Three takeaways from Clemson basketball’s season opener against Presbyterian College
The Clemson men’s basketball team shook off a slow start and heated up in the second half Tuesday night to down Presbyterian College 64-53 in the 2021 season opener at Littlejohn Coliseum.
After scoring only 24 points in the first half and being down by eight points to the Blue Hose, the Tigers scored 22 points in the first 11 minutes of the second half. A stronger defensive effort later kept the Blue Hose scoreless for four minutes while taking a 53-44 lead with 7:49 to go in regulation.
Presbyterian College ended the scoreless drought with two free throws from Greenville native Rayshon Harrison at the 7:01 juncture, but didn’t hit a field goal until the 3:37 mark of the frame, the team’s first in nearly 11 minutes.
“I hope that that’s something we can build on because I think it’s important,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said of his team’s second-half turnaround. “There’s no question we were a little shell-shocked in the timeouts in the first half. We didn’t have a great shootaround today. We shoot in the mornings. We didn’t have a great shootaround this morning, and I was a little disappointed and challenged our guys and told them this was a great learning lesson. It’s not easy to show that kind of maturity.”
Here are three takeaways from Clemson’s season opener:
Finding a rhythm
The Tigers struggled to find an offensive rhythm early. At the beginning of the game, they weren’t taking many shots. Later in the first half, though, the group began shooting more but the shots weren’t falling. Clemson ended the first half shooting 35% from the field and 46.7% from the free throw line.
Hunter Tyson provided the Tigers with some offense, going 50% from the floor while leading the team’s scoring with 11 points midway through the opening half.
“Their size and athleticism and pressure initially probably surprised us a little bit,” Brownell said. “We knew they were going to be good and athletic, but I didn’t know they would guard as hard as they did initially, so we weren’t probably quite as ready for it in the first half. I thought we made some adjustments and that was really good and played much better, played a really good second half.”
Clemson turned things around in the final 20 minutes and went up by as many as 16 points for a 64-48 score with less than three minutes left in the game.
Struggles with size
Clemson’s lack of height was apparent against a noticeably taller Presbyterian College team. The Tigers struggled to get penetration, but were able to draw fouls when they did. PJ Hall, listed at 6-foot-10, gave the team an option in the post and totaled two blocks with three rebounds. After the Blue Hose had tied up the game at 41 six minutes into the second half, Hall put the Tigers back up with a putback dunk for the 43-41 score.
The Spartanburg native showed off his versatility by going outside and hitting a 3-pointer late in the second half. He finished with six points.
Hunter Tyson also used his 6-8 frame to bring down seven rebounds, all of which came on the defensive end.
Presbyterian College won the rebounding battle 38-32.
Go-to scorer
With the departure of Aamir Simms, who is currently in the G League, the Tigers are in search of a go-to shooter. Tyson and Al-Amir Dawes took their turns at being the guy at various points of the game and were productive in those opportunities. After Presbyterian College had gone up by 11 near the end of the first half, Tyson scored Clemson’s final five points to narrow the score 32-24 at the midpoint.
Dawes then took over in the second half, scoring seven points in the first nine points. Five of those points came during the Tigers’ 8-0 run to take a 41-39 lead with 14:46 on the clock.
Dawes ended the night with a team-high 21 points, while Tyson had 14.
“There’s going to be games where he’s that guy. I think that’s going to be different all the time for this team,” Brownell said. “He’s a guy that’s going to be in certain situations where it’s going to be him, could be PJ, Hunter, (David Collins). I think we have some guys that can do it, capable. I don’t know if he’s a guy that can do it every night. I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Next game
Who: Clemson vs. Wofford
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Littlejohn Coliseum
Watch: Streaming on ACC Network Extra
Clemson basketball vs PC box score, stats
PRESBYTERIAN (0-0): Hill 2-5 0-0 4, Harrison 3-16 6-7 12, Reddish 4-11 0-0 8, Younger 5-11 1-2 12, Stewart 3-4 0-0 7, McCormack 2-5 1-1 5, Thrash 1-4 0-0 2, Graham 1-1 0-0 3, Ard 0-2 0-0 0, Barnett 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-59 8-10 53.
CLEMSON (0-0): Hall 2-4 1-4 6, Tyson 4-7 4-5 14, Collins 5-7 3-9 14, Dawes 7-16 3-3 21, Honor 1-5 0-0 2, Bohannon 0-1 0-0 0, Hemenway 1-2 0-0 2, Hunter 1-3 3-4 5, Schieffelin 0-0 0-0 0, Middlebrooks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-45 14-25 64.
Halftime—Presbyterian 32-24. 3-Point Goals—Presbyterian 3-24 (Graham 1-1, Stewart 1-2, Younger 1-6, Hill 0-1, McCormack 0-2, Reddish 0-4, Harrison 0-8), Clemson 8-19 (Dawes 4-9, Tyson 2-4, Collins 1-2, Hall 1-2, Honor 0-2). Rebounds—Presbyterian 33 (Hill, McCormack 7), Clemson 30 (Hall 8). Assists—Presbyterian 12 (Reddish 5), Clemson 12 (Honor 4). Total Fouls—Presbyterian 18, Clemson 14.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 9:06 PM with the headline "Three takeaways from Clemson basketball’s season opener against Presbyterian College."
