards — the Tigers were unable to overcome an ice-cold first half, while also losing their best player to foul trouble.

Clemson has now dropped three of its last four games. Clemson head coach Brad Brownell expected his team to play better Tuesday night. He thought the signs were there.

The Tigers were on their heels for much of the night and he just didn’t see that coming.

“It seems like when we make some mistakes in these games, especially defensively, then other teams have made us pay,” Brownell said postgame. “That happened a couple of times tonight. We have to be more mature. We have to be better in our decision-making and our execution.”

While Clemson played exceptional defense throughout the course of the first half, the Tigers experienced similar struggles that have plagued them through the season’s first seven games.

Clemson went on a five-minute scoring drought in which it missed 10 consecutive shots. The Tigers finished the first frame shooting 9-of-27 from the field and 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.

What the Tigers struggled with the most was finding a way to attack Rutgers’ zone defense. While they had plenty of good looks, they just couldn’t find a way to finish.

They finally got those shots to start falling, as Clemson had a much better shooting performance in the second frame, finishing the game 23-of-59 from the field and 4-of-17 from deep.

And with just over 12 minutes remaining, they even got the lead down to just 1.

Instead of letting Clemson take advantage of the momentum created, Rutgers didn’t flinch.

The Scarlet Knights were able to take control of the game from there behind the scoring prowess of four players — Ron Harper, Jr., Caleb McConnell, Clifford Omoruyi and Aundre Hyatt — who all finished the game scoring in double figures.

It was Harper who took control of the game, though, scoring a game-high 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while adding nine rebounds.

Those same shots didn’t fall as easy for the Tigers.

Nick Honor scored Clemson’s first points of the game, making a 3-point shot with 16:50 remaining in the first half. The Tigers then missed 10 straight shots from deep before Collins hit a crucial shot from the top of the key.

Al-Amir Dawes, who was held scoreless well into the second half, hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, capping off a 13-4 run.

While Clemson made its run, it was only fair to assume that Rutgers would eventually do the same.

And, it did. The Tigers just didn’t have many answers down the stretch.

In the first half, Clemson turned over the ball six times and saw three of its starters — Collins, P.J. Hall, and Hunter Tyson — all pick up two fouls in the game’s first 20 minutes.

At the beginning of the second half, Hall instantly picked up his third foul. However, Brownell left him in the game, hoping that his best player could get Clemson back into the game, and then he picked up his fourth foul shortly thereafter.

With 18:26 remaining in the game, Hall went to the bench. He didn’t re-enter the game for another 10 minutes.

“It was disappointing,” Brownell said regarding Hall’s performance. “He just didn’t play very well tonight. It was one of those tough nights for him. I don’t think he competed to get the ball in areas where he could be effective enough. He’s played really well most of the year for us. It just wasn’t his night.”

After starting 2-of-9 from the field, Hall bounced back to finish with 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting. He fouled out with 4:07 remaining in the game on a foul call that was questionable, to say the least.

“I thought he bounced back late in the game, but unfortunately, he was in foul trouble and so we didn’t have him down the stretch,” Brownell added. “Obviously, we’re a different team when he’s not out there. He could be our best player. He’s probably our most valuable player. He’s a guy who we need out there because of his size, because of what he brings to the table offensively, and scoring around the basket and playing without for as long as we did was a real challenge for us tonight.”

His absence down the stretch proved to be crucial against a physical Scarlet Knights team that has a lot of size and length.

“The margin for error of winning at this level is really hard,” Brownell said. “It’s small when you play big, strong, physical teams like these. When you don’t execute and play great, you’re gonna have a hard time, especially in an environment like tonight.”

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