The Clemson basketball team secured their sixth straight victory on Saturday, defeating SMU 79-69, setting a new program record.
Clemson (22-5, 14-2 ACC) also extended its record for most road ACC wins to seven and matched a program milestone with its 14th conference victory
The Tigers shot 48% (14-29) from three-point range and 49% from the field in their victory. Their 14 made 3-pointers tied a season-high and eighth in program history, and their 24 assists marked the most since 2023.
Graduate guard Jaeden Zackery led the Tigers with a game-high 19 points, along with six rebounds, seven assists, five steals, and two blocks. He also set a career-high with five made 3-pointers, going 5-for-5 in the first half. Zackery’s performance was only the 12th of its kind since the 1996-1997 season in a Division 1 game.
Alongside Zackery, Chase Hunter posted 17 points, four assists, and two blocks, while his brother Dillon Hunter set a new career high with seven assists. With his 17 points, Chase passed K.C. Rivers on the all-time scoring list and now sits ninth in Clemson history with 1,688 points.
Viktor Lakhin added 16 points and six rebounds, despite battling foul trouble early on. Ian Schieffelin also reached double digits, scoring 10 points, along with five rebounds and three assists, helping to fuel the Tigers’ strong performance.
The Tigers started strong, jumping to a 23-12 lead, but SMU chipped away and closed the gap by halftime, trailing by just four points with the score at 36-32.
Clemson came out of the break with a 7-0 run and pushed their lead to a game-high 18 points in the second half. Junior forward Chauncey Wiggins added a spark off the bench, scoring all eight of his points in the final period.
With Lakhin in foul trouble early, graduate forward Myles Foster stepped up, playing 12 minutes and contributing four points and three rebounds.
Since 2017-19, Clemson is fourth in the ACC with 86 league victories.
With March approaching, head coach Brad Brownell shared his thoughts on the team’s experience heading into the month: “We have an older group that can deal with some adversity, that has battled a lot of different things, that has shown good poise and maturity with all the different things we’ve had to deal with and different styles of play.”
The Tigers will next host Notre Dame on February 26, with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m.
