‘Big-time’ Clemson reaches 1st Elite 8 since 1980

LOS ANGELES — The crowd of Clemson fans that made the cross-country trip to Los Angeles for the West regional semifinals was outnumbered by the Arizona fans that filled the Crypto.com arena, but by the time the buzzer sounded and Clemson outlasted Arizona 77-72 to punch its first Elite 8 ticket since 1980, the patch of purple and orange on one side of the court was by far the loudest.

“Today was our day,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said postgame. “That was a big-time game by our guys.”

It was a de facto home game for the Wildcats, but Clemson’s propensity for fast starts once again put the Tigers in the driver’s seat early on. Arizona didn’t score for the first three minutes of the game and Clemson raced out to a 27-14 lead that quelled the opposing crowd. The Tigers will now face No. 4 seed Alabama in the next round with each program aiming to make its first Final Four.

“I said earlier to the team, we’ve played in more intense, harder environments than that,” senior center PJ Hall said. “We’ve had tougher road games, one at Chapel Hill, one at Alabama, one at an ice hockey rink in Canada against TCU. We’ve played in tough places coming into this game … we were calm.”

After taking down no. 3 Baylor in the Round of 32, Clemson once again surprised by stifling Arizona’s offense. At one point, the Wildcats were shooting 15 percent from the field and they finished an abysmal 5-of-28 from 3. To hear Brownell and Clemson’s players tell it, they were not intimidated by Arizona’s talent or pace of play, which they slowed to their liking for most of the game.

“I’ve got an older team. These guys have seen a lot, done a lot and experienced success,” Brownell said.

“We were calm,” added Hall. “That speaks to our veterans, too, a lot of older guys in the group. Staying calm and being able to withstand runs.”

Clemson’s experience was on full display. Not only did they limit the Wildcats to well below their scoring and shooting totals, but they were able to withstand the inevitable Arizona run that tied the game in the second half and, at one point, even gave the Wildcats a slim lead.

“We talked about it at halftime,” Brownell said. “‘Guys, they’re going to make another run or two. And we’ve used the phrase ‘we’re built for this, we can handle this.’ We have confidence in our team. We’ve won some big-time road games this year. We’ve played a very challenging schedule.”

With 10 minutes left in a tied game, the Tigers remained calm and stuck to their game plan on offense – attacking the paint – while switching to zone defense and letting Arizona shoot their way out of the game. Over those final 10 minutes, Clemson outscored Arizona 21-16 to cement the result: a spot in the Elite 8 for only the second time in school history.

Though Brownell said he considers his team to have more offensive players than defensive, the Tigers have now held every one of their three opponents in this tournament under 40 percent shooting from the field. Limiting Arizona’s offense – the third-highest scoring unit in the nation – to only 72 points was further proof that they have the ability to contend with anyone on any given night. Perhaps no one except for them expected them to get this far. But now that they’re here, their confidence is at an all-time high.

“I just think our guys have a lot of belief in each other, and I certainly have a lot of belief in my team,” Brownell said. “We’re playing good basketball right now. And anything can happen in these tournaments.”

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