Clemson upsets #11 Virginia Tech
CLEMSON, SC Clemson fans gathered in numbers today to honor the Military and to watch the Clemson Men’s basketball team take on the #11 Virginia Tech Hokies. Elijah Thomas would score the first basket for the Tigers and soon after, Shelton Mitchell would sink a three, Mitchell would make 5 3 pointers on 6 attempts. Those five 3 pointers would be a career high for the Tiger. Elijah Thomas has accounted for 17 blocks in the last 2 ½ games.
During the first half, the Tigers were led by Shelton Mitchell who scored 18 points in the first half, Elijah Thomas accounted for 5 rebounds and Marquise Reed had 4 assists. The Tigers shot for 43%, 41% with 3 pointers and were 100% at the free throw line.
During the second half, Elijah Thomas tied his career high of seven blocks and Shelton Mitchell would reach a game high of 20 points, making this Mitchell’s 8th 20 point game of his career. The Tigers shot at 41%, 3 pointers at 39% and free throws at 77%.
Throughout the entirety of the game, Shelton Mitchell led the Tigers in scoring, The Tiger scored 22 points throughout the game. Elijah Thomas was responsible for 9 rebounds and Marquise Reed had four assists.
“All credit to their coach, their staff and their players, they defended us properly. You can tell that they new what they were doing.” Coach Buzz Williams said about the Tigers “Clemson is the hottest team in the League other than that last play at NC State, they could be on a four game winning streak coming in. Their schedule would suggest that they had a slow start in play, but all credit goes to Clemson, they came ready to play.”
“It was a big win for us, especially playing three games in six days and to end the game with such a good team as Virginia Tech, it was huge.” Shelton Mitchell said. “We’re communicating more and when we communicate more, we are more confident.”
“Great week by our team and a great way to cap it off today. I am really proud of how Shelton Mitchell played. I thought we played well against a really talented team, Buzz does a really good job with that team and they fought us, but all credit to our staff and our guys.” Brad Brownell said postgame.
Riding a four game winning streak, Clemson will head out for a week on the road against Miami and #16 Louisville and will be back in Littlejohn on the 19th against #22 Florida State.
Notes: Clemson won its fourth league game in a row … with the win the Tigers improved to 26-3 (.897) at Littlejohn in its last 29 games … also with the win head coach Brad Brownell won his 164th game at Clemson – leaving him 13 shy of tying Cliff Ellis for the most in school history … the win snapped a four-game losing streak to Virginia Tech and earned the program’s 16th victory all-time against the Hokies … with four steals in the contest, Marcquise Reed improved from 15th to 13th on the all-time list at Clemson … Reed now has 145 steals as a Tiger … he stands alone in fifth all-time with 1.65 steals per contest … with 15 points it marked Reed’s 60th double-digit scoring game of his career – just 10 shy of tying Butch Zatezalo (1967-70) and Larry Nance (1977-81) for 16th all-time at Clemson … Elijah Thomas tied his career-high of seven blocked shots today … he has blocked 19 shots over just the last three contests … Thomas now has 158 blocks in his Clemson career – 19 shy of tying Sharrod Ford (2001-05) for ninth on the all-time list … Thomas also jumped to fourth all-time in Clemson history with 1.93 blocks per game in his career … Thomas led the Tigers with nine rebounds and now has 563 in his Clemson career … Thomas is 41 rebounds shy of tying Horace Wyatt (1978-82) for 25th on the all-time list … Hunter Tyson tied his career-high with two made field goals … Shelton Mitchell notched a new career-high with five made 3-pointers … Mitchell posted his eighth 20-point game of his career … Mitchell’s 22 points ties a season high … the Hokies 28.3 percent shooting from the field was their lowest of the season.
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