Clemson Falls 68-59 at Georgia Tech
ATLANTA — The Clemson University men's basketball team came out on the losing end at Georgia Tech this evening. Aamir Simms scored 23 points, but Clemson fell to the Georgia Tech 68-59 at McCamish Pavilion on Tuesday.
The Tigers (14-13, 8-9) shot 41.4 percent from the field, and the Yellow Jackets (14-14, 8-9) made 47.3 percent of its shot attempts, including a 7-for-16 mark from 3-point range. The Tigers scored 18 points off of 17 Yellow Jacket turnovers, recorded 34 points in the paint and pulled down 31 rebounds.
Simms led all players with a game-high 23 points, 16 of which came in the first half. Overall, Simms went 10-for-16 from the floor, matching his career high for field goals made in a game, and tallied five boards, two assists and two blocks. Al-Amir Dawes registered 10 points and five rebounds to go along with his four assists and four steals, and Hunter Tyson contributed 10 points and four rebounds. Georgia Tech's Jose Alvarado finished with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
Dominating on both ends of the floor in the first half, Simms applied relentless defensive pressure and consistently sank contested layups. The big man scored the Tigers' final 10 points of the first half. Simms also set up a dunk by Tevin Mack with a nice pass early in the game.
However, Georgia Tech closed out the first half with a 14-4 run that spanned the final 5:19 of the period. The Yellow Jackets sported a 34-29 lead at the intermission and never trailed in the second half, garnering breathing room with a 7-0 run that put them ahead 56-46 with 6:33 remaining. From there, Georgia Tech staved off Clemson the rest of the way, winning 68-59.
After playing two games in a row on the road, Clemson will return home to Littlejohn Coliseum for a contest against No. 6 Florida State (24-4, 14-3) on Saturday, Feb. 29. Saturday's contest in Clemson, S.C., will begin at 2 p.m. and is scheduled to air on a regional sports network (RSN).
POSTGAME QUOTES
Clemson Head Coach Brad Brownell
Opening statement:
"We didn't play well enough to win tonight. A lot of that credit goes to Georgia Tech. They've got great players, and they're hard to cover. I thought we were soft offensively. I'm a little disappointed in us. We committed 16 turnovers against a team that wasn't really pressuring us. If you don't make a lot of threes, you can't overcome 16 turnovers."
On the keys to the game:
"We really came into the game in a good way. Georgia Tech was excited. They always have confidence in this building. It was back and forth for a while there, and, all of a sudden, we had a bunch of bad possessions, and it got away from us. Georgia Tech's one of the hardest teams to guard because they have good guards who play a bunch of one-on-one basketball. They've also got big strong guys to dump off to."