No worries Dabo, Brad has your back….. Clemson has now won back to back games against UNC and Duke for the first time in almost three decades.
For the second time in four days, Brad Brownell’s Tigers have knocked off a Tobacco Road powerhouse. On Saturday Clemson ended its 59 game losing streak in Chapel Hill, then tonight they went out and knocked off third ranked Duke 79-72, handing them just their second loss of the season.
In our preview earlier today, we told you the easiest path to a Clemson win was big games from both Aamir Simms and Tevin Mack, along with John Newman III doing his share of the work.
“The most ideal thing would be for Tevin Mack to bring it and, he and Simms get rolling at the same time, in the same game. They could make a formidable duo when both are playing well. Add John Newman into that too, as he needs to be hitting some buckets as well.”
That is exactly what the Tigers got tonight, as both topped the 20 point mark. Simms led the way with 25 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Mack pitched in with 22, and grabbed 8 boards, 3 coming on the offensive glass. The two combined to go 4-7 from three.
Newman had 14 big points, to go along with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, and 3 blocked shots. He also had this huge dunk, causing the place to erupt.
Clemson shot 57% from the floor and 50% from three, hitting 8-19. They still struggled from the free throw line though, hitting just 11-22. Clemson won the battle of the boards 35-27 and forced 16 Duke turnovers.
Clemson improves to 9-7, and make a huge leap up the standings in the ACC, as they now sit at 3-3 in league play. Duke falls to 15-2, and 5-1 in ACC play. Next up for Clemson is a road trip to Raleigh, as they face off with NC State on Saturday afternoon at 2pm.
Knocked off two straight bluebloods!