Story by Justin Mathis
Three weeks ago, the Clemson Tigers struggled in a road loss at Louisville. On Saturday, it was quite a different story in front of a sellout crowd in Littlejohn Coliseum.
A 12-5 run out of the gate for Clemson really set the tone for the Tigers en route to a 77-62 victory. For Clemson, this gives them at least two wins over teams ranked in the top five since the 1979-80 season, when the Tigers defeated fourth-ranked UNC, number one Duke, and fifth-ranked Maryland.
Clemson led 31-14 at halftime, but Louisville fought back somewhat in the second half, going on a 13-2 run, which made it a 44-34 contest with 9:48 remaining. The Tigers answered with an 11-2 run of their own, which included a trio of three pointers, one apiece by Aamir Sims, John Newman, and Alex Hemenway.
Clemson guard John Newman III paced all scorers on the day with a career-high 23 points. Tevin Mack, a Dreher High product, crossed the 1,000 point mark for his career and set a career-high for points scored in a single season. Mack finished the game with 14 points for the Tigers, followed by Aamir Simms with 13 and Clyde Trapp with 12.
Clemson improves to 13-12 overall and 7-8 in ACC play.
Brad Brownell postgame
Amir Simms, John Newman III and Clyde Trapp postgame
