No. 24 Clemson, off to its best start in 15 years, looks to continue its impressive play on Saturday against TCU in a battle of unbeaten teams at the Hall of Fame Series in Toronto.
The Tigers (8-0) last had a better opening to a campaign in 2008-09, when they started 16-0. That was two seasons before current coach Brad Brownell took over on the bench.
Clemson began its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule on Sunday with a tough 79-70 road win over Pittsburgh. Graduate student Joseph Girard III, a Syracuse transfer, scored 25 points and hit 6 of 9 3-point attempts. PJ Hall added 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Ian Schieffelin pulled down a season-high 17 boards.
The Tigers followed that with a 72-67 win against in-state rival South Carolina on Wednesday, when all five starters scored in double digits. Schieffelin produced a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Clemson, the only undefeated team in the ACC, has a scoring differential of plus-10.8 points per game, with the offense averaging 79.3 points. Hall puts up a team-high 20.5 points per game, with Girard (14.4 ppg) and Chase Hunter (11.8) also in double figures.
Brownell likes how his team has battled early on.
“I know we’re resilient,” Brownell said. “We’ve played with good poise in the second half of a lot of close games. It’s a long season, though, and … depth and numbers have a wearing effect on all these hard games back to back to back.”
The Horned Frogs are also on a perfect run, though their schedule has not been the strongest over the opening month. The offense has powered TCU to its first 7-0 start since the 2017-18 campaign, when the Horned Frogs began the season 12-0.
TCU arrives in Canada well-rested, having had six days off. After winning their first six games by an average margin of 29.7 points, the Horned Frogs passed their first test on Dec. 2 when senior Emanuel Miller’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer produced an 84-83 road win over Georgetown.
Miller, who posted a career-high 29 points against the Hoyas, leads the Horned Frogs in scoring (15.9 points per game) and rebounding (5.6 boards per game). JaKobe Coles is second on the team at 15.7 points per game and is shooting 55 percent from 3-point range.
The Saturday game will be special for Miller, a Scarborough, Ontario, native who will get a chance to play in front of family and friends.
“It’s always special, being from Toronto,” Miller said. “Being from a different country and having my family support me on my home soil and just being able to play on my home soil is a special moment that I’m going to cherish and look forward to.”
Miller said he was initially granted 50 tickets for the game, but he joked that he might need more.
Clemson has a 3-0 all-time record against TCU. The most recent matchup was a 62-60 Tigers win in overtime at Las Vegas on Nov. 24, 2019.
–Field Level Media