LITTLEJOHN COLISEUM: Clemson closed out the regular season in strong fashion with a 65-47 blowout of the Virginia Tech Hokies Saturday night at Littlejohn Coliseum. The Tigers finish18-2 in ACC play and will carry a 26-5 record into the ACC tournament in Charlotte. Both victory marks are school records.
Clemson earned a double bye as the #3 seed and will face either SMU, Florida State or Syracuse on Thursday. The Tigers, who have not lost since February 4th, will take an eight game winning streak into the postseason.
Clemson jumped out to an early 27-14 lead through the play of their guards. Jaeden Zackery and Del Jones ignited the break. Jones came off the bench and scored six points quickly, while Zackery scored seven in the first ten minutes.
The Tigers forced 14 first half turnovers and led 35-20 at the half. Viktor Lakhin led the way offensively with 12 points.
In the second half, the Tigers pushed their lead to 19 points and never let the Hokies get back into the game. The lead never dropped below 13 points.
The Tigers forced a total of 23 total turnovers they converted to 25 points. Fifteen of the turnovers came off of steals, and Zachery had four of the thefts. The Hokies had their opportunities, but Clemson held them at bay throughouot the second half. Clemson suffered just 10 turnovers.
Lakhin led the Tigers with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Zackery finished with 12 points. Chase Hunter’s senior night ended with four points on 2-9 shooting, and Ian Schieffelin notched five points and two rebounds.
Hunter‘s four points was his third single-digit game in the last four games. He had just two such games in the previous 15.
Clemson shot 44% from the field, but struggled from downtown with a 3-for-20 clip. The three-point production was a bottom-three performance for the Tigers this season.
The Hokies shot 41%, and combined with their turnovers, they produced their second lowest scoring output of the season. The Hokies had 36 points earlier this season at Boston College.
Final Stats
Brad Brownell postgame
Ian Schieffelin and Chase Hunter postgame
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