Clemson Tigers Secure Major Road Win Against Virginia Tech Hokies

The Clemson Tigers started strong and shot 60 percent from the field in the first half as the Tigers beat the Hokies, 72-57. They did this without the play of Chase Hunter in the first half. Hunter had an undisclosed illness.

Without Hunter, freshman Del Jones stepped up with a career-high 13 points while Chauncey Wiggins tied a season-high with 16.

The Tigers (17-4 overall, 9-1 ACC) also got 11 apiece from Viktor Lakhin and Jaeden Zackery.

Backup guard Jake Heidbreder and Wiggins connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to stake Clemson to a 12-6 lead early. VIrginia Tech's first half shooting was futile as the Hokies went almost six minutes without scoring a field goal from the first whistle.

Wiggins had 10 points at the break as the Tigers took a 41-29 lead into the locker room. The Hokies’ shooting woes continued in the first half as they missed their last nine shots. Clemson then went on a 17-3 run to put the game out of reach. During the run, the Tigers connected on 5-of-11 from downtown.

The Hokies cut the lead to single digits with a 9-0 run that made it 49-43 and forced Tigers' coach Brad Brownell to call a timeout.

Clemson almost gave the game away as they had missed 10 of its last 11 shots at that point in time and only convered three of 13 field goals when the play resumed after the break.

Jones was torching the net in the second half and scored six straight points for the Tigers. He hit a pair of jumpers which gave Clemson an insurmountale 15 point advantage with under three minutes to play.

The Tigers finished the night shooting 48 percent from the field. They also scored big in the paint with 36 points, while only surrendering 20 to the Hokies.

Clemson will play next Saturday in Raleigh against N.C. State at 1:30 ET.