Unranked to begin the season, No. 20 Clemson has relied on its depth to become one of the most consistent teams in the country.
The Tigers (18-4, 8-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) could turn to their deep bench again when they begin a West Coast trip against Stanford on Wednesday night.
Clemson is riding a 12-game ACC road win streak heading into the matchup against Stanford (14-8, 3-6), which has lost four straight.
Carter Welling and Nick Davidson scored 12 points apiece to lead Clemson to a 63-52 home win over Pittsburgh on Saturday. The Tigers led by 17 at the half before holding on to win for the 11th time in their last 12 games.
Clemson held Pittsburgh to 37.7% shooting from the field and a season-low 19.2% (5 of 26) from 3-point range.
Butta Johnson scored eight points off the bench for the Tigers, who won despite being outrebounded 33-25.
“Kind of a workman-like win for us,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “Rusty a little bit at times, but I thought we did some good things in the first half on both ends. Then in the second half, we didn’t handle a 17-point lead very well.”
Clemson sits in second place in the ACC behind Duke with a challenging few weeks ahead. The Tigers’ second half of conference play includes games against ranked teams such as No. 4 Duke, No. 14 North Carolina and No. 24 Louisville.
Before heading into that challenging stretch, Clemson needs to be careful not to overlook Stanford, which recorded home wins over Louisville and North Carolina last month.
The Cardinal lost 88-80 to host Florida State on Saturday despite another strong effort from freshman point guard Ebuka Okorie, who had 26 points and four assists.
Okorie, who ranks 10th in the country in scoring at 21.8 points per game, was held to three points in the first half against Florida State before finding his rhythm after halftime.
“We’ve talked about his next step as a playmaker and a leader is to let the game come to him a little bit,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said. “They’re denying him everywhere. He’s getting used to that. … He made some good decisions and gave us an opportunity. We just couldn’t get any stops.”
Brownell raved about Okorie during Monday’s ACC media session.
“Their freshman guard, he’s incredible, just watching him on film,” said Brownell. “It’s been impressive to see his speed and change of direction. His poise for a freshman is uncanny. And obviously, they’ve got shooters around him, guys that can make shots. They’re big and strong.”
Stanford has struggled without senior forward Chisom Okpara, who is out for the rest of the season after absorbing a lower extremity injury in a loss to Virginia on Jan. 10.
Okpara has been replaced in the starting lineup by sophomore forward Donavin Young, who had 10 points and five rebounds against Florida State.
Stanford is returning home following a pair of losses, including one at Miami. Benny Gealer made nine total 3-pointers in the two defeats, while AJ Rohosy averaged 10.5 points.
–Field Level Media
