Clemson took on Syracuse to wrap up the 2018-2019 season. Clemson also took time before the game to recognize their 5 seniors; Marquise Reed, Shelton Mitchell, David Skara, Lyles Davis and Elijah Thomas. With a win today, the Tigers look to secure a spot for a run within the NCAA tournament.
Things would start out slow for the Tigers as they struggled to get the ball into the basket for the first six minutes of the game. The Orange would hold the Tigers to just 24 points within the first half.
Leading the Tigers, Elijah Thomas led the Tigers with six points, Marquise Reed leads with five rebounds and Shelton Mitchell has three assists.The Tigers field goal percentage during the first half was at 25% with seven shots being made on 28 attempts. The Tigers also struggled with three pointers shooting at 20% only making two on 10 attempts and sat at 66.7% on free throw line making eight on 12 attempts.
The Tigers were able to come out in the second half and put the Orange away with a little help from the electric atmosphere that Littlejohn Coliseum provided this afternoon. Senior Marquise Reed capped off the game with 21 points, followed by senior Elijah Thomas with 11 rebounds and the Tigers were capped off with five assists by Aamir Simms.
Clemson concluded the game with a field goal percentage of 34% making 19 shots on 56 attempts, 21% on three point attempts making five on 24 attempts and were 80% from the free throw line, making 24 on 30 attempts. The Tigers also concluded the game with 45 rebounds compared to Syracuse’s 30.
Clemson looks to make a back-to-back appearance in the NCAA tournament. Postgame, Brad Brownell commented on the teams NCAA chances. “I have no idea” Brownell said “If you watch us play, we look like an NCAA tournament team. Even in some of our losses, we look like a team that can do some damage.”
The team will now enter the ACC tournament play as the number 8 seed and will play NC State.
Notes: Clemson improves to 19-12 overall and 9-9 in ACC play … head coach Brad Brownell won his 168th game at Clemson – leaving him just nine shy of tying Cliff Ellis for the most in Clemson history … the win was also coach Brownell’s 100th win in Littlejohn Coliseum in his career … the 10-point deficit overcome was the largest by the Tigers all season … it was the 14th time that a coach Brownell team has overcome a deficit of 10 points or larger to win since 2010 … Marcquise Reed notched his fifth career double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds … it marked Reed’s third double-double of the season … Reed remains 15th in scoring with 1,426 points as a Tiger … Reed now owns 1,955 career points … Reed’s season total of 544 points is now tied with Vince Yockel (1955-56) for the 16th-most points scored in a season in Clemson history … Reed tallied double-digit rebounds for the fifth time in his career … Reed tied his career-best with five steals … Reed now has 167 steals in his Clemson career – cracking the top 10 in program history and is currently ninth … Elijah Thomas notched his 20th double-double of his career and the ninth of the season … the nine double-doubles in 2018-19 ties his mark from 2017-18 … besides last year, nine double-doubles is the most in a season for a Clemson player since Trevor Booker (2006-10) in 2009-10 … with 11 rebounds, Thomas now has 633 for his Clemson career and is now tied for 19th all-time with Ray Henderson (1999-03) … Thomas blocked three more shots and now has 175 for his career at Clemson – just two shy of tying Sharrod Ford (2001-05) for ninth all time … with 10 points, Shelton Mitchell is now 35th all-time in scoring at Clemson with 1,080 career points … with four more assists, Mitchell now has 315 for his career … Aamir Simms set a new career-high with five assists.
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