CLEMSON – The matchup between Clemson and  Virginia Saturday afternoon was a hard fought battle as both teams played at a high level. With that came praise from both coaches, and Tony Bennett applauded the Tigers’ effort engine.

Ian Schieffelin has evolved to be one of Clemson’s key players and it’s something that Bennett isn’t surprised by. Having seen him play before, he was a fan of him last year and now even more.

“He looks like he’s just everyday kind of guy but hey, I liked him last year,” Bennett said. “He knows how to play. He’s crafty, he can shoot the ball, good passer but he’s continuous.”

There’s a lot of superlatives you can give college basketball players, but effort is something that will always stand above all. Schieffelin is the embodiment of that and it showed up again in a 13-point, nine-rebound showing against the Cavaliers. That’s nearly a low mark in rebounding these days as he’s averaging 9.6 a game.

“Lunchpail, hard hat guy and so I can see how the crowd would certainly get behind him. The combination with him and PJ is tough. That’s formidable and Brad (Brownell) does such a good job. This team is really good,” Bennett said.

The season is in need of a turnaround for Clemson and Brad Brownell said “the worm will turn” at some point. Schieffelin is a big part of that.

On top of his praise of Schieffelin, Bennett echoed Brownell’s recent claims about the ACC, saying “this league doesn’t quite get respect” as of late.

Still, the respect is clear between these two teams as Bennett has great things to say about Schieffelin. The Tigers are spoiled to have him, and it will need even more from him to make this season a success.