Clemson will leave its home court for the second time this season, hoping to fare better than the first time, when the Tigers face San Francisco in the opening round of the four-team Sunshine Slam on Monday night in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Penn State and Fordham will square off in the event’s curtain-raiser Monday afternoon, with the winners and losers scheduled to meet Tuesday.
Clemson (4-1) has gone 4-0 at home in the early going, winning by an average of 23.5 points, sandwiching an 84-71 loss at Boise State last Sunday.
San Francisco (4-1) has followed the same script. It is coming off a 68-64 loss to Memphis on the Golden State Warriors’ home floor at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Thursday, which followed a run of on-campus wins by an average of an identical 23.5 points per game.
The Dons and Tigers have never met in men’s basketball. Clemson was a 24-win team a year ago, while San Francisco won 23.
Clemson got headed back in a positive direction Thursday when it thumped Radford 79-51 in its first game since the loss in Idaho. The Tigers got double-figure scoring from both of their Hunters, with younger brother Dillon (15) getting the better of older brother Chase (10) for the first time this season.
Chase Hunter is the team’s leading scorer at 17.8 points per game. He’s proud of his brother, too, who is averaging 7 points per game.
“We are always with each other,” Dillon Hunter said. “Seeing (Chase) just thrive on the court, it’s special, man. Sometimes I come to tears just looking at him go crazy.”
Unbeaten at the time, San Francisco nearly handed Memphis its first loss in Thursday’s nail-biter. The Dons had a chance to forge a last-minute tie, but Malik Thomas couldn’t connect on a floater from the lane with 24 seconds remaining.
Thomas has been San Francisco’s leading scorer, averaging 17.6 points, although two of the Dons’ top prospects — freshman Tyrone Riley and sophomore Ryan Beasley — are contributing.
“There’s actually some similarities between the two of them,” San Francisco coach Chris Gerlufsen said. “They’re unbelievable teammates. Both of them (couldn’t) care less about individual numbers. They’re extremely humble, hard-working, and they’re really, really tough, both from a physical standpoint and a mental standpoint.”
-Field Level Media
