5 takeaways from Clemson basketball’s 77-71 upset win over Duke

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The Clemson Tigers and coach Brad Brownell have gotten pretty good at beating some of college basketball’s blue blood programs.

Clemson did it again Saturday night at Littlejohn Coliseum with a 77-71 victory over a Duke Blue Devils team that was playing for the top spot in Monday’s Top 25 polls after No. 1 Auburn went down earlier in the day.

In the past two seasons, Clemson has beaten Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina, in addition to their run to the Elite Eight a season ago that saw the Tigers beat past national champion programs Baylor and Arizona.

Viktor Lakhin, who played only 15 minutes in the Tigers’ loss to Georgia Tech earlier in the week due to foul trouble, led Clemson with 22 points on 9-of-12 shots and had three blocks and three offensive rebounds.

Here are five takeaways from Clemson basketball’s latest win over a college basketball power.

Clemson wasn’t intimidated by Duke

The Tigers weren’t overwhelmed by the second-ranked team in the nation. Why should they have been? Brad Brownell’s team had already taken Duke down to the wire last season at Cameron Indoor and lost at the last second (literally) on a controversial foul call on Josh Beadle that led to Tyrese Proctor hitting two foul shots for a one-point Blue Devils victory.

Clemson knew it could play with Duke — and any other top-ranked team in the nation after last year’s deep NCAA Tournament run — and never showed any signs of nerves. That’s a true testament to the program Brownell has built and the veteran experience of the Tigers’ roster.

Tigers’ interior defense bottles up Cooper Flagg

Clemson contained freshman sensation Cooper Flagg all night long. The 18-year-old Flagg, widely considered the best all-around player in college basketball and someone that Dick Vitale compared on the ESPN broadcast to NBA legends Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James when they were 18, never fully got going against the Tigers.

Viktor Lakhin and Ian Schieffelin both took Flagg out of rhythm. He had just four points in…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/5-takeaways-clemson-basketballs-77-184214665.html

Author : Clemson Wire

Publish date : 2025-02-09 18:42:00

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