Vanderbilt lands Clemson transfer Alex Hemenway

Vanderbilt needed another shooter and got one.

Clemson transfer Alex Hemenway has committed to Vanderbilt to play his sixth and final season of college basketball.

Hemenway averaged 5.2 points and 1.4 assists per game in 2023-24 after going down with a "lower leg" injury that ended his season after five games.

The Clemson transfer averaged 5.3 points per game in his Clemson career while putting up a career-high 6.9 in his fourth college season while playing through a torn plantar fascia for the majority of the season.

In his five seasons, Hemenway has played in 95 games and has started 25 including 12 in his fourth season and 11 in his second.

With the addition of Hemenway, Vanderbilt now has an eight-man transfer class including three other former ACC rotation players in MJ Collins, Tyler Nickel and Devin McGlockton.

Breaking down Hemenway's game

Vanderbilt needed more shooting and more experience and got it with Hemenway.

The incoming sixth-year senior is a career 42.9% 3-point shooter that has shot more than 2.5 per game in every season of his career and has only shot under 40% from beyond the arc in one of his five seasons.

Hemenway has a beautiful, quick release that allows him to make shots through closeouts when his feet are set.

Most of those shots will come from beyond the arc, where Hemenway has taken 76.9% of his field goal attempts throughout his career.

The Clemson transfer isn't much of a shot creator, but is an excellent spot up shooter. A 96th percentile one, for that matter.

The 15% assist rate that Hemenway possessed, albiet in a small sample size, is also appealing. The veteran wing isn't making anticipatory passes like Grant Huffman but does have a sense of when to keep the ball moving and can make reads like a veteran should.

Defensively, the Clemson transfer isn't a standout and possesses a career 105.1 defensive rating per 100 possessions. That's a mark that is towards the bottom of Vanderbilt's roster.

Hemenway does have some nice length that could be useful on that end, though.

The Clemson transfer isn't an addition that will put Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament by his lonesome, but he has the potential to be a nice veteran role player for a team that already has most of its foundation built out.

Where Hemenway fits

Hemenway feels like an addition with a similar feel to Huffman.

Vanderbilt needs veteran role players to complement the go-to guys that it already has on its roster.

Hemenway comes into a crowded backcourt with Huffman, Jason Edwards, MJ Collins, Jordan Williams and Vanderbilt's two freshmen already on the roster. That group could become even more crowded if Byington and staff land AJ Hoggard.

The 6-foot-4 guard will likely see the floor but in a similar role to what he had at Clemson. Hemenway will likely step into a role as an off-ball, catch and shoot threat that will be a voice for a team with some young guys on it.

Hemenway will probably play the two, like he did at Clemson, but could play more of the three as a result of Byington wanting multiple ballhandlers on the floor at once in the backcourt.

Vanderbilt's offseason haul has come with some major questions about the shooting capability of its roster. Although Hemenway doesn't fix that singlehandedly, he certainly helps.