CLEMSON, S.C. — The Clemson men’s basketball team locked up the No. 3 seed and a two-day bye in next week’s ACC Tournament with a convincing 87-64 victory over Notre Dame Saturday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.
It marks the first time since 2008 the Tigers enter the ACC Tournament as a top-three seed. Of course, Clemson advanced to the championship game that season where it lost to North Carolina in the title game.
The Tigers moved up to No. 3 in the ACC standings thanks to Miami’s win over Pittsburgh and Virginia’s victory over Louisville earlier in the day.
As for what happened against the Irish, Clemson got 16 points from Hunter Tyson and 13 from Brevin Galloway on Senior Night, but the story of the game was the play of Ian Schieffelin. The sophomore scored 16 points and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the field.
Chase Hunter added 14 points and had seven assists, while PJ Hall dropped in 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Tyson had 13 rebounds for his team-high 15th double-double of the year.
Clemson (22-9, 14-6 ACC) led 48-29 at the break, thanks to Schieffelin. The sophomore scored 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting, including one from behind the arc.
The Tigers, who shot 57 percent from the field in the first half, opened the game on a 20-3 run and led by as many as 22 points (40-18). They never trailed in the game.
Stat of the game: With the win over Notre Dame, the 2022-’23 team tied the 2017-’18 team with the most regular season wins under head coach Brad Brownell. The 2017-’18 team, which advanced to the Sweet 16, finished with 25 wins. Clemson also finished the ACC season with 14 league wins, a school record.
Side note: PJ Hall went over 1,000 points in his Clemson career with a second-half basket.
Player of the Game: Schieffelin came out on fire Saturday night and stayed that way on his way to a 16-point performance. He also had five rebounds and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field, including one three-pointer.
Key Moment: Ian Schieffelin scored nine of Clemson’s 11 points during a stretch midway in the first half, making two jump shots, a layup and a three-pointer. The latter gave the Tigers a 31-12 lead with 7:51 to play in the half.
Up next: The third-seeded Clemson Tigers will play Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C.
—photo by Jonathan Abercrombie
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