A few basketball-related thoughts and insights as Clemson prepares for Saturday's 5 PM game at Virginia Tech:
Tigerillustrated.com's In-game Discussion Thread For Clemson vs. Va. Tech
-- Time for Viktor Lakhin to take another step.
A week ago, most of us figured it'd be hard for Clemson to win at Pitt without Lakhin playing a key role.
BECOME A TIGERILLUSTRATED.com SUBSCRIBER!
Lakhin had three points and four rebounds in 20 minutes, and the Tigers were still up 14 in the second half before surviving in overtime.
So yeah, it's certainly a credit to everyone else that Lakhin can have a bad day and the Tigers still beat a talented team in a difficult environment.
Yet as February beckons, there's certainly a desire for the Cincinnati transfer to be on a more consistent trajectory.
His performance against Syracuse was impressive: In addition to a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds), four of those rebounds were offensive and he committed zero fouls while drawing four from the Orange.
Add in two assists and two blocks with six of his points coming beyond the 3-point line, and that's a pretty good day at the office.
And now it's time for him to start stacking those days.
Back on Dec. 17 at South Carolina, Lakhin was out of sorts and didn't react well to the physical nature of that game. And the vibe felt similar last week at Pitt as he just seemed rushed and tried to do too much dribbling.
At his best, Lakhin is a plus defensive presence and a nimble distributor in the high-low game. Just last week he had four assists in the win at Georgia Tech.
Ian Schieffelin continues to amaze at how much he's pushing through the pain of back spasms, and his 37 minutes against Syracuse showed that the staff isn't handling him with kid gloves.
Yet given that Christian Reeves still seems in the developmental stages at this point, it's fair to push Lakhin's bar of expectation a bit higher.
-- Dillon Hunter's absence had plenty of silver lining.
Hunter missed the Syracuse game while battling a flu bug that also hit Chauncey Wiggins earlier in the week.
That gave Del Jones and Jake Heidbreder a chance at bigger roles, and they impressed while combining for 15 points.
Jones showed from the start this season that he's not like your typical freshman in how comfortable, aggressive and fast he is at this level. He's had some ups and downs as you'd expect, but his nine points and four rebounds against the Orange gave you reason to think he could supply some important contributions down the stretch of the season.
And Heidbreder was probably the one positive that came out of the recent loss at Louisville as he put up 10 points in the 74-64 defeat.
The Tigers' concerns in the post probably aren't going to go away given the limitations of Reeves and Myles Foster.
Yet if the top three players off the bench (Hunter, Heidbreder, Jones) can round into more of a dependable force over the next few weeks it could make this team more dynamic.
-- We hope everyone is properly appreciating and savoring this final season of Chase Hunter.
He's just at a different level and you can see that far beyond the statistics.
It probably takes being inside the building and zeroing in on him only as he does his thing for the magnitude of it to truly hit.
Everything seems to be moving so slowly for him in a way that only elite players can experience.
But stats are important too, and this one is eye-opening:
Through 20 games, he's attempted 110 3-pointers and made 50 (45.5 percent).
Join Tigerillustrated.com subscribers on The West Zone message board!
At the same point last season he had made 22 3-pointers on 78 attempts. That's 28.2 percent.
Wow.
-- Speaking of that flu bug...
Dillon Hunter seems to be a bit better, from what we've gathered.
But now the bug seems to be going through the team and they're worried about others.
BECOME A TIGERILLUSTRATED.com SUBSCRIBER!
It seems this group has battled some sort of sickness for almost a month now.
TODAY: BIG DEALS on a ton of Clemson gear at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!
(Checkout code: 24SHIP)
