Tigers earn No. 3 seed in ACC Tournament with emphatic win over Notre Dame

PJ Hall joined the 1,000-point club in the win.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Mar 04 21:58:03 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – The No. 3 seed it is, and it was earned in an emphatic fashion.

Clemson came out firing on all cylinders and gave Notre Dame an early double-digit deficit, then kept the foot on the gas and buried the Irish 87-64 on Senior Night Saturday night in Littlejohn Coliseum, the regular season finale.

Clemson’s win, combined with Pitt’s loss to Miami, gives Clemson the No. 3 seed and a double-bye in next week’s ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum. The win, the 1400th in program history, marks the first time Clemson has finished as a three-seed or higher since the 2007-08 season. Clemson made the finals and lost to UNC that year.

Notre Dame falls to 11-20 overall and 3-17 in ACC play. Clemson finishes the regular season with a 22-9 overall mark and a 14-6 record in ACC play. The 14-6 record is a .700 winning percentage, the third-best conference winning percentage in school history, just behind the 10-4 teams of 1986-87 and 1989-90 that had .714 winning percentages.

The tournament starts Tuesday, and Clemson will face either the winner of the Virginia Tech/Notre Dame game or NC State Thursday at 9:30 pm (approximately).

Five Tigers scored in double figures – Ian Schieffelin and Hunter Tyson scored 16 apiece, with Tyson recording 13 rebounds for another double-double. PJ Hall added 15 for 1000 points in his career, Chase Hunter scored 14 with seven assists, and Brevin Galloway chipped in 13.

Clemson out-rebounded the Irish 45-31 and shot 13-29 from beyond the arc.

Brevin Galloway and Hunter Tyson hit early 3-pointers for a quick 6-0 lead in the first half, and Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey (in his last appearance as Notre Dame head coach at Littlejohn), called a 30-second timeout just three minutes into the contest with the Irish trailing 8-2.

The timeout didn’t help as Galloway, Tyson, and Chase Hunter all hit 3-pointers that pushed the Clemson advantage to 20-3 with 13:02 to play in the half. The Tigers led by 19 twice in the half, the second on a wide-open trey from Ian Schieffelin to give Clemson a 31-12 lead at the 7:52 mark. Brey called his second timeout of the half, but the Tigers kept up the pressure and after Ben Middlebrooks hit two free throws with 3:48 to play in the half Clemson held its biggest advantage at 40-18.

The Tigers led 48-29 at intermission.

Galloway hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring in the second half and Notre Dame never recovered. The Irish would make a small run but could never capitalize as the Tigers never went into any extended offensive funk.

When Hall made a free throw with 6:02 to play (to complete a 3-point play), it gave the Tigers their largest lead of the night at 27 (78-51). The points allowed Hall to join the 1000-point club (points scored) for the Tigers. Hall was taken off the court to a huge ovation and hugged by head coach Brad Brownell.