Photos by Emily Goad, Clemson Athletic Communications
Box Score
CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson University men’s basketball used a 51-point first half en route to a wire-to-wire 82-69 victory over Pittsburgh on Tuesday night in Littlejohn Coliseum.
The Tigers (12-8, 2-5 ACC) snapped a two-game skid in league play and had the help of three double-digit scorers in the process.
Marcquise Reed finished with 26 points, while Clyde Trapp turned in a career-best 16 and Shelton Mitchell posted 14 on a hot-shooting night. Mitchell had entered the game shooting 5-for-his-last-32 from 3-point range and finished a perfect 4-for-4 against Pitt.
Mitchell lead the team with five assists and Thomas led with three blocks.
Clemson raced out to a 22-5 lead in the first eight minutes of the contest and didn’t let off the gas pedal in the opening stanza. The Tigers built toward a game-high 29-point lead late in the first half and headed into the break with a 28-point advantage and were able to fend off the Panthers (12-9, 2-6 ACC) and hold on for the 13-point victory.
Javan White enjoyed his best outing as a Tiger after posting a season-high 10 points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes.
Trapp shot 4-for-8 from the field – all 3-pointers – and collected three rebounds and two steals.
Clemson returns to the court on Sunday, Feb. 3 when it hosts Wake Forest. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. from Littlejohn Coliseum.
Notes: Clemson snapped a two-game skid in league play with the victory … it marked the Tigers’ fifth-straight win over Pittsburgh in the all-time series – leading it 5-3 … Clemson improves to 24-3 (.888) over its last 27 games at home … Clemson’s 51 first half points tied for the most in the Brad Brownell Era … Clemson also scored 51 points against Coppin State on Dec. 4, 2016 … Clemson made a season-high 14 three-pointers – the first time reaching double-figures of threes made since hitting 10 against NC Central on Nov. 9, 2018 … 14 made 3-pointers has only been eclipsed once in the last 114 games for the Tigers dating back to Nov. 30 2015 at Minnesota (14 made threes) – Clemson made 15 against North Carolina last season (Jan. 30, 2018) … Brad Brownell won his 161st career game at Clemson making him 16 shy of tying Cliff Ellis (177) for the most all time … Marcquise Reed posted his 22nd 20-point outing of his career – leaving him four shy of tying Jim Sutherland (1964-67) for 10th all-time in program history … it was also Reed’s 58th double-digit scoring game at Clemson – leaving him 12 shy of tying Larry Nance (1977-81) and Butch Zatezalo (1967-70) for 16th all time … Reed remains 27th overall on Clemson’s all-time scoring list with 1,216 career points … Elijah Thomas posted three more blocks and now has 139 for his career … he now sits alone in sixth all-time in blocks per game (1.76) … Thomas collected six more rebounds and now has 538 for his career – just 66 shy of tying Horace Wyatt (1978-82) for 25th all-time in Clemson history … Clyde Trapp notched a career-best 16 points … Trapp also made a career-high four 3-pointers … Javan White notched season-highs in points (10) and rebounds (7) … White played a season-high 16 minutes.
