McNeese State vs. Clemson Box Score, stats, game summary and more ft. Brandon Murray

No. 12 seed McNeese State delivered the biggest upset of the NCAA Tournament to date by edging past No. 5 seed Clemson by a final score of 69-67. McNeese claimed its first-ever NCAA Tournament win and throttled the Clemson offense to get it. The Cowboys will move on to face No. 4 seed Purdue on Saturday in a second-round battle.

McNeese State vs. Clemson Box Score

McNeese State

Player	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	MIN
DJ Richards	2	3	2	0	0	0	1	17
J. Charles	0	5	0	1	1	1	4	22
J. Garcia	3	1	1	0	3	0	3	31
Q. Copeland	16	7	5	2	0	7	4	31
C. Shumate	13	11	1	0	2	1	3	34
B. Selebangue	2	3	0	1	0	1	1	18
S. Parker	12	4	0	0	0	0	1	19
B. Murray	21	4	3	3	0	0	2	29

Clemson

Player	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	MIN
V. Lakhin	6	10	1	1	0	3	5	25
C. Hunter	21	4	2	2	0	4	3	35
I. Schieffelin	1	8	2	0	0	2	4	33
C. Wiggins	10	2	0	0	0	1	2	30
J. Zackery	24	5	1	1	0	1	0	40
J. Heidbreder	3	3	1	1	0	0	2	19
M. Foster	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
D. Jones	2	1	2	0	0	2	0	11
C. Reeves	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2

McNeese State vs. Clemson Game Summary

On the game's opening possessions, Clemson missed a 3-pointer and McNeese connected on an alley-oop dunk. In many ways, that set the tone for everything that came thereafter. Clemson held a 6-4 lead, but then saw McNeese reel off a 19-2 run. That rally, which ended on a Quadir Copeland layup with 6:57 in the half, basically settled the game.

McNeese led 31-13 at halftime. Clemson shot 21% (5-for-24) including 1-for-15 from 3-point range in the first half. The Tigers nearly had as many turnovers (10) as points at halftime.

Clemson scored the first three points of the second half to pull within 31-16. McNeese stretched its lead to 24 points at 40-16 with 16:14 to play. Late in the game, Clemson began to utilize full-court pressure to get back in the contest.

McNeese led 51-29 on a Brandon Murray 3-pointer with 8:07 to play. But Clemson went on an 18-6 run to pull within 57-47 on a Chase Hunter tip-in with 3:11 remaining. Hunter hit a 3-pointer just over a minute later to pull within 60-52. Clemson continued to fight and pulled within two points, but never had a shot to tie or take the lead.

McNeese State was led by 21 points from Brandon Murray, who also had three steals. Quadir Copeland tallied 16 points and Christian Shumate chipped in with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Sincere Parker added 12 points for McNeese.

Clemson was paced by Jaeden Zackery's 24 points and five rebounds. Chase Hunter also tallied 19 points, all coming in the second half. Chauncey Wiggins added 10 points.

McNeese will play No. 4 seed Purdue, which held off High Point earlier in the afternoon.