Is it bad to average less than a point a minute in a half of basketball? Yes, yes it is.
The No. 5 seeded Clemson Tigers are in serious danger of suffering the first upset of March Madness 2025 after a historically poor display of offense against No. 12 seed McNeese State.
Brad Brownell’s squad, which averaged about 76 points per game this season, scored a whopping 13 points against the Cowboys.
That’s it. In 20 minutes.
Dating back to 1985-86 when the shot clock era was introduced in the college game, the existing record for fewest points in a half in an NCAA men’s basketball tournament contest was 12 by the Wisconsin Badgers against Missouri State back in 1999. Wisconsin would lose 43-32 after shooting just 25%.
If not for a a late lay-up by Jaeden Zackery, Clemson would’ve achieved a new low point.
All the ways Clemson’s first half vs. McNeese State was a disaster
- Clemson shot 5/24 (20.8%) from the floor and a ghastly 1/15 (6.67%) from three-point range in the first half. They came into the game ranked 35th among Division I schools in three-point field goal percentage (37.15%).
- Clemson, who average roughly 10 turnovers per game on the season, had 10 turnovers in a half.
- McNeese State’s Brandon Murray, who averaged 7 points per game on the season, scored 14 in the first half and therefore outscored Clemson by himself.
- Jaeden Zackery was the only Clemson player to make more than one field goal.
- Clemson scored 6 of their 13 points in the first four minutes of the game and had multiple scoring droughts of at least four minutes.
The good news for Clemson is that they were a perfect 2-2 from the free throw line. The bad news was everything else, including their 18-point halftime deficit.
It already improved for Clemson with 14 points in the first nine minutes of the 2nd half, but it’ll have to get a hell of a lot better to have any shot to avoid not just an upset loss, but a blowout upset loss to the Southland Conference champions.
