Painter’s Preview: Tiger Basketball Week 5
Clemson’s Men’s Basketball team is walking into December 7-1 with some big bounce back wins after a road loss to Boise State. The Tigers have showcased some stellar defense along with some star play from Forward Ian Schieffelin as they won the 2024 Sunshine Slam Tournament. Their terrific performances are giving fans hope this team can continue the success from last season as they push ahead to some challenging match-ups this week. The Tigers welcome in eight ranked Kentucky on Tuesday before traveling to Miami on Saturday to start ACC play.
Key Tiger Takeaways from Last Week:
Brownell Ball: Coach Brad Brownell loves playing hard nosed defense, and he has constructed rosters over the past years that play this style of basketball. The Tigers used their defensive prowess last season to reach the Elite Eight. This past week, this newly constructed team showcased an elite level of defense. After a rough first half to start the week against San Francisco, Clemson held them to just 26 points in the second half and 55 during the whole game (ESPN). 55 points is 25 points under the Dons’ season average, and this trend continued during the Sunshine Slam Tournament. Clemson then turned around the next day and held Penn State to 67 points after they have averaged 96 pts/g up to that point (ESPN). The Tigers finished the week holding Florida A&M to just 58 points, and their defensive masterclasses can carry Clemson back into a deep Tournament run. Senior Guard Jaeden Zackery and Freshman Del Jones have added great perimeter defending within the Tigers ability because of their great speed. Clemson has all the talent to be productive defensively, and their success will come down to their scoring ability.
Ian Schieffelin: Senior Forward Ian Schieffelin showed his star potential during the Sunshine Slam Tournament. Schieffelin brought home MVP of the tournament after averaging 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 6.5 assists in the two games (ESPN). He is currently averaging a double-double on the season and just finished the game against Florida A&M with 15 rebounds. Schieffelin was a popular topic in the off-season as many thought he would fill right into the role/responsibility that P.J. Hall had, and he is living up to expectations. He is always a threat to rebounding the basketball, but Schieffelin was tasked with improving his scoring ability while being the main focus for the opposition. He has answered the call for scoring so far, but he needs to continue his performances for Clemson to have sustained success.
Tale of Two Halves: As mentioned above, the Tigers had a slow first half to start the week against San Francisco, but they came out of half firing on all cylinders leading to a fifteen point win. Clemson played a similar game against the Florida A&M Rattlers leading by just six at half, but a strong second half led to a 28 point win (ESPN). Clemson has continued to fight in all of their games no matter what they look like, and it is encouraging to see entering to the tougher part of the schedule. If the Tigers are able to put together two great halves, they will be a force to be reckoned with. However, Clemson needs to showcase their ability to do this against good quality teams. They were close to showing their ability to play consistently against Penn State, but 13 turnovers allowed the Nittany Lions to stay in the game. Can Clemson play two great halves of basketball during this next week or will they cling onto a strong one half performance?
Stepping Up: During last week of Tiger Basketball, Clemson saw many different guys step up when needed. Junior Guard Dillon Hunter carried over his career high of 15 points into the first game of week against San Francisco going for 11 points and 6 rebounds while playing great defense off the bench (ESPN). Hunter has put a ton of work in to improving his shot, and it has paid off so far this season. If Dillon Hunter is able to give Clemson consistent play off the bench this season, it will greatly help the Tigers once they need bench scoring. Along side Hunter off the bench, Freshman Guard Del Jones continues to look better and better each game. While Jones does not light up the stat sheet yet in his career, he brings so much energy onto the court and his physical defense has been a great asset to Brownell and Co. Jones still has ways to go in developing a shot at this level, but he is still good enough in his current state to contribute and step up in big time moments. The last guy I want to recognize is Junior Forward Chauncey Wiggins. To end the week, Wiggins put on a 14 point and 15 point performance shooting over 60% from the field in both games (ESPN). He has struggled to become a consistent scorer for Clemson, but he has all the talent in the world to fill into a big role for the Tigers. If Wiggins can continue to build confidence, he will be a big contributor as the season progresses.
