Clemson hosts Morehead State for NIT opener

Clemson hosts Morehead State in round one of the NIT. (Merrell Mann photo)

by TigerNet Staff - Wed Mar 15 09:46:15 GMT-04:00 2023

Clemson men's basketball (23-10) begins play in the National Invitational Tournament Wednesday night versus Ohio Valley Conference regular season champion Morehead State (21-11).

Tipoff in Littlejohn Coliseum is set for 7 p.m. ET. Dave Neal and Terrence Oglesby will call the broadcast for ESPN+. Don Munson and Tim Bourret will broadcast the game on the Clemson Athletic Network.

The Tigers are a 15.5-point favorite.

• Clemson is given a 95.7% win projection by ESPN's BPI. Morehead State is rated 247th overall by KenPom (274 offense; 215 defense).

• Clemson makes its 18th NIT appearance with a 19-17 record and two championship appearances.

• Clemson will face Morehead State for the third time in program history. The Tigers lead the series 2-0 and most recently played during the 2020-21 regular season.

• No. 24 Clemson won 66-51 over Morehead State on Dec. 21, 2020.

• Three current Tigers played in that game, including PJ Hall and Alex Hemenway who combined for 14 points, four rebounds and two steals.

• In the first meeting between both teams, Clemson had seven double-figure scorers in 1991. It is the last time Clemson had that many in a single game.

• The Tigers also scored 72 points in the second half of that game – the most Clemson has scored in any half in program history.

• The Tiger program has an 19-17 overall record in the NIT. Clemson has advanced to the championship game on two occasions, in 1999 and 2007.

• Clemson has played in the NIT three times since 2010. It advanced to the 2014 semifinals in Madison Square Garden.

• Clemson has won 13-of-its-last-15 home games in the NIT heading into Wednesday’s first round matchup with Morehead State.

• Clemson set a school record for conference wins in a season with 14. Previous record was 11-4 in 1951-52 and 11-7 in 2017-18.

• Clemson won 10 ACC games by at least 10 points and six by at least 20 points. They were the most 10 point and 20 point conference wins among league schools.

Clemson stats

--/-- Clemson Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown GP/GS PPG RPG APG MPG

G 0 Josh Beadle 6-3 182 RFr. Columbia, S.C. 32/2 2.3 1.0 0.9 12.9

G 1 Chase Hunter 6-3.5 204 So. Atlanta, Ga. 30/30 13.6 3.0 4.6 32.1

G 2 Dillon Hunter 6-3.5 193 Fr. Atlanta, Ga. 32/3 1.4 1.2 1.2 11.9

F 4 Ian Schieffelin 6-7 230 So. Loganville, Ga. 33/21 5.4 4.1 1.8 19.5

F 5 Hunter Tyson 6-8 217 Gr. Monroe, N.C. 33/33 15.5 9.5 1.4 34.7

F 10 Ben Middlebrooks 6-10.5 242 So. Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33/7 3.2 2.7 0.4 11.3

G 11 Brevin Galloway 6-3 210 Gr. Anderson, S.C. 31/30 11.3 2.4 2.3 29.1

G 12 Alex Hemenway 6-4 195 Sr. Newburgh, Ind. 20/12 6.9 1.8 1.1 24.0

G 13 Chauncey Gibson 6-5 188 Fr. Dallas, Texas REDSHIRTING

G 14 Devin Foster 6-2 182 Sr. Canton, Mass. 7/0 0.0 0.1 0.0 1.1