BERKELEY, Calif. – Clemson University men’s basketball used multiple key runs to dominate the scoring column and win 77-55 on the road at California on Saturday night to clinch its 10th ACC victory of the season. Clemson became just the third team to sweep Stanford and California on its west coast swing (Wake Forest last season and Duke this season).
The Tigers (20-4, 10-1 ACC) held the Golden Bears without a field goal from the 15:21 mark in the opening stanza to the 2:41 mark – 12:40 without a field goal. For the game, Clemson held Cal to just 1-for-10 shooting from three for the remaining 35:31 after starting 3-for-3.
For the game, Clemson forced Cal into 29 missed field goal attempts while allowing just four offensive rebounds, but zero second chance points.
RJ Godfrey (Suwanee, Ga./North Gwinnett/Georgia) led the way for the Tigers, totaling 13 points, five rebounds, one block and one steal.
Carter Welling (Draper, Utah/Corner Canyon/Utah Valley), Jake Wahlin (Provo, Utah/Timpview/Utah), and Ace Buckner (Dallas, Texas/La Lumiere School (Ind.) scored a combined 35 points for the Tigers in the 24-point victory.
Dallas Thomas (Little Rock, Ark./Parkview Magnet) reached a career-high of eight points in the win, finishing 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from three.
Clemson trailed 13-9 at the first media timeout of the opening period but would engineer a 20-1 run and finish the first half leading 39-20 at the break.
Clemson saw nine different players record a basket and shot an impressive 55.1% from the field, including 46.6 percent from three. The Tigers recorded seven steals and five blocked shots.
The Tigers were averaging 31.1 bench points per game and improved that margin on Saturday as the bench turned in 35 of the team's total 77.
Clemson pushed its lead to a game-high 24 points with 5:59 left in regulation before coasting to the 22-point victory.
The Tigers return to the court on Wednesday, Feb. 11 when they host Virginia Tech at 7 p.m. on ACCN.
