Another successful business trip.<\/p>\n
After narrowly dispatching Stanford just days prior, Clemson took on its second West Coast opponent of the week and dismantled the California Bears by a score of 77-55.<\/p>\n
After a sloppy opening 5 minutes which saw shot clock violations from both teams and multiple turnovers, the Tigers flipped a switch and executed one of the most complete defensive efforts of the season so far. Down 13-9, Clemson had missed several shots and looked sluggish at best. Then the patented suffocating Clemson defense showed up and led the Tigers on a 30-7 run to finish the first half.<\/p>\n
Shooting 59% as a team, the Clemson bench added 20 points and helped completely stifle the Bears for the final 15 minutes of the opening half. At one point Cal went almost 13 minutes without scoring a field goal! Everything seemed to fall in for Clemson after the slow start, with 9 different players scoring for Brownell\u2019s group in the first half.<\/p>\n
But the second half was no guarantee. Clemson needed to keep the pressure on to collect its 14th straight ACC road win.<\/p>\n
Through 25 minutes of play, only 3 California players had managed to score (Chris Bell, Justin Pippen, and Dai Dai Ames), while nine players had scored for Clemson. The Tigers continued to move the ball well offensively and didn\u2019t look back.<\/p>\n
Cal managed to start knocking some shots down with a little more efficiency in the second half, but Clemson answered nearly every score with a basket of their own. The Tigers never relinquished the lead they built off their impressive first half. At one point the Bears cut it to 15 and the Tigers responded with a run that pushed the lead all the way to 24 points.<\/p>\n
With the victory, Clemson moves to 20-4 (10-1 ACC), collecting its 14th straight road win in conference play, tied for the second-longest streak in ACC history!<\/p>\n
Up next, Clemson returns home to Littlejohn Coliseum to host Virginia Tech on Wednesday.<\/p>\n