One of Clemson’s starters has been dealing with an injury recently, though it doesn’t sound like it’s going to keep him off the basketball court.
Hunter Tyson has been playing with a sprained ankle the last three games. The Tigers’ senior forward dealt with another ankle injury earlier in the season, Clemson coach Brad Brownell revealed recently, but twisted his ankle late last week before Clemson’s trip to North Carolina State.
The Tigers (10-7, 2-3 ACC) have played Notre Dame and Boston College since. Tyson has yet to miss a game, but Clemson’s third-leading scorer hasn’t been quite as effective as usual. Tyson had just four points on 1 of 5 shooting – seven fewer than his season average – and six rebounds in the Tigers’ 70-68 loss to Boston College on Saturday.
“Just didn’t have it,” Brownell said of Tyson.
Tyson scored six points in nearly 30 minutes in Clemson’s win at N.C. State two days after spraining his ankle but has seen his minutes decrease since. He logged 20 against Boston College and in the Tigers’ midweek loss at Notre Dame.
He scored 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting against the Fighting Irish, but Brownell said Tyson was hurting more against Boston College, which handed the Tigers their worst of the season from a rankings standpoint. The Eagles, ranked 198th in the NET rankings at the start of the weekend, erased a 23-point deficit late in the first half to snap their five-game losing streak.
Meanwhile, Clemson has lost three of its last four games, dropping the Tigers to No. 78 in the NET. Asked if he might sit Tyson for a game or two in an effort to give him some more time to get closer to full strength, Brownell said he doesn’t think that’s something Tyson would want to do.
“We’ll just see,” Brownell said. “I’d have to fight him to sit him. We didn’t practice him Thursday. He practiced a little bit on Friday and seemed fine. Obviously he was fine (Saturday) in the shootaround, so it’s not that he can’t play. He just doesn’t have the pop. We ran a great play at the beginning of the game and got (the ball) to him right on the block, and it got blocked. He couldn’t really elevate as well as we need him to finish the play.
“There are just some plays like that that are happening a little bit. That’s part of it.”
Clemson has three days in between games with its next one coming Wednesday at Syracuse (8-9, 2-4), a Quadrant 2 opportunity for the Tigers.
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