Clemson's horror show: A bad day to have a bad half

Clemson got up off the floor too late against McNeese.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Thursday, March 20 2025

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island – Providence was not very Providential for Clemson. In fact, for one half, it was a horror show.

No. 12 seed McNeese and Clemson alum Will Wade swarmed, out-hustled and out-shot a hapless No. 5 seed Clemson team, 69-67, in the Midwest Regional at Amica Mutual Pavilion, sending the Tigers back home in the first round after last year’s run to the Elite Eight.

The Tigers, a trendy pick by some nationally to make another run this season, were not good in the first half. The box score was a horror show. Much like the game itself.

In light of the news that head coach Brad Brownell is in line for a contract extension, the proper way to put it is that it was a bad day to have a bad day. Maybe a better way to put it, it was a bad day to have a bad half.

But that’s what happened, even after the furious comeback attempt fell short, and now the Tigers have to grapple with this loss all offseason while dealing with the losses of Chase Hunter, Viktor Lakhin, and Ian Schieffelin (and possibly Jaeden Zackery if he doesn't get a waiver or goes pro).

Schieffelin, dealing with a bad back, was in obvious pain and grabbed at his back several times during the game, and while he still grabbed eight rebounds, he finished with just one point.

But it was the first half that did the Tigers in.

Inside the gory stats of Clemson’s first half

*Despite the height advantage, the Tigers attempted 15 out of their 24 first-half shots from beyond the arc. And were 1-15 from that range.
*The Tigers scored just 13 points in the first half, the worst performance by an ACC team in the first half of an NCAA tournament game in a generation (Wake Forest scored 10 vs. Butler in 2001).
*Clemson was outscored 19-2 off the bench in the half
*The Tigers turned it over 10 times in the half, compared to just three for McNeese.
*Only four Clemson players scored in the first half, and neither one was named Chase or Ian.
*The Tigers had eight points in the paint in the half, while McNeese had 26 and scored 13 points off Clemson turnovers.

To put an emphasis on the night, McNeese was 0-34 in its history against Top 25 teams. A Clemson alum broke that streak, and Wade said during his postgame press conference that his team hit the benchmarks he was looking for.

“A great game for us. Our first half was flawless defensively. We've been saving that zone all year. We haven't played the 2-3 zone all year,” Wade said. “We put it in for some stuff in the conference tournament and never used it. We thought this would be a good time to pull it out so our guys did a great job. We hit our benchmarks. Under Brownell, I think they're 4-15 when you can assist on 12-plus baskets and they shoot under 53% from two and under 38% from three.”

Clemson scored 13 in the first half, and 14 in the final minute

The Tigers made a comeback but fell short, thanks to that big first-half hole. It was a bad day, all things considered, to have a bad half.