Clemson Has Ugly Performance in March Madness Loss Against McNeese State

Entering Clemson's first round NCAA Tournament matchup against McNeese State, the vibes were high surrounding the Tigers while there were question marks about the Cowboys.

Despite Clemson being eliminated in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, the veteran-laden group that went to the Elite Eight last year was confident they could make another deep run. And when head coach Brad Brownell began contract extension talks, everything seemed to be pulling in the right direction.

Meanwhile, McNeese head coach Will Wade is rumored to have accepted the head job at NC State, bringing into question what type of mentality he and his team would have.

It turned out it was McNeese State who was ready for this one.

Clemson had an ugly performance in their 69-67 loss.

While that statement might seem like an oxymoron, it was a late surge by the Tigers that allowed them to even make things that close before the final buzzer sounded.

Clemson started off the matchup going 2-for-6 with two made free throws, getting them to six points at the 15:59 mark.

After that, it was a performance to forget.

Clemson scored two points over the next 10-plus minutes, eventually scoring their 11th point of the contest with 5:05 left in the first half.

By then, things were off the rails for the Tigers with the Cowboys owning a 23-11 lead.

When the halftime buzzer sounded, Clemson had just 13 points, the second-fewest first half points in an NCAA Tournament game during the shot clock era, per Yahoo! Sports, just beating the mark set by Wisconsin in 1999 with 12.

It got better eventually in the second half, but it was too little, too late.

Knowing they needed to come out of the locker room with a renewed sense of urgency after being dominated in the rebounding and effort categories in the first half, the Tigers still seemed to be in a daze.

Trailing 51-29 at the 8:07 mark left in the contest, Clemson completely changed things from that point on and made it interesting.

The Tigers went on an 18-6 run, cutting their deficit to 10 with just under three minutes left in the contest. Playing the press and foul strategy, Clemson kept chipping away at the lead by all of a sudden getting red-hot from the field.

In the final three minutes, they went 7-for-10 with a made free throw, burying five 3-pointers during that stretch, as well.

But the flurry came too late, and now Clemson will watch the rest of March Madness at home after being upset in the first round by McNeese State, a program that had never won an NCAA Tournament game in their history.

Big men Ian Schieffelin and Viktor Lakhin had games to forget.

Schieffelin scored just one point, going 0-for-4 from the field. He grabbed eight rebounds but also turned it over twice to his two assists.

Lakhin, named an X-factor before the tournament started, grabbed 10 rebounds but only scored six points before fouling out on a play that resulted in his fourth foul on a block attempt before a questionable technical with 6:04 disqualified him.

Senior guard Jaeden Zackery had a career day, scoring his most points ever with 24.

That led Clemson, with Chase Hunter's 21 points coming in second and Chauncey Wiggins' 10 being third as the only three players in double figures.

Brandon Murray was the leading scorer for McNeese with 21 off the bench.

For the game, the Tigers were 21-of-57 from the field (36.8%) and 9-of-30 from deep (30.0%).

The Cowboys were 27-of-62 from the field (43.5%) and 4-of-19 from behind the arc (21.1%).

This is a tough way for things to end for Clemson after putting together an ultra-successful regular season with their sights set on making another deep NCAA Tournament run.

Brownell will have his hands full reloading this roster and getting back to this spot next year.

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