CLEMSON – The matchup between Clemson and Virginia Saturday afternoon was a hard fought battle as both teams played at a high level. With that came praise from both coaches, and Tony Bennett applauded the Tigers’ effort engine.
Ian Schieffelin has evolved to be one of Clemson’s key players and it’s something that Bennett isn’t surprised by. Having seen him play before, he was a fan of him last year and now even more.
“He looks like he’s just everyday kind of guy but hey, I liked him last year,” Bennett said. “He knows how to play. He’s crafty, he can shoot the ball, good passer but he’s continuous.”
There’s a lot of superlatives you can give college basketball players, but effort is something that will always stand above all. Schieffelin is the embodiment of that and it showed up again in a 13-point, nine-rebound showing against the Cavaliers. That’s nearly a low mark in rebounding these days as he’s averaging 9.6 a game.
“Lunchpail, hard hat guy and so I can see how the crowd would certainly get behind him. The combination with him and PJ is tough. That’s formidable and Brad (Brownell) does such a good job. This team is really good,” Bennett said.