With Clemson’s win over in-state rival South Carolina, the Tigers moved to 8-0 on the season, thanks to the performances from several key contributors.
A lot of players contributed to this win for the Tigers, including Ian Schieffelin, who had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Clemson center PJ Hall also had four blocks that set the tone for the rest of the game early in the second half.
As for sophomore forward Chauncey Wiggins, he spearheaded this overall solid group effort.
Wiggins scored 15 points while shooting 5 for 8 from the field and 3 for 5 from beyond the arc and was perfect from the line. Wiggins was quiet in the first half, only scoring 2 points, as the Tigers didn’t score in the last seven minutes of the first half.
The second half was a completely different story for Wiggins and the Tigers. He opened up the second half by snapping the Tigers’ cold streak with a huge three-pointer that opened up opportunities for the rest of the team. Wiggins then hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie and put Clemson ahead 54-51 at a time where it was do or die for the team heading into the home stretch of the second half.
“We weren’t playing our best basketball and were only down six or seven,” Wiggins said. “We needed to get something going on offense.”
From the start of the second half, the Tigers never lost the hot hand and scored over double their first-half score with 49 total points in the second half alone.
“He plays with pretty good poise,” head coach Brad Brownell said of Wiggins.
Meanwhile, after the game, both Hall and Wiggins had some great words for the gritty and impressive performance put on by Ian Schieffelin.
“Ian Schieffelin is an absolute X-factor,” Hall said.
“People don’t realize how skilled Ian is outside of that grunt work,” Wiggins said. “I love that guy. I’m glad that all of his skill, toughness and grit is coming out.”
Hall summarized this experienced and battle-tested team heading throughout the season.
“We’re built for this kind of stuff,” Hall said.
This mentality is vital for the Tigers as they look to stay undefeated. They will be back in action when they play TCU in Toronto on Saturday.
