Middleton Loses His Jump Shot and His Playing Spot at Clemson

Searching for a high level of competition after leading the state in scoring two years ago at Valley College, Larry Middleton ventured east to Clemson and the basketball-mad Atlantic Coast Conference.

He found the competition, all right, but the ACC chewed him up and spit him out.

After averaging almost 18 points through the Tigers’ first 13 games, Middleton fell into a prolonged slump once the conference season began. He played less and less, not seeing any action at all in two ACC games, shot just 37% during conference games and wound up with an 11.4 scoring average.

“It was just awful,” said Clemson assistant coach Maury Hanks, adding that head Coach Cliff Ellis later told him that Middleton’s was the worst slump he’d ever seen.

“That was the first time in my life I experienced something like that,” Middleton said by phone Wednesday from Clemson, S.C. “It kind of made me second-guess myself . . . I don’t think I was concentrating hard enough in order to play in the ACC. In order to play in the ACC, the game must have your full attention.”

Middleton thought he had put his game back together last summer, when he averaged about 27 points and combined with UCLA’s Reggie Miller to lead their team to the championship of a pro-am league in Inglewood, but his role in Clemson’s offense this season has been drastically reduced. Hanks, in fact, now refers to him as the Tigers’ best defensive guard.

The 6-3 senior is the first guard off the bench for the Tigers, who are 17-0 and one of only three unbeaten teams in Division I. Playing about 21 minutes a game, he is averaging about 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Clemson is 4-0 in the ACC, its best start ever, but Middleton has scored only 14 points in three conference games.

“It’s very hard to figure out because I still consider myself a very good shooter,” Middleton said. “I’d like to help the team a little more. I still think I have something to prove to myself--and to others.”