Hall scores 20 as Tigers cruise past Winthrop in season opener |
CLEMSON –
PJ Hall opened both halves with 3-pointers and led scorers with 20 points as Clemson opened the season with a 78-56 victory over Winthrop in Littlejohn Coliseum Monday night.
The Tigers had four scorers in double figures – Ian Schieffelin added 16 and RJ Godfrey scored 12 and Chase Hunter added 10 for a Clemson team that shot 27-of-62 (42.5%) from the field, including 13-32 (40.6%) from 3-point range. The Tigers also hit 11-of-12 free throws. Clemson had 27 points off the bench and 26 points in the paint. Head coach Brad Brownell is now 13-1 in season openers at Clemson. Clemson is now 10-2 against Winthrop in the 12 meetings between the program, including a 9-2 mark in home games. Clemson is also now 122-21-1 all-time against members of the Big South Conference. The Tigers have also won 38-out-of-39 season openers, dating back to the 1985-86 season. Brownell said he could tell his players were amped up. "I could tell, really all day. We did the morning shoot-around and they were all excited," Brownell said. "And before the game, we didn't need to say much to them. And it probably showed a little bit of how we played in the first half, because we were a little erratic on offense. I do think defensively, we were very good, especially the start, and pretty good most of the day defensively. We really wanted to limit their threes. I thought we did a nice job there. "Certainly, the fouls got us a little bit of trouble, and we have to work on that. The defensive rebounding was good. Turned them over a little bit. I thought we played well defensively. And as the game wore on, we got better offensively. We didn't have any film, so it was a little... We weren't sure how they were going to work. They were probably a little more aggressive on some things than we anticipated and practiced, and so we had to make some adjustments at half-time. Our older team was able to do that, so we played much better. We had 21 assisted baskets, which is really good, 13 made threes. And so, I'm very pleased with the first game." Hall opened the season’s scoring with a 3-pointer just a little over a minute into the contest, and two Chase Hunter free throws and another jumper by Hall extended the lead to 7-0. Midway through the half, the Eagles went through a scoring drought, and the Tigers pushed the lead to 19-7, but the Eagles punched back, and when Chase Claxton hit two free throws with just over five minutes left in the half, the lead was just six at 21-15. Winthrop’s Kasen Harrison hit a 3-pointer with 1:16 remaining that made it 30-24, but the Tigers pushed the tempo, and Hunter nailed a 3-pointer of his own 12 seconds later, and it was 33-24. Neither team added any points the rest of the half, and the Tigers held that nine-point lead at the break. Hall started the second half like he started the first half – with a 3-pointer – and scored the first five points of the half after adding two free throws. The Tigers eventually pushed the lead to 18 at 50-32 on a 3-pointer by Jack Clark, and the Tigers kept that working margin for much of the next six minutes. However, Hall worked his way in for a dunk on an assist from Hunter, and 40 seconds later Alex Hemenway drilled a 3-pointer that gave Clemson a 70-46 advantage – the Tigers’ largest lead of the night – with just over five minutes left to play. Clemson returns to action this weekend at the 2023 Asheville Championship, held at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville. The Tigers face UAB at 9:30 p.m. Friday night. Just under 4 minutes to go! Easy slam for 2️⃣4️⃣ 💪#ClemsonGRIT UNSTOPPABLE TRAIN @ian_schieffelin 🚂💪#ClemsonGRIT PJ from deep 👌🔥 IAN WITH AUTHORITY 💪💪#ClemsonGRIT First 3️⃣ as a Tiger for @JG3_____ 🙌#ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/GtH6tJzgC4 RJ throws one down 😤@godfrey_rj #ClemsonGRIT .@ian_schieffelin knocks down his first 3️⃣ of the season! Great start to the season last night!!
The Tigers lead 70-48 😎#ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/FVjoXjoe4v
📺 ACCNX pic.twitter.com/7BRW4tQOPE
📺 ACCNX pic.twitter.com/lYnUBfqV0S
📺 ACCNX pic.twitter.com/hlSoQpLNve
📺 ACCNX pic.twitter.com/7ANzOqTkyK
📺 ACCNX pic.twitter.com/LkJyb4iKwx
📺 ACCNX#ClemsonGRIT 🐾 pic.twitter.com/w4i444Hiub
🎥 #ClemsonGRIT vs. Winthrop Highlights pic.twitter.com/CpZ6MbSfhX
Upgrade Your Account
Unlock premium boards and exclusive features (e.g. ad-free) by upgrading your account today.
Upgrade Now
