SAN DIEGO — The talk all week was how Clemson was the one five seed in the NCAA Tournament that had the potential to lose in the first round. Playing an athletic New Mexico State team, the 12th seed in the Midwest Region, that has one of the best scorers in the country in Zach Lofton and best rebounder in Jemerrio Jones, the experts said the Tigers were primed for the upset.
The experts were wrong.
Led by guards Shelton Mitchell, Gabe DeVoe and Marcquise Reed, Clemson came out and played with a chip on its shoulder Friday at the Viejas Arena at San Diego State University in San Diego. The Tigers beat the Aggies, 79-68, to advance to Sunday’s second-round matchup with No. 4 seed Auburn.
“We mentioned it, but we don’t have a big chip on our shoulder,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “We didn’t concern ourselves that we were picked 13th in our league. I didn’t have to give them the Knute Rockne speech. It’s more about preparing the right way. That’s much more important than worrying about what’s said.”
The Clemson back court scored 60 of the Tigers’ 79 points.
“It was more about the nature of the way they play,” Brownell said. “We talked a lot about taking the ball to the basket. We knew we were going to have to attack the basket and we did that. We wanted a mix of interior touches, too, but we have big, strong guards.
“Our guys are athletic and they were able to get in there and make plays and finish plays. They’re used to going against big, strong guards in our league.”
The win marked Clemson’s first victory in the tournament’s first round since a Terrell McIntyre led team did it in 1997.
Mitchell finished the game with 23 points and had five assists, while DeVoe added 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Reed scored 15 points for the Tigers and had seven rebounds.
The Tigers (24-9) led by as many as 18 points in the second half, but New Mexico State (28-6) rallied to cut the lead to 68-62 with 5:50 to play on a Lofton three-pointer and a Jones putback.
However, Mitchell drained a three-pointer from the right wing with 5:27 to play and the Tigers regained control of the contest and then cruised to the victory.
“We have a bunch of good guys on our team,” Mitchell said. “We can all make plays at anytime. Today, it just happened to be me.”
The first half went according to plan for the Tigers. DeVoe was 5-for-8 from the field and 2-for-4 from three-pointer range, while scoring 10 points. Mitchell had 10 points and dished out four assists.
David Skara also did his job, holding Jones to no offensive rebounds in the opening 20 minutes. Jones came into the game second in the nation in rebounds with 13.2 per game. Eli Thomas had nine rebounds in the opening 20 minutes and finished the game with 10 overall/
Clemson made 58.1 percent of their shots in the first half and was 4-for-8 from three-point range. The Tigers finished the game shooting 56 percent from the field and finished 6-of-14 from three-point range.
After starting the game slow, Clemson began to build its lead. With the game tied at 15, Reed made a layup and Thomas hit a jumper from the elbow. DeVoe then made a layup to extend the lead to 21-15 with 9:10 to play.
Later in the half, DeVoe drained a three-pointer to give the Tigers a 10-point lead. Mitchell made a layup later in the half and then DeVoe hit another three to extend the lead to 44-32 at the break.