Dominant second half propels Clemson basketball to blowout win over San Francisco

In the first half of Monday night's tilt against San Francisco in Daytona Beach, Florida, the Clemson basketball team looked like they were on vacation. Fortunately, the Tigers got back to business after the intermission to run away with a dominant 70-55 win in the Sunshine Slam event.

In the first 20 minutes, Clemson was cold from the floor, especially from 3-point range where they went just 2-9 as a team. What's more, the Tigers committed eight turnovers in that half to help San Francisco take a 29-24 lead into the locker room.

It was a different story in the second half, though. The Tigers made 5 of their 8 shots from beyond the arc and shot 64.3% from the field in total. Additionally, they turned the ball over only four times as they outscored the Dons 46-26.

So let's go inside the box score for some rapid reactions to what took place. And we'll start by admiring the huge game that forward Ian Schieffelin had.

Clemson powered by Schieffelin's big double-double

Yes, Chase Hunter is the most talented player on the Clemson roster and likely the only Tiger with an NBA future. But the player that makes the Tigers go is Schieffelin.

That was evident Monday night as the senior forward took over the game. He finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists in 36 minutes of play.

Schieffelin was the catalyst for Clemson's huge second half. Playing all but one minute of the second half, he scored 12 points and handed out 4 assists after the break.

On a night when Chase Hunter scored only 9 points, Schieffelin took up the slack and carried his team to the win. He is truly the heart and soul of the Clemson team and in this game, he was brilliant.

A bench scorer is starting to emerge for the Tigers

For most of this season, Clemson has been searching for consistent scoring from its reserves. Perhaps Dillon Hunter is the player who is about to assume that role.

Monday, he scored 11 points and had 6 rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. That came on the heels of a 15-point showing against Radford in his last game.

In his last two games, Hunter is a combined 9-15 from the floor. That includes 6-8 from 3-point range.

It appears that Hunter is settling into his role as Clemson's leading bench weapon. If he can continue to give the team some scoring as a reserve, it will do wonders for the Tigers as the season progresses.

Clemson dominates on the glass

So far in the 2024-25 season, Clemson has merely been passable when it comes to rebounding. With a rebounding margin of just +4.8 rebounds per game, the Tigers ranked tied for 125th in the nation before Monday night.

However, that ranking should change for the better after a dominant showing on the glass. Clemson out-rebounded San Francisco 40-23 with 14 offensive rebounds leading to 15 second-chance points.

As is the case for most teams, as Clemson goes on the glass, so they go on the scoreboard. For instance, when the Tigers lost their only game of the year thus far, an 84-71 humbling at the hands of Boise State, they lost the rebounding battle 42-34 as they were outworked and outmuscled by the Broncos.

But against a San Francisco team that has a win over that same Boise team this season, it was Clemson who owned the boards. We've already talked about Schieffelin and Dillon Hunter's nice nights on the glass but don't overlook the 6 rebounds by Chauncy Wiggins as well.

Though he had only five points and though he turned the ball over four times in just 22 minutes, he did impact the game by helping clean the glass and that's something the inconsistent scorer can bring to the table every game to help his team win.

At 6-foot-10, there's no reason that the athletic Wiggins shouldn't be a fixture in the rebounding column of the box score. However, his 6 boards on Monday were a season-high thus far.

Wiggins is hit or miss when it comes to putting the ball in the bucket but he can't be up and down as a rebounder. That's why it was great to see him contribute in a big way in that area on Monday night.

Clemson has a quick turnaround now as the Tigers will face a dangerous Penn State team in the championship game of the Sunshine Slam on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern. If the Tigers play as hard and as well as they did against the Dons, though, they will have a great shot a picking up another important resume-building win.