Despite not having leading scorer Chase Hunter for much of the contest, Clemson cruised to a 72-57 road win over Virginia Tech on Saturday inside Cassell Coliseum.
The win was Clemson’s fifth straight, and its eighth in the last nine games. All 10 players that saw action for the Tigers scored points.
“Really proud of my team,” head coach Brad Brownell said. “We’ve been battling some stomach bug stuff all week and just found ways to be resilient. Thought we played very hard today. Played well in spurts.”
Forward Chauncey Wiggins paced the Tigers (17-4, 9-1) with 16 points, shooting 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Clemson shot just 33% from deep as a team.
“He had one of his better games at Clemson just consistency-wise on both ends,” Brownell added.
Freshman guard Del Jones had a career-high 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Forward Viktor Lakhin added 11 points and 5 boards, while guard Jaeden Zackery pitched in with 11, dishing out four assists and grabbing five rebounds.
Toibu Lawal led the Hokies (8-12, 3-6) with 10 points.
After leading by as many as 17 early in the second half, Virginia Tech used an 11-0 run to pull within 49-45 with just under 10 minutes remaining. The Tigers would respond, going on an 8-2 run of their own, highlighted by a big three from Wiggins and a bucket from Jones.
“We knew after halftime they would come out and give us a big punch and they did,” Brownell said. “Proud of Chase Hunter for going in the last ten minutes and helping us ice the game.”
Jones would really make his presence felt late, scoring eight consecutive points that pushed a 10-point Clemson lead out to 68-53 with just under four minutes left in the contest.
Chase Hunter missed most of the contest dealing with the flu. The veteran guard did not enter until there were just under 12 minutes left in the game and with the Tigers clinging to a six-point lead. He’d finish with just two points. Younger brother Dillon Hunter started in his place, playing 17 minutes and scoring three points.
Where the Tigers really dominated was down low. Clemson had 36 points in the paint compared to Virginia Tech’s 20.
The Tigers would end the first half on a 17-3 run to take a 41-29 lead into the break. Virginia Tech went the final 6:39 of the opening stanza without a field goal.
It Was Over When
With the Tigers up 62-52, Jones went on his run, scoring eight straight points. By the time he was done, Clemson led 68-53 with 4:02 to go.
Free Throw Shooting Woes
Neither team was great from the charity stripe. Virginia Tech was just 12-of-21, while the Tigers finished 9-of-13 after hitting their final five.
Injury Report
Chase Hunter did not play much due to an illness. In the win over Syracuse, Dillon Hunter was out with an illness and Lakhin also dealt with an illness back in December.
Schieffelin continues to deal with back spasms on top of a lingering calf strain. The big man only scored six points but he pulled down seven rebounds and dished out 3 assists. He was on the court for 28 minutes.
Up Next
Clemson travels to Raleigh next Saturday to take on NC State. Tipoff is at 1:30 and the game will be televised on the CW.