CLEMSON, S.C. _ No. 19 Clemson had about 40 hours to prepare for No. 18 Miami after suffering a heartbreaking loss at N.C. State on Thursday night.
So what did Clemson do to get ready for the Hurricanes on a short turnaround?
"We didn't do anything," Tigers coach Brad Brownell said.
The strategy worked.
Clemson knocked down 12 3-pointers on its way to a 72-63 win against the Hurricanes (13-3, 2-2 ACC). The victory improves the Tigers to 15-2 (4-1).
"We didn't shoot one free throw. We didn't shoot one shot. We didn't do anything. We got them off their feet away from basketball," Brownell said of Friday. "That was the most important thing, to have the energy to compete against a very good Miami team."
Tigers guard Gabe DeVoe, who missed a free throw in the final second against N.C. State that would have sent the game to overtime, knocked down a 3-pointer on Clemson's first possession of the game after Brownell drew up a play for him, quickly getting the bad taste from Thursday night out of his mouth.
The first half went back and forth with Miami leading by as many as seven before the Tigers fought back to take a 34-30 lead into halftime.
Clemson jumped out to a 42-35 lead in the second half, then went through a dry spell, managing only two points during a seven-minute stretch before Mark Donnal got the offense back on track.
With the score tied at 44, Donnal hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Clemson a 50-44 lead. The Tigers led the rest of the way.
"It's something that I do in practice all the time," Donnal said. "All the guys know I can shoot, and I have the capability to do that on any given day, so it's just about my teammates finding me and being in the right position at the right time."
The Tigers pulled ahead by eight with six minutes remaining before Miami crawled its way back, getting as close as 58-56 at the 2:44 mark.
But Clemson ended the game on a 14-7 run, with Marcquise Reed and Donte Grantham knocking down 3-pointers during the closing stretch.
"A fantastic finish by our guys today," Brownell said. "We showed a lot of heart and toughness and grit in this game. I thought we were battling a little bit of mental and physical fatigue at times ... Certainly, the score isn't indicative of the way the game was played. It was tough."
Grantham led the Tigers with 18 points, while Reed added 16 and seven rebounds.
Anthony Lawrence and Lonnie Walker each scored 16 points for the Hurricanes.
