Clemson Basketball: Texas Southern Preview

Clemson looks to put their loss to Temple in the rearview mirror in a post Thanksgiving tilt vs the 0-5 Texas Southern Tigers in a battle for feline hardwood supremacy.

Key Texas Southern Players:

PG: Demontrae Jefferson - 5’7, 150 - 22 PPG

Jefferson is a tiny guard who fills it up for the Tigers. Jefferson is averaging 22 ppg on 18 attempts per game. Half of his attempts come from behind the arc, where Jefferson is shooting a red hot 48%.

Travon Reed- 7’2, 230 - 12.6 PPG 10.2 Rebs

Reed is one of the taller players Clemson will face this season. He is shooting an efficient 69% from the field on 7.4 attempts per game.

Reed does all of his damage around the basket and struggles from outside of 5 feet. He shoots 50% from the line, which is up from his depressing 36% last season. Reed is also a force on defense, blocking 1.6 shots a game.

Overall:

Don’t let Texas Southerns 0-5 record fool you. They have been on an epic money grab road trip to start the season, playing teams like Gonzaga and Kansas.

In their only game against a non-elite team, they took Washington State to the limit, losing by 2 points.

Head Coach Mike Davis has a Final 4 on his resume from his days at Indiana and always has his teams playing hard.

Clemson should handle Texas Southern, but it will be intersting to see how Clemson plays the day after Thanksgiving in what I assume will be a mostly empty Littlejohn.

This is a game Clemson can absolutly not afford to lose, but if they don’t show up they will be in for a fight.

This game makes me nervous.