Clemson men’s basketball (15-4, 7-1 ACC) scored its third “Quad-One” win of the season on Saturday with a 78-75 overtime victory over the Pitt Panthers (12-6, 3-4 ACC) at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh.
Star guard Chase Hunter came up big for the Tigers in crunch time, nailing a stepback three-pointer from the left wing with 11.4 seconds to play in overtime. Clemson led 78-73 after the triple that effectively sealed the game.
“Obviously that’s a big-game shot,” Brownell said after the win. “It’s just a guy stepping up and making a play. [We] put the ball in his hands, and [trust him to] read the game, read the defense…He stepped back and made a big-time shot for three.”
Hunter finished the afternoon with 20 points on an efficient 6-for-11 from the field, including 5-of-9 from behind the three-point line.
However, he was far from the only Tiger to make a triple.
CU took a 10-point lead into halftime, making 10 of their first 16 attempts from deep, a 63% clip. Despite only connecting on four two-point shots, Clemson led 40-30.
Pitt fought back in the second half, though. A 22-4 run cut the lead to four at the 9:55 mark, highlighted by Panthers forward Cam Corhen aggressive play inside. Multiple times Corhen went straight at Clemson’s Ian Schieffelin, who is still nursing an injured back.
With Pitt taking a one-point lead with 5:43 to play, things looked bleak for Clemson. The offense had struggled to generate clean looks, and settled for shots from the perimeter on several occasions instead of driving inside.
The hot start from deep turned into a cold spell relatively quickly. Before Hunter’s aforementioned three in overtime, the Tigers had made just three of their ten attempts from behind the arc in the second half and overtime.
Despite playing with a big man like Ian Schieffelin, who finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists, Clemson’s game revolved around the perimeter for too large of a stretch in the second half. Once Pitt chased the Tigers off of the three-point line, things got tight.
Pitt featured a balanced offensive attack, with all five starters finishing in double figures. Senior guard Ishmael Leggett led the way with 18 points for Jeff Capel’s squad, who has now dropped four straight games in ACC play.
Up next for Clemson is a Wednesday night clash with the Syracuse Orange. After taking on Notre Dame on Saturday at the JMA Wireless Dome, second-year head coach Adrian Autry’s team will travel to the Palmetto State. Littlejohn Coliseum will host the conference matchup at 7:00 p.m. and the game will be televised on the ACC Network.
