CLEMSON — Another year, another close win for Clemson at Pittsburgh.
The Tigers (12-3, 2-0 ACC) edged the Panthers by a 73-68 margin on Jan. 3 in the Petersen Events Center. It counts as Clemson’s 14th straight win over Pitt, but the series has been anything but lopsided on the scoreboard.
Last year, the Tigers just barely edged the Panthers, 78-75, on the road. Three years ago, Clemson escaped with a 75-74 victory.
This time, Pitt (7-8, 0-2) held a one-point lead, 35-34, at halftime. But a 21-point effort from Jestin Porter, including 13 of those in the second half, helped the Tigers stay ahead and earn back-to-back road wins to open conference play.
Key stats
Clemson finished 7-of-21 from 3-point range, but that included a 5-of-12 success rate in the second half. Porter was 3-of-6 shooting from deep in the final 20 minutes, while Butta Johnson hit both of his 3-point attempts.
The Tigers got in foul trouble early and the Panthers were 10-of-14 from the free throw line in the first half to just a 6-of-9 conversion rate for the visitors. But that flipped in the second half as Clemson got to the line to make 12-of-16 to Pitt’s 6-of-8.
Clemson’s largest lead the entire game was seven points, but the Tigers led for most of it. They had 25:59 of lead time to the Panthers’ 8:26.
Turning point
Pitt would take a lead, 56-53, with 9:10 remaining in the second half, but that’s when the transfer guards Porter and Johnson hit back.
Johnson and Porter hit back-to-back 3s to reclaim a 59-56 advantage. Porter hit another, which was followed by a three-point play from forward Carter Welling to make it 65-59.
A layup by Porter just under two minutes later — one of several finishes at the rim for the 6-foot-1 guard formerly of Middle Tennessee — was enough to subdue the Panthers.
Quotable
“This was a very competitive game. Just didn’t think we quite had it at the beginning. Credit to Pitt, I thought they played hard, played well, got some good, young talent. We talked about in a lot of huddles, ‘It’s a 12-minute game, it’s an eight-minute game, it’s a four-minute game.’ We knew it was going to go to the wire.” — Clemson coach Brad Brownell
Next game
After a two-game road swing to open ACC play, the Tigers will play four of their next five conference contests at home.
That stretch opens with SMU in a 9 p.m. tip on Jan. 7. The Mustangs were 11-2 heading into an ACC showdown with No. 12 North Carolina and ranked No. 28 in the NET.
Clemson beat SMU twice last season, but the Mustangs didn’t have lead guard Boopie Miller in the Tigers’ 10-point, regular-season win and it was just a three-point margin in the ACC tournament Miller is averaging nearly 20 points per game this season.