Five things to know about Clemson men’s basketball ahead of the 2021-22 season
Clemson’s men’s basketball team lost a good portion of experience and production with the graduation of Aamir Simms, Clyde Trapp and Jonathan Baehre. Simms and Trapp were two of the Tigers’ top five leading scorers, while Baehre provided height in the post.
The Tigers are much younger than they were at this time last year with plenty of new pieces, but head coach Brad Brownell calls the opportunity to put together a new team exciting.
Here are five things to know about the 2021-22 Clemson men’s basketball team:
Starting lineup is TBA
With the regular season a week away, Brownell is still exploring a starting lineup. No spots have been assigned as of yet with the Tigers still figuring out who plays well together. Heading into the season, there might be times where guards Al-Amir Dawes and Nick Honor start together. Dawes had 15 starts last season, averaging 25.5 minutes per game, while Honor appeared in the starting lineup 10 times and played 23.3 minutes per outing. “That’s one of the challenges early on is, you’re trying to figure out who plays the best with whom and when you’re constantly playing against each other, it’s not quite as good in terms of figuring out with other opponents,” Brownell said. “You don’t get quite as many possessions to check on some things that you’d like. I think we’ve got a lot of different ways we can go.”
Honor and Dawes spell team spirit
With Simms’ departure, Brownell believes Clemson’s team spirit will be in the hands of Honor and Dawes. As two of the more experienced returning players, the Tigers will need them to set the tone for the rest of the team.
“What I mean by that, a little bit in basketball, your guards, the ball is always in their hands when you’re starting every possession and then they’re guarding it to start every defensive possession,” Brownell explained. “We need those two guys to be extremely active defensively and aggressive defensively to set the tone initially for our defense. If those guys do a good job in that area, I think it really helps the other guys with how we want to play defensively.”
Older, but newcomers
During the offseason, Clemson picked up graduate transfers Naz Bohanon and David Collins from the transfer portal.
“David Collins and Naz Bohanon are two older players that give us experience and strength and some physicality that we probably need with the loss of Aamir and Clyde and Jonathan Baehre,” Brownell said.
Bohanon, a 6-foot-6, 232-pound forward, comes to Clemson after averaging team highs in points (16.5) and rebounds (8.2), and shooting 52.6% from the field at Youngstown State. He’s also one of only 22 people since the 1992-93 season to reach 1,200 points, 975 rebounds and 275 assists in a career.
Collins, a 6-foot-4½ guard from the University of South Florida, led the Bulls in scoring with 12.5 points a game, leaving the program with 1,516 career points, seventh-most in program history, to go along with 96 total starts in 116 games played.
Incoming class to watch
Brownell also touts a freshman class that includes forwards Ian Schieffelin and Ben Middlebrooks.
Schieffelin (6-7, 225), a three-star recruit from Georgia, played for Grayson High School, ranked No. 1 in public schools, and averaged 12 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks per game as a senior. Middlebrooks, a 6-10, 232-pound four star prospect from Florida, chose Clemson over Florida, Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame and Dayton, and recorded 20.5 points and 13.6 rebounds an outing in his final prep campaign.
“(Schieffelin and Middlebrooks) give us some depth inside and some size that we certainly need around the basket and in the front court,” Brownell said, adding “Josh Beadle in the backcourt is a kind of exciting guard, a guy with good speed and kind of a herky-jerky game that will add depth to the perimeter.”
Beadle, a 6-3, 180-pound combo guard, was a three-star prospect and scored over 1,000 points in his high school career.
Addressing size
Clemson only has two players taller than 6-foot-8 on their roster, which could present size issues in the ACC going against teams like Duke, which has two seven-footers, and Florida State, which has four players listed at 7-0 or taller. While they can’t combat the height, the Tigers hope to use physicality to compensate.
“There are some times that we’re going to be a little smaller,” Brownell said. “But, hopefully, we’re going to be able to competitively fight down there to compete. ... That’s going to be a challenge for sure in certain situations.”
The Tigers (16-8) finished fifth in the ACC last season with a 10-6 record and open the season by hosting Presbyterian College on Nov. 9.
Clemson basketball schedule
Next four games
- Monday: vs. Georgia Southwestern State (exhibition, 7 p.m.)
- Nov. 9: vs. Presbyterian, 7 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)
- Nov. 12: vs. Wofford, 7 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)
- Nov. 15: vs. Bryant, 7 p.m. (regional sports network)
This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Five things to know about Clemson men’s basketball ahead of the 2021-22 season."
