Clemson basketball made history, but not in a good way. The No. 5 seeded Tigers underperformed in the first half against the No. 15 seed McNeese State in the first round of the NCAA tournament, eventually losing.
The Tigers finished the season with a 27-6 overall record and went 18-2 in ACC play. Besides those numbers, the Tigers were 7.5-point underdogs against the Cowboys. Plus the Tigers were without one of Dillon Hunter, who broke his hand in the ACC tournament.
The Tigers trailed 31-13 at the end of the first half and put up some woeful numbers, per Nicole Auerbach of NBC Sports.
They shot 21% from the field compared to the Cowboys who shot 44%. The Tigers only made five field goals and turned the ball over ten times whereas the Cowboys only had four.
Clemson basketball converted on one three-pointer and scored only four second-chance points. The Cowboys outscored the Tigers 26-8 in points in the paint and 19-2 in bench points.
The Tigers also made 6 of their 13 points in the first four minutes of the game.
Aside from the scoring exploits of transfer guard Jaeden Zackery, none of the other Tigers contributed.
Despite mounting an incredible second-half run, the Tigers fell short 69-67 in an upset.
Clemson basketball cement their place in poor performance history
The Tigers now find themselves in a unique class of underperformers. While some may think the Tigers set a new record, they at least come up a few points short.
The fewest first-half points were 10 by Wake Forest in 2001 and Kent State in 2008. These were the lowest-scoring first halves in the shot clock era since 1896.
This look doesn’t bold well for Tigers head coach Brad Brownell who signed a new five-year contract with $20 million.
The Tigers have five senior players (Daniel Nauseef, Matt Kelly, Andrew Latiff, Viktor Lashin, and Ian Schieffelin). Zackery who is a graduate student who transferred from Boston College.
It is safe to say this wasn’t the way they expected go out especially in the first round and under these circumstances.
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