The Clemson Tigers were dealt a tough hand recently after one of their key role players, junior guard Dillon Hunter, left the team’s recent ACC Tournament Quarterfinal win over SMU with an apparent hand injury.
The Extent of Hunter’s Hand Injury
According to insider Jeff Goodman, Hunter will be out for the rest of the season with a broken hand.
As Goodman noted when he broke the news, Hunter was averaging 5.4 points and 22.5 minutes played per game for the Tigers.
“Clemson’s Dillon Hunter broke his hand in yesterday’s game and is out for the rest of the season, Brad Brownell told @TheFieldOf68, Jeff Goodman wrote on X. “Dillon Hunter was averaging 5.4 points in 22.5 minutes per game this season.”
While he wasn’t a big-time scorer or elite contributor, he was another upperclassman that head coach Brownell and the rest of the team could trust. Hunter’s energy and presence off the bench have been a great help to his team all season long.
Despite not being particularly dominant in any statistical category, the 6’3″, 190-pound backcourt player was a strong contributor to one of the best teams in both the ACC and the country.
How Clemson Needs to Respond
The good news for Brownell and Co. is that they are one of the elite teams in the country with a record of 27-5 overall (18-2 record in conference play).
They have beaten ranked teams such as Kentucky, Duke, and Memphis but also lost to bad teams like South Carolina.
While the Tigers are a dangerous opponent, they cannot get in their own way.
Next up on their schedule in the ACC Tournament are the mighty Louisville Cardinals, who have played like another elite team in the country and within the conference.
Clemson senior guard Chase Hunter is going to have to continue to be at his best as the postseason moves along.
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He leads the team in scoring (16.2 points per game), while senior forward Ian Schieffelin is the best on the team at cleaning up the boards (9.3 rebounds per game).
Those two are going to have to be the leaders for this team moving forward, especially considering they are some of the team’s most experienced players if you break it all down.
If the Tigers can find a way to beat the Cardinals on Friday in Charlotte, perhaps the loss of Dillon Hunter might not be as significant.
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