It was a tale of two halves for Clemson Tigers. While they did get the 13-point home victory over the Stetson Hatters, Brad Brownell was not pleased with the Tigers' second half defense. "It was bad," Brownell said after the 85-72 victory. While he did chalk it up to it being "human nature to slack off up 25 at the half," he was clearly "disappointed [the] guys didn't take the challenge." It was only Game 1.
However, Clemson did give up 80 points to Georgia and 70 to Presbyterian in both of the Tigers' exhibitions before the home opener against Stetson. While the Tigers have shown a knack for putting the basketball through the cylinder, they do need to hone in defensively over the next few weeks. The non-conference slate has a few tough games on it, but we all know how unforgiving ACC play can be.
Although much has been made about the amount of transfers coming in and the lack of depth in the backcourt with Dillon Hunter's status still up in the air, scoring has not been an issue. All five starters were in double figures on Monday. Ace Buckner had a game-high 20 points at point guard. Dylan Faulkner had 16 points and 11 boards in his double-double. However, the defense is now a concern.
Brad Brownell said Clemson's second half defense in exhibitions was average. Tonight?
— Jackson Castellano (@jaxacastellano) November 3, 2026
"It was bad."
Said it's human nature to slack off up 25 at the half, disappointed guys didn't take the challenge, BUT if you told him Clemson would win by 13 he'd be happy.
Clemson is playing at too quick of a pace for its own good defensively
If we take a deeper dive into the stats sheet from Monday night, two things immediately jump off the page. While Clemson is doing a fine job at rebounding and not turning the ball over, the Tigers could be a little more aggressive on defense. They allowed Stetson to make 48 percent of its shots, when compared to Clemson shooting 51 percent from the floor. Another concern has to be the free throws.
Stetson had 11 more fouls on the evening than did Clemson, resulting in the Tigers attempting a staggering 26 more free throws than the Hatters. However, Clemson was only 74 percent from the charity stripe (26-of-35). Stetson only had nine free throws, but made eight of them. While Clemson shot 13 percent better from distance, the Tigers are making it too easy for the opposition to score.
This goes back to the big concerns about depth. Because Clemson only played a nine-man rotation, when compared to the 12-man one Stetson implemented, the Tigers may not have been as locked in defensively as they should have in the second half. Simply put, the Tigers may be playing at too quick of a pace for it to be realistically sustainable through the season. They will need to slow it down a bit.
While it does seem as though Buckner and Certa are getting better with more in-game reps, Harris Reynolds still remains a work in progress in the backcourt. The freshman had four points, all coming on free throws, in his 13 minutes of work. Clemson might have enough depth down low to ride out Carter Welling's return, but the Tigers either need to get Hunter back or develop the guards more.
Fortunately for Clemson, they have a few more games to figure it all out before the Maui Invitational.
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