Clemson Men’s Basketball: Tigers tame Panthers in thriller

Clemson Men’s Basketball played well for most of the game Saturday in Pittsburgh, but trailing 69-62 with 4:23 left, the odds were stacked against a tough Tiger team.

That’s when the Tigers found a second wind, another gear and played with grit, so to speak, out-physicalling the ultra-physical Pittsburgh team on their home court by outscoring the Panthers 13-5 in a nail-biting 75-74 win.

Clemson (13-3, 5-0) is now in sole possession of first place in the ACC.  I repeat Clemson is in sole possession of first place in the ACC.

Four Clemson starters hit double figures for the second game in a row, led by 17 from Chase Hunter, another double-double from Hunter Tyson who scored 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, and a double-double by P.J. Hall who contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Brevin Galloway also contributed 10 points.

A Chauncey Wiggin jumper on a beautiful pass from Hall tied the game at 69 with 2:21 to play and after a Pitt miss, Galloway made a jumper to put the Tigers up by 2 with 108 seconds to play.

The Panthers weren’t done yet, tying the game at 71 with 1:09 left, before a Hunter jumper put the Tigers ahead for good and two Tyson free throws with 9.3 left put the Tigers up by 4.

This was a team victory and from my vantage point, a well-coached game by Brad Brownell and his staff.  They used the right players at the right time, managed Pitt runs on the road and the final inbounds play was well-designed and run.

Clemson Men’s Basketball outshot Pittsburgh on the Panthers home court in a tight contest

Clemson outshot the Panthers on their own court, hitting 47.2% from the field, 41.2% from three and 75% from the line.

The Panthers meanwhile shot 40.4% from the field, 37.9% from three and 73.9% from the line.

Free throw shooting was again ultra-important as the Tigers went 11-12 in the second half while Pitt was only 5 of 9.

Much was made of the Panther prowess on the offensive boards and Pitt did pull down 9 offensive rebounds, but the Tigers had 7 of their own on the offensive end and outrebounded the Panthers 36-35 overall.

This was a huge win for Brownell and his program as a lot of Clemson fans, myself included, questioned if they could win a game of this magnitude.

It was a well-played, high energy, physical game on both ends.

Next up, Clemson faces Louisville Wednesday night in Littlejohn Coliseum, before the Duke Blue Devils travel to the Upstate for a 5 p.m. tilt next Saturday on the ACC Network.