Blossomgame scores 17 to lead Clemson past No. 9 Duke 68-63

Freshman Brandon Ingram scored 16 points for the Blue Devils, all but one in the first half. The win marked the fourth consecutive victory for the Tigers and improved the team’s record to 11-6 overall and 4-1 in the ACC.

Donte Grantham scored 16 points and Landry Nnoko had 12 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks for the Tigers.

Led by stingy defense and some impressive performances by Jaron Blossomgame, the Tigers pulled off those four straight victories to move to third in the ACC at the time of writing.

VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) – Kris Jenkins scored 20 points and Jalen Brunson had 14 to lead Villanova over Marquette.

Luckily for the Hurricanes, this season’s team will avoid having to play at the raucous Littlejohn Coliseum as Clemson’s permanent arena is undergoing a renovation. That season, the Tigers beat No. 9 Duke and No. 25 Georgia Tech in back to back games to conclude the ACC regular season.

Clemson: Blossomgame surpassed the 800-point mark for his career with his 17 points in the win over Louisville last Sunday….

“It was another big win for us”, Tigers coach Brad Brownell said. “Tonight we just hung in there and fought for it”, said a smiling head coach Brad Brownell. The shot caromed off the rim and into the hands of Avry Holmes, who was fouled and knocked down both free throws to seal it.

The Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Duke scored the next 10 as the Tigers missed five consecutive shots.

The Duke Blue Devils are 3-0 to start ACC play in the 2015-16 college basketball season and still only have two losses to their detriment on the year. “So it’s a while”, Krzyzewski said. “We’re not a great team. We’ve coached them a little better in that way”. They’re old and experienced and well coached. We held it together and we came back. “We always believe in each other”.

Forward Michael Carrera scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for SC (15-1, 2-1), which entered the game averaging 80 points per game but made only 35.8 percent of its shots and coughed up 18 turnovers that Alabama converted into 23 points. Another 3, this one from Jordan Roper, and a tip-in from Roper off of an offensive rebound in transition gave Clemson its largest second half lead at 62-55 with 3:14 left in the game.

“Losing (Jefferson) [caused] us to do more different things than probably any other guy we would’ve lost”, Krzyzewski said, per ESPN.com. “So I don’t think we came in here thinking we couldn’t win”. Your focus goes by the wayside. Up just one, Brownell told his guys to spread the court, and with Roper dribbling in front of him and the shot clock winding down, Brownell told his guard to “go attack”, and Roper drove the lane and dished to an open Blossomgame, who threw down a dunk that pushed Clemson’s lead back to three with 13 seconds remaining.

Clemson responded with a 7-0 run – including four free throws by Blossomgame – and Grantham brought the crowd to its feet with a runner off the glass. But he picked up his second and third fouls with 90 seconds left until the half. Grantham was 3-6 from three. Ingram is averaging 20.7 points and 36.1 minutes over the last nine games after averaging 10.9 points and 24.6 minutes in his first seven. Blossomgame followed with another 3 that gave Clemson its first lead since 5-2.

In an ugly 40-minute display, the 19th-ranked Gamecocks trailed by 15 points before the first half’s second TV timeout and never led in a loss in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Nnoko hit a layup on the other end that made it 64-61, but Allen continued a hot second half with a tip-in at the other end that made it 64-63 Tigers with 35 seconds to play. Their aggressive inside play also sent them to the line 13 times to Duke’s seven, and the Blue Devils missed on five of those attempts.

Krzyzewski said that the Tigers’ late first-half spurt reflected his teams’ lack of depth with Jefferson sidelined. They’ve been playing lights-out basketball. “That showed up. I thought that was the difference tonight”.

Nnoko said the Tigers are playing with a lot of confidence.