Clemson Men’s Basketball: Tigers race past Greyhounds, 72-41

Brad Brownell’s Clemson Men’s Basketball squad had no problem dispatching the Loyola Maryland Greyhounds Monday evening at Littlejohn Coliseum, blowing out the Greyhounds by a lopsided score of 72-41.

The game was never close as the Tigers held a 43-14 halftime lead and substituted liberally in both halves.

Hunter Tyson led the Tigers in with 14 points and 9 rebounds, while Josh Beadle’s 3 assists were the most for Clemson.

Alex Hemenway (13) and Chase Hunter (10) also reached double figures in the scoring column for the Tigers.

Loyola never had a chance after Golden Dike was ejected early for a vicious shot to the head of Ian Schieffelin on an early offensive foul, where the players fell to the floor and Dike landed on top of Schieffelin.

Perhaps more importantly for the Tigers their bench players got time on the court, some even before the game was decided.

Beadle played 21 minutes, Dillon Hunter 20, R.J. Godfrey 14 and Chauncey Wiggins 12 on the evening.

Clemson shot 48.2% from the field, including 38.1% on three-pointers (8 of 21), including 3 of 3 for Hemenway.

The on-campus game was part of the Emerald Coast Classic which will continue for Clemson on Friday, with a game against Iowa in Niceville, Florida.

Friday’s game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start and will be televised by the CBS Sports Network.

The Classic will conclude on Saturday with the Tigers playing TCU or Cal at a time to be announced in Niceville.

The schedule gets tougher for Clemson men’s basketball after a 4-1 start

Clemson’s schedule moving forward gets noticeably tougher and includes a top 25 Iowa team, potentially a top 50ish TCU team, a top 30 Penn State team and then a 4-1 Wake Forest team to open the ACC season on December 2.

KenPom.com currently has Clemson as the 65th highest-rated team in the nation and projects the Tigers to finish 17-13 and 10-10 in the ACC.

Every win counts if this team hopes to make the tournament in March and the Tigers can take a step forward in that goal with a couple of wins Friday and Saturday.