Clemson Men’s Basketball: Tigers rally falls short against Iowa

Down by 14 with under 8 minutes to go Clemson Men’s Basketball rallied to tie the game on multiple occasions, but ultimately fell short in a 74-71 loss to Iowa Friday night in the Emerald Coast Classic game in Niceville, Florida.

Questionable clock keeping and officiating decisions aside, the Tigers acquitted themselves well against a top-25 team that many believe is underrated.

The Tigers were led by Chase Hunter’s 21 points and Hunter Tyson chipped in 13 as the balanced Tiger attack saw 6 players with at least 7 points on the evening.

Perhaps the biggest story was the limited minutes from P.J. Hall, who had been playing over 20 a game since debuting in the second game of the season.  Hall was 0 for 2 from the field and didn’t score on the night.

Heading into the game there was a concern about the Tigers size and ability to rebound against the Hawkeyes and that turned out to be a major issue as Clemson was outrebounded by 14 overall and by allowed Iowa 17 offensive rebounds.

That was the difference as the Tigers outshot Iowa from the field, three-point range and the free throw line only to come up short.

Despite the loss, Clemson Men’s Basketball got huge contributions from the bench

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the night for Clemson is that with the limited minutes from Hall came huge contributions from R.J. Godfrey and Josh Beadle.

Godfrey scored 7 points and gathered a rebound, while Beadle tallied 8 points, 3 rebounds, an assist and a steal on the evening, while committing only 1 turnover.

Beadle was only 4 of 12 from the field, but showed more aggressiveness than he has at any point in the young season.

Clemson drops to 4-2 on the season and will take o

n the loser of California and TCU tomorrow in their final game of the Classic.

Iowa moves to 5-0 on the season.

After the final game of the Emerald Coast Classic the Tigers will return to Littlejohn Coliseum to take on Penn State in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge Tuesday at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.