Clemson Basketball: Tigers extend streak, continue dominance over SC

The Clemson basketball team extended their streak over in-state rival South Carolina with a win Saturday in Colonial Life Arena.

The Clemson basketball team extended their streak over in-state rival South Carolina to three games in the series with a 78-68 win over the Gamecocks in Colonial Life Arena.

Marcquise Reed returned to the lineup after being out with an injury the past couple of games. Reed scored 20 points in the Tigers’ victory and was huge in waking the offense up and getting things going.

With Clemson basketball’s win, the Tigers now improved to three straight against the Gamecocks in basketball, five straight in football, five straight in men’s soccer and four straight in baseball series.

Analysis:

The Tigers played a pretty solid game overall.

Especially in the second half, there were several fouls that didn’t go their way that kept the Gamecocks in the game. The Gamecocks hit just 4-for-16 from three and went 0-for-5 in the second half.

Clemson has done a much better job defending the three the last couple of games and I think it’s due to the work and emphasis they’ve put in to guarding that area of the game.

The Tigers have worked on close-outs and probably could do a little better job running opponents off the three-point line, but the key is going to be guarding the three-point shot as best they can going forward.

In addition to Reed’s 20, David Skara added 14 and eight rebounds for the Tigers, followed by Elijah Thomas and Shelton Mitchell, who had 11 points apiece.

Clemson also did a great job at the free throw line, hitting 18-of-25 attempts from the charity stripe.

The offense certainly was more fluid with Reed back in the game and I think the defense operated at a higher level, as well.

Clemson will take on Lipscomb on Sunday, Dec. 30 at 3 p.m.