MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Leading up to Friday’s NCAA West Regional showdown, all No. 6 Clemson heard about was No. 11 New Mexico’s guards and how the Tigers were not going to be able to contain them.

Not only did Clemson contain them, the Tigers shut them down. The Lobos’ top three shooters—Jaelen House, Jamal Mashburn, Jr., and Donovan Dent—were a combined 8 of 33 overall from the field and 2-for-14 from behind the arc.

As a result, Clemson led for all about 30 seconds in the first-round game, while rolling to an easy 77-56 victory.

“Throughout the game, our confidence kept rising. We were getting stops consistently,” Clemson’s Jack Clark said.

Clark played a big role in why the Lobos did very little against the Tigers. He was all over House—New Mexico’s leading scorer—holding him to 12 points on 4 of 14 shooting. House went just 2-for-8 from three-points range.

“We had a game plan for all that stuff, so it went well,” Clark said.

It went really well. While Clark was shutting down House, forward Ian Schieffelin limited the Logo’s second-best scorer to six points. Mashburn was just 1-for-11 overall and 0-for-6 from behind the arc.

House and Mashburn combined for 49 points in New Mexico’s win over San Diego State in the Mountain West Tournament Championship. However, they were limited to just 18 points on Friday.

“They’re guys that like to drive the ball,” Clemson guard Chase Hunter said. “For us, it was closing out short, making sure, if it’s hedging the ball screens, then making sure they don’t get into the paint and making them find other guys for shots.

“We did that, and we executed well. We were able to stop them.”

Clemson (22-11) held the Lobos to a season low 56 points. Their 29.7 percent shooting percentage was also a season low, as was their 3-for-23 (13 percent) effort from behind the arc.

“We really tried to eliminate their rim shots,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “When we studied them, we just felt they get to the rim maybe as well as almost any team we played all year, whether it’s transition, whether it’s offensive rebound put-backs, whether it’s low-post duck-ins, escort layups off ball-screen action. That was the major focus was no rim shots for them.

“And I thought our defense was set up accordingly. And then I thought, because we executed very well on offense, we were able to play the game the way we wanted to play it. Getting off to a good start was extremely helpful as well.”

The Tigers built a 30-11 lead in the first half, thanks to a 19-2 run during a six-minute stretch. From there, New Mexico got no closer than 10 points.

Perhaps the defensive play of the day came with the clock winding down in the first half. The Lobos tried to set House for a layup off a ball-screen. However, Clark was having none of it, as he fought through the screen and forced House to throw up a desperation three that barely hit the front of the rim.

Clark’s masterful defense allowed Clemson to maintain its 14-point lead at halftime, 42-28.

“I was trying not to give up a basket right there before halftime,” the Tigers’ forward said. “It stops momentum, because if they get that basket, who knows what kind of game it could be in the second half. So, getting that stop was huge for us.”

New Mexico was not the first up-and-down team the Tigers’ played this season.

Clemson played Alabama earlier this year, as well as up-and-down-the-court-teams like Syracuse, NC State, North Carolina and Memphis. New Mexico was averaging 81.7 points per game coming into the tournament.

“Those teams we played earlier in the year were fast, up-and-down-transition-teams,” Clark said. “That is who this team seemed like. So, in preparation for this game, it helped us a lot.”

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