CLEMSON – The Clemson Tigers are hoping the month of February is as good to them as the month of January. If so, the Tigers could have one of the more special seasons in the program’s history.
Clemson finished January with a 7-1 record. The last time the Tigers finished January with one loss was in 1951 when that team went 4-1. Clemson’s 87.5 win percentage for the month is the program’s best since January of 1935.
One reason for the Tigers’ success on the hardwood is thanks to its shooting. Currently, they are on pace to be the best shooting team head coach Brad Brownell has ever coached, going all the way back to his days at UNC-Wilmington.
“I thought we had some good shooters, for sure,” Brownell said. “I thought Chase [Hunter] would shoot the ball better this year than he did last year. To be the best that we have had, probably not.”
Clemson, who plays at NC State on Saturday, is shooting 46.8 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from three-point range. The Tigers lead the ACC in three-point shooting and rank 5th in the conference in field goal shooting.
Though he knew his team had a chance to be a good shooting team, Brownell never thought about how good his team could actually be.
“In the preseason, I do not go about thinking about things like that, I just knew we had a bunch of guys we felt like could make threes,” he said. “Certainly, we have recruited that way for a while, and I am happy we are shooting the ball well. I think that is important for us.”
Hunter leads the ACC in 3-point shooting, as the graduate is making 45.0 percent of his shots behind the arc. Wingman Chauncey Wiggins is connecting on 40.5 percent of his threes, while Jake Heidbreder is making 46.3 percent of his coming off the bench.
“I am more about having good possessions. I am still old school enough that I like posting the ball and playing in the paint,” Brownell said. “I get all the analytics, and we certainly pay attention to them.
“But because we have guys that can make threes, I think we are shooting like 40 to 41 percent of our shots from three. That is great as long as they are good shots. A good shot is going to be different for Chase Hunter as it is for some other guys.”
Chase’s backcourt mate, Jaeden Zackery, is shooting 33.3 percent. He has caught fire as of late, as he is nearly 50 percent from downtown during Clemson’s five-game win streak.
“We just talk about reading the game, taking what the defense gives us,” Brownell said. “Some games, it is going to be shoot 28 to 30 threes. Some games it is going to be shoot 16 to 18. It is whatever the game is, we talk to our guys about making the right basketball play and try to teach them what that is and go make those decisions in the heat of battle.”
Clemson (17-4, 9-1 ACC) hopes the good shooting continues against the Wolfpack (9-11, 2-7 ACC) at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tip is set for 1:30 p.m., and is being televised on the CW.