Tigers find shooting stroke at half to dominate Deacs in ACC opener

PJ Hall led Clemson's scoring efforts as Clemson rallied from down seven at the break against Wake Forest. (Clemson athletics photo)

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Fri Dec 02 21:05:55 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON - The Clemson men's basketball team is off to a 1-0 start in ACC action for the first time in the last five seasons.

Brad Brownell's Tigers rallied from down seven at the half to Wake Forest on the strength of hot shooting and lockdown defense in the second session. All-ACC big man PJ Hall anchored the attack with 21 points, while the Tigers offense hit nine 3-pointers -- eight in the second half -- and sunk all but one free throw to take the lead and pull away to a 77-57 win.

“Our guys played outstanding in the second half,” Brownell said. “Our guys executed well and shared the ball. It all looks better when you’re hitting shots and hitting free throws…This was a very good win. Wake is a good team…Give our kids credit. We had to go win in the second half and we did.”

Clemson (7-2, 1-0 ACC) trailed 33-26 at the break in a tale of two teams from beyond the arc – in what ended up being a tale of two halves on the perimeter.

After a Hunter Tyson slam knotted the game at 20-all, Wake Forest (7-2, 0-1 ACC) went on an 8-0 run to largely take control in the first half.

They sunk six 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes, while a Chase Hunter attempt at the buzzer there dropped Clemson to 1-for-10.

The Tigers were able to keep the deficit in single digits at the break on the strength of hitting 9-of-10 free throws.

Out of the break, Clemson hit three 3-pointers in the first four minutes and mounted a 10-2 run to take a brief lead before the second session’s first media timeout.

The Tigers extended the lead out to 47-41 while Wake Forest shot 3-for-14 to start the second half, and after a Deacs hoop to break the drought, Hall answered with a 3-pointer to go up 50-43 with 10 to go.

An Alex Hemenway trey with under eight to go gave the Tigers their first double-digit edge of the game.

Back-to-back threes from Hemenway then made it a 14-point edge with five to go, as Wake dropped to 1-for-10 in the half there.

The Tigers finished 24-of-25 from the free throw line shooting.

Clemson shot 70% in the second half (14-of-20) and 66.7% from 3 (8-of-12), while holding Wake to 24% shooting overall and 15% from beyond the arc.

"I think it goes to show when we stick to the gameplan and play poised and play with some swag that we can be damn good," Hemenway said. "When we trust in one another and we have faith in one another and play unselfishly -- that's how Clemson men's basketball is capable of playing."

Hall, coming back from an offseason knee injury, made his first two starts of the season this week and scored 43 points in 47 minutes.

"He's a good player. I've said he's one of the five or six best players in our league when he's healthy and he's rolling," Brownell said. "He's had a really good week. One of the biggest things is he's just got to get his confidence back...Plays like tonight help confidence and a big part of it is going to be his confidence."

Clemson returns to action at home versus Towson at 9 p.m. on Wednesday (RSN).

Notes via Clemson

Notes: Clemson improves to 7-2 overall and 1-0 in the ACC … Head Coach Brad Brownell moved to 15-3 all-time against Wake Forest, including three-straight wins and wins in 15-of-the-last-17 against the Demon Deacons dating back to 2010-11 … Coach Brownell is now eight wins shy of 400 with his 392nd career victory … back-to-back games that the Tigers have overcome a halftime deficit to win – just the third time in program history we have overcome a halftime deficit of six or more in consecutive games to win … Clemson finished 40.9 percent from three in the game and improved to 4-0 this season when they do so … the Tigers are 86-25 under Coach Brownell when shooting 40.0 percent or better from three … PJ Hall has posted back-to-back 20-point games and has six double-digit scoring games this season … Hall grabbed a season-best eight rebounds … Hunter Tyson notched his third double-double of the season and the fourth of his career … It was his fourth double-digit rebounding game and eighth double-digit scoring effort … Brevin Galloway scored 14 points and has scored in double-digits in six games this season … Galloway now has 983 career points and is just 17 away from 1,000 in his career … Alex Hemenway finished the game 4-for-6 from three and now has gone 8-for-12 in his last two contests … Hemenway is now 50.0 percent this season from three.