The way a team responds to a loss can tell one a lot about their constitution. Clemson Men’s Basketball took to the floor Saturday following their first loss of the season at Memphis, and they showed they weren’t phased by it at all.
The Tigers defeated the Royals 109-79 in Littlejohn Coliseum in a game that was never competitive.
Queen’s is a recent addition to Division I and was not highly ranked going into this matchup, so they were undermanned against the Tigers.
Nonetheless, when a team enters that situation, what you want to see is a dominant performance, and that is what the Tigers got against the Royals.
PJ Hall led the way with 27 points, 4 rebounds and 4 blocks. Joe Girard and RJ Godfrey both put 19 points on the board.
Chauncey Wiggins and Ian Schieffelin each had 6 rebounds to pace the Tigers. Godfrey and Girard each had 4, as well as Dillon Hunter.
Girard had the most assists for Clemson with 6. Schieffelin continued his good ball distribution with 4 assists.
Chase Hunter hasn’t found his groove for scoring this season, but he had a solid all-around game for the Tigers on Saturday. He scored 9 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals.
Clemson moved up one spot in the NET rankings to 12th. They remain at 25th in the KenPom rankings.
Clemson has one more non-conference game left in the regular season. The Tigers will host the Radford Highlanders from the Big South Conference on Friday, December 29th.
Radford is currently 138th in the NET and 143rd in the KenPom rankings. They defeated West Virginia 66-65 in Morgantown on Wednesday. They do not play again until they face Clemson.
Following Radford, Clemson heads straight into ACC play with a visit to Miami, then a home game against North Carolina, who is currently ranked 11th in the AP Poll. The Tigers will also visit 21st-ranked Duke later in the month.