PJ Hall scored 26 points as Clemson won its seventh straight game, notching a 72-64 mild upset victory over No. 24 Duke at home on Saturday.
It’s the second time this season the Tigers have beaten a ranked opponent. Clemson topped then-ranked No. 25 Iowa at a neutral site in November.
Hall shot 10 of 16 from the floor and posted four rebounds to lead Clemson (15-3, 7-0 ACC). The win over Duke (13-5, 4-3 ACC) gives Clemson its best start in conference play ever; the Tigers had never been 7-0 in ACC play.
Saturday’s win for Clemson was also the 400th in coach Brad Brownell’s career.
Clemson was also boosted by the play of Brevin Galloway, who tallied 17 points, four boards and two assists. The Tigers won despite leading scorer Hunter Tyson finishing with just five points in 36 minutes of action. And second-leading scorer, Chase Hunter, had only five points on 1-of-10 shooting in 28 minutes.
Kyle Filipowski powered Duke with 18 points on 8-of-22 shooting to go along with 14 boards. Tyrese Proctor chipped in 17 points.
The Tigers jumped out to a 7-2 lead from the opening tip, a run capped by a dunk from Ben Middlebrooks. But the Blue Devils rallied with a 15-2 run to take an eight-point lead with 2:44 to play in the half. Proctor scored nine points on that run.
Clemson trailed by four points at halftime but went on a 12-4 run late in the game to take an eight-point lead with 1:25 remaining. Galloway had seven points during that stretch.
Duke trimmed the lead back down to six points, but Clemson pulled away again by connecting on its free throws.
The Tigers shot 83.3 percent from the charity stripe and 45.8 percent from the floor. Duke outscored Clemson 20-10 in second chance points, but the Tigers outscored the Blue Devils 13-4 in points off turnovers.
If Clemson is ranked in next week’s AP Top 25, it’ll be just the third time in the past five seasons that they’ve appeared in the poll.
–Field Level Media