Hoops Recap: Clemson Tigers All Smiles After Brush with Colgate

It wasn’t the prettiest performance, but the Clemson men’s basketball team held on and earn their second win of the season over the Colgate Raiders. The Raiders ran out to a four point lead to start the game, but a pair of Tevin Mack threes gave Clemson it’s first lead. The two teams traded blows throughout the game.

The Tigers clung to a 66-62 lead with five and a half minutes remaining, and clamped down defensively, only allowing Colgate to score only six more points in the game, while scoring fifteen to give Clemson a 81-68 lead.

Tevin Mack led the Tigers in points (seventeen) and rebounds (nine), shooting three for seven from behind the arc. Al-Amir Dawes had sixteen points for Clemson and led the team with four assists, while Aamir Simms had twelve points and eight rebounds.

With Alex Hemenway injured in the previous game (vs. Presbyterian), we saw the rotation narrow as Dawes, Hunter, Newman, Mack, and Simms started and Curran Scott played 21 minutes off the bench. Hunter Tyson and Khavon Moore played 8 and 7 minutes respectively while Trey Jemison played just 2 minutes.

Colgate is ranked 117 in KenPom and is projected to have a 13-5 record in the Patriot League. They have a shot to win the conference and be an NCAA tournament team so we may look back on this win positively later in the season. Colgate heads to Syracuse on Wednesday and follows that up with a trip to Auburn one week from Monday so we’ll know more about them soon.

Clemson will have this week off before hosting the Detroit Mercy Titans next Sunday.