Clemson’s senior guard from Indiana, Alex Hemenway, was a big asset for the Tigers’ basketball team in their second win of the season. The Tigers defeated USC Upstate 81-70 on Tuesday in Littlejohn Coliseum.
During the game, Hemenway scored a career-high 18 points, was 7-of-9 from the floor and 4-of-6 on 3-pointers.
Hemenway was excited in the postgame press conference about his play but quickly attributed his success Tuesday night to his teammates being able to find him in the right place at the right time.
“It felt great,” Hemenway said following the game. “I mean, credit to my teammates, they did an amazing job of finding me when I was open, and once you see the first one go in the basket just grows.”
Coming off only hitting one 3-pointer in the loss to South Carolina on Nov. 11, Hemenway took all the blame for not being as aggressive on the court as he should have been.
Head coach Brad Brownell told Hemenway following the loss to South Carolina that he needed to work on his confidence on the court.
“He (Brownell) said to just be more confident, just trusting in your work,” Hemenway said. “We’ve worked harder than we’ve ever worked in our lives this summer to be able to have the year that we want to have this year, so just trusting that work, trusting the progress and just going out there and performing.
“It’s hard whenever they are around you all game, but it’s just finding your spots, and then like I said my teammates do a great job of finding me when I am open… I’m just there as a reciprocate of a great pass.”
A big topic tonight was the recent return of center PJ Hall. Hemenway knows that being able to have Hall out there adds a whole new dimension to the team because he is such a threat down low for an opposing defense.
“Teams have to make the decision whether they want to give up the 3 or whether they want to go one-on-one with Hall on the post,” Hemenway said, “so it’s been really huge when we’ve been able to have him in the game because he’s proved he is a scoring factor down low, and that helps us to be able to make plays, and to get in the passing lane.”
The Tigers are back in Littlejohn Coliseum this Friday, Nov. 18 to take on Bellarmine. The game is slated to tipoff at 7 p.m. on ACCNX.