Clemson’s Upcoming Games:
8th ranked Kentucky at Home, December 3, 2024
The Kentucky Wildcats enter into Littlejohn 7-0 in the first season of Mark Pope as the Head Coach after parting ways with John Calipari. The Wildcats have already picked up a big win on the season over Duke who was ranked 4th at the time, and they are not expecting to slow down against Clemson. After going 23-10 last season, the Wildcats have a completely new look with 9 Transfers on their current roster (“NFL, College Sports, NBA and Recruiting”). Kentucky has been very balanced so far this season with 5 different guys averaging over 10 points a game and 6 guys averaging over 9 (ESPN). Kentucky’s main scorer is Junior Guard Otega Oweh and the former Oklahoma Sooner has been lighting up the stat sheet so far this season. Oweh has averaged 16.5 pts/g and will be a tough to stop for the Tigers. As mentioned, the production around Oweh does not slow down. The Wildcats’ top guys are all Transfers and have gelled together nicely so far. Kentucky is by far the biggest team that Clemson has played across the whole roster, and it will be interesting to see how Coach Brownell treats his rotations. Leading the Wildcats in rebounds is 7 footer Amari Williams who has averaged 10.7 rebounds/g (ESPN). Ian Schieffelin and Williams will have a battle within the paint, and Schieffelin will have to outsmart the 7 footer to make up for the size difference. Kentucky does not depend on any certain area of the court to score, and they will be able to strike from everywhere. The Wildcats are looking to beat the Tigers by committee as they have not showcased a dependability on one certain player. Kentucky averages 95 pts/g compared to the Tigers 78 pts/g, while both defenses have held teams not around the mid 60’s (ESPN). Clemson will need to depend on their hard nosed defense to protect their home court against one of the best teams in the country. It will also be interesting to see how Clemson is able to rebound against the Wildcats as the Tigers have not exceled in that area yet this season outside of Ian Schieffelin. Kentucky will win 79-68 in a game determined by second chances and bench scoring.
Miami on the Road, December 7, 2024
After a difficult home contest, Clemson travels to Miami for their first ACC match-up of the season. The Miami Hurricanes have not had a great start to the season going 3-4, and they will most likely enter this this contest 3-5 after a loss to ranked Arkansas. The Hurricanes and long tenured Head Coach Jim Larranaga are coming off a rough 23-24 season going just 15-17 (“Sports Reference | Sports Stats, Fast, Easy, and Up-To-Date | Sports-Reference.com”). Miami lost their top scorer and rebounder to the Transfer Portal; however, returning Guard Nigel Pack and a couple of Transfer additions have attempted to bounce back from that disappointing year. Pack is a fifth-year college basketball player who has been a consistent contributor for the Hurricanes since 2022, and he is hoping to return them to the Tournament during his last season. He has averaged 15 points and 5 assists in six games so far this season, and he will need to continue leading Miami for them to be successful (ESPN). The new addition in the backcourt along side Nigel Pack is Senior Jalen Blackmon. Blackmon, a former Stetson Hatter, has averaged 14 pts/g in his career. His scoring ability is hoping to elevate the consistency of the Hurricane offense, and he is shooting 46% from beyond the arc so far this season (ESPN). Miami also added former Clemson Tiger and Virginia Tech Hokie Lyn Kidd to hopefully replace the production from Norchad Omier. Kidd is a 6’10 Center that has averaged 11 pts and 6 rbs so far this season, but his rebounding number has left a lot on the table for the Hurricanes (ESPN). Picking up the slack on the boards has been Senior Transfer Forward Brandon Johnson. Johnson has averaged almost 9 rebounds a game, and his productivity has filled the role of Omier more than Kidd (ESPN). The Hurricanes like to play fast paced basketball, and it has been more favorable for Miami to play smaller line-ups. The slower paced play of Kidd has created a disruption in this offense, but Coach Larranaga and his intelligence will have it figured out before playing the Tigers. Clemson’s defense always has a tough task against Miami’s fast paced offense, but Coach Brownell and Co. have been leading the Tiger defense in the right direction so far this season. Clemson will win their first true road game of the season 81-71 because of Miami’s defensive flaws combined with offensively hiccups.
Sources:
“NFL, College Sports, NBA and Recruiting.” 247Sports, 247Sports, 2019, 247sports.com/.
ESPN. “ESPN.” ESPN.com, 2019, www.espn.com/.
“Sports Reference | Sports Stats, Fast, Easy, and Up-To-Date | Sports-Reference.com.” Sports-Reference.com, 2019, www.sports-reference.com/.