Just days after knocking off No. 4 Kentucky in a packed Littlejohn Coliseum, the Clemson basketball team faced a different type of challenge on Saturday afternoon in South Florida. Facing a 3-5 Miami team that entered on a five-game losing streak and playing in an arena that was half-full at best, the Tigers faced a classic trap game.
And for the first 30 minutes of action, it looked like Clemson might not escape in the 2024-25 ACC opener. However, the Tigers shook out of their slumber just in time to secure a 65-55 win to move to 9-1 on the season.
Chase Hunter led the way with 18 points despite being just 1-7 from 3-point range. In fact, it was a poor day from beyond the arc for the entire Clemson team as the Tigers were only 9-27 (33.3%) as a team.
However, it was a 3-pointer that was waived off, which proved to be the turning point in the game. With Clemson leading 52-48 with just over four minutes to play, Miami retrieved a deflected ball that had gone into the backcourt and then hit a running 3-pointer just as the shot clock expired. Or so it appeared.
After an official review, that basket was waived off as it was determined that the Hurricanes didn't beat the shot clock. As a result, Clemson preserved its 4-point lead.
From that moment on, the Tigers would outscore the home team 13-7 to put the game away. The victory extends Clemson's winning streak to six games and should be enough to push head coach Brad Brownell's team into the top 25 next week.
So let's look at some individual performances and important stats from the latest Clemson victory.
Lakhin's big second half sparks Clemson
This was a game that saw both teams engage in hand-to-hand combat in the post where the officials let quite a bit go on. Fortunately, in the second half, Clemson senior Viktor Lakhin came up with one of his better showings of the season.
Held scoreless in the first half, the transfer from Cincinnati managed to score 12 big second-half points. What's more, he might have hit the two biggest shots of the game.
With 7:27 to play in the game, the score was tied at 41-41. That's when Lakhin stepped out and drained a 3-pointer to give his team the lead. Then, after a Miami bucket, the 6-foot-11 big man drained his second 3-pointer in a row to push his team's lead to four points.
After those two bombs from Lakhin, Clemson would not trail again. This season, he's shooting only 28.6% from beyond the arc and those two makes were just his fifth and sixth from 3-point range this year. In a game where points were tough to come by thanks to cold shooting by the Tigers, Lakhin was an unlikely hero for his team.
Ian Schieffelin is a workhorse again
Ian Schieffelin was built for games like this. It was a rock fight all afternoon and he answered the call with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Schieffelin is finding ways to fill up the stat sheet despite not shooting well from the floor lately. In this game, he was only 5-11 from the field however he did hit three of the four 3-pointers that he attempted.
That comes on the heels of Tuesday's win over Kentucky in which the senior was 4-20 from the floor and 1-8 from 3-point range. Certainly, he is going to need to find a way to be more efficient offensively but to his credit, he isn't letting his recent stretch of poor shooting impact his overall effort.
In the last two games, Schieffelin has grabbed 32 total rebounds. That's a sign that he's engaged even when the shots aren't falling. That was the case again against the Hurricanes as Clemson's heart and soul powered his team to another win.
Clemson hold's Miami's best guard scoreless
Another key to this win was Clemson's defense on Miami's top guard, Nijel Pack. The 6-foot senior came into the day averaging over 16 points per game but he was held scoreless by the Tigers.
It wasn't that Pack didn't get his looks. He hoisted seven shots on the day, all from beyond the arc.
Rather, it was that the Tiger's perimeter defense frustrated and harassed Miami's top guard to the point that when opportunities did arise, he couldn't convert. That was one of the most underrated aspects of this win.
Pack had scored at least 20 points in two of his last three games. That included 22 points against Arkansas in his last game. What's more, he had only three assists, which is 1.9 fewer than his season average. So the defensive job that Clemson did on him should be appreciated by Tiger fans.