Clemson basketball blasts Benedict in exhibition game

Clemson took the court in a game setting for the first time during the 2022-23 season on Wednesday as the Tigers faced Benedict in an exhibition game at Littlejohn Coliseum.

The Tigers were impressive, dominating from start to finish in a 91-45 win. The Tigers shot 52 percent from the floor and 42 percent from 3-point range in the victory.

Clemson had five players finish in double figures and 11 different players scored.

“Obviously a good opening start for us. I thought we played pretty well defensively,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “Offensively I thought we did better in terms of sharing it. … It was a good way for everybody to get to play and produce. I was very pleased with the first performance.”

Brownell played 13 players in total, with 10 of the 13 playing at least 15 minutes.

Clemson’s starting five consisted of Chase Hunter, Alex Hemenway, Brevin Galloway, Hunter Tyson and Ben Middlebrooks.

Tyson led all scorers with 19 points in only 15 minutes, while Middlebrooks added 12 and Hunter had 11.

Brownell said that those five will remain the starters, at least at the beginning of the season.

“Right now it is [our starting five]. We’ve just kind of let the most experienced guys go,” Brownell said. “I thought the best four minutes we played was the first four minutes of the second half. I kind of challenged our guys at halftime that they weren’t going to get a lot of minutes in the second half. I wanted to see them start well… and they did that.”

Freshman Chauncey Wiggins and redshirt freshman Josh Beadle also reached double figures, each finishing with 10 points. Wiggins also had a team-high eight rebounds, while fellow freshman RJ Godfrey had 5 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Clemson will begin the regular season on Monday as the Tigers host The Citadel at 7 p.m.

“The first couple of weeks of the season are challenging because you don’t have all the information on your opponents,” Brownell said. “It’s harder to prepare your team for games and so different than when you’re in late December, January and February. … So you really focus on your team a lot.”