Clemson Tigers Basketball Coach Offers Optimistic Update on Star Player

The Clemson Tigers were able to get back on track over the weekend, picking up a victory at Littlejohn Coliseum against the Florida State Seminoles, 77-57.

It was a much-needed bounce back after the team was defeated on the road by the Louisville Cardinals, 74-64, in their game before.

But, it wasn’t all positive even though the Tigers won their fifth ACC game in six tries.

At halftime, their star player Ian Schieffelin was spotted exiting the locker room and returning to the court with a back brace. It was later revealed by head coach Brad Brownell that he was dealing with some back spasms.

While the injury didn’t have an impact on his workload, as he still played 31 minutes against the Seminoles, his impact wasn’t felt as much as usual.

Schieffelin led the team with six assists but scored only two points, shooting 1-for-5 from the field and grabbing two rebounds.

It was certainly an off game for him, as the points and rebounds were both season lows in a single game.

It would be fair to assume the back issues played a part in him not stuffing the stat sheet like he has consistently done. He is second in scoring with 12.7 points per contest and he leads the team with 10.2 rebounds per game.

Are the back spasms going to be something that keeps Schieffelin sidelined in the future?

Brownell said it is too early to speculate, but he is anticipating his senior forward will be in the lineup the next time they take the court.

“Yeah, I think it is too early to tell,” the head coach said via Grayson Mann of Tigers Net. “I mean, I would anticipate he’s going to play, but you never know in these situations. So yeah, it’s probably too early for me to speculate on that.”

While things could certainly change, it is encouraging to hear Brownell believes his starting forward won’t have to miss any time.

Clemson is certainly going to need him as they are embarking on a road trip this week.

They play again on Tuesday night, paying a visit to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in what is borderline a must-win game. Given their spot on the bubble, they do not want to suffer what right now would be a Quad 3 loss.

Winning on the road in college basketball isn’t an easy thing to do, but the Tigers have to find a way to pull that one out because things aren’t getting any easier over the weekend.

After their clash with the Yellow Jackets, Clemson will play on the road again against the Pittsburgh Panthers.

That is a great chance to boost their resume since winning in Pittsburgh would be a Quad 1 victory and give them a head-to-head win over another program on the bubble.