Photos by Lawton Hilliard & Mary AlexanderClemson Athletic Communications
Box Score
CLEMSON, S.C. — Marcquise Reed turned in a career-high 30 points in Clemson University men’s basketball’s wire-to-wire victory over Georgia Tech on Wednesday night. The win was Clemson’s first of ACC play.
The Tigers (11-6, 1-3 ACC) got off to a 14-0 run in the opening five minutes of the contest and extended that to a 20-2 run with 12:42 left to play in the opening stanza. The Tigers endured a 10-0 run from the Yellow Jackets (10-7, 2-2 ACC) to close the half and take a 35-30 lead into halftime.
Reed posted his highest scoring first half of the season with 19 points in the first period.
Clemson greeted Georgia Tech with a 7-0 run to begin the second half and extended its lead to double figures yet again. The Tigers would lead by as many as 15 in the second half and the Yellow Jackets closed to within nine and eight on two occasions, but that’s as close as they would get.
Aside from Reed’s spectacular performance in the scoring column, the Tigers’ leading scorer grabbed six rebounds and posted four steals.
Shelton Mitchell turned in a season-high nine assists and zero turnovers. It marked the highest assist total of his career without committing a turnover. Mitchell tallied eight dimes without a turnover against Syracuse on Feb. 7, 2017.
Clemson was led on the glass by Elijah Thomas who grabbed nine boards – narrowly missing a double-double – and finishing with 11 points. Aamir Simms cracked double-digits with 10 and connected on two 3-pointers in the second half.
Clemson’s “Croatian Sensation”, David Skara, finished 3-for-5 from the floor, but an ultra-efficient 3-for-4 from behind the arc.
The Tigers return to the floor on Jan. 22 at Florida State. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPNU.
Notes: Clemson snapped a three-game skid to begin league play with the victory over Georgia Tech … Brad Brownell won his 160th career game at Clemson … Brownell is 17 wins shy of tying Cliff Ellis for the most all-time at Clemson … Brownell moves to 15-4 all-time against Georgia Tech and the Tigers improve to 46-16 overall against the Yellow Jackets in games played in Clemson … Clemson leads the all-time series 72-63 … the win marks the fourth in a row for the Tigers over the Yellow Jackets … the Tigers are 23-3 on their home floor dating back to last season … Marcquise Reed netted a career-high 30 points … it marked the first 30-point outing by a Tiger since Gabe DeVoe scored 31 against Kansas in the Sweet 16 last year (March 23, 2018) … it was the first Tiger 30-point effort in the newly renovated Littlejohn Coliseum and the first on a Littlejohn Coliseum floor in nearly five years with the last occurrence being K.J. McDaniels against Georgia State on March 19, 2014 … Reed became the 37th player to net 30 points in a game at Clemson and his performance became the 106th occurrence in program history … Reed finished 8-for-8 at the foul line and the all-time Clemson leader in free throw percentage sits eighth all-time in ACC history (.864) … Reed posted four steals and now has 135 for his Clemson career – just six shy of tying Bobby Conrad (1976-80) for 15th on the all-time list … Reed also cracked the top 30 scorers in Clemson history with his performance – he now has 1,158 points (29th all time) … Aamir Simms connected on multiple 3-pointers and scored in double-digits for the first time since Charleston Southern (Dec. 18) … Shelton Mitchell dished out a season-high nine assists … it marked the most assists in Mitchell’s career with zero turnovers … David Skara tied his career-high with three 3-point field goals … both Skara and Reed played the full 40 minutes against Georgia Tech – tied for the most minutes by a Tiger this season … with nine rebounds, Elijah Thomas now has 515 for his Clemson career – just 89 shy of cracking the top 25 in Clemson history.
