Blake Wesley scored 21 points as Notre Dame rolled past host Clemson 76-61 Saturday night in an Atlantic Coast Conference game.
The victory was the eighth in nine games for the Fighting Irish (18-7, 11-3 ACC), who remained tied with Duke atop the league standings. Notre Dame, which is off to its best start in ACC play since joining the league in 2013, improved to 6-2 this season in ACC road games.
Clemson (12-13, 4-10), which was playing its third game in five days, has lost eight of 10.
The Tigers were missing two starters — Hunter Tyson, who is out indefinitely with a broken collarbone, and David Collins, who was serving a one-game suspension after committing a flagrant foul against Duke’s Wendell Moore on Thursday night.
Wesley made 7-of-12 shots from the floor, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range. The freshman jumpstarted the Fighting Irish by scoring 18 points on perfect 6-of-6 shooting in the game’s first 10 minutes. He helped push Notre Dame to a 17-point lead, 28-11, midway through the opening half.
Clemson’s PJ Hall scored 10 points in the first half to help the Tigers close to within 10 points, 38-28, at the half.
Clemson cut Notre Dame’s lead to seven points on two occasions in the second half, the last time at 57-50 with 8:25 remaining, but the Fighting Irish went on a 15-5 run to regain control.
Notre Dame also got 20 points from Dane Goodwin, who made 8-of-13 shots, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Goodwin has scored 41 points and made 16-of-23 shots in two games against Clemson this season.
The Irish made 13-of-24 (54.2 percent) from beyond the arc Saturday night and their 13 threes were the most allowed in a game by Clemson this season.
Hall led Clemson with 19 points — his 24th consecutive game in double figures — while Nick Honor scored 12 and Naz Bohannon added 10. But Clemson made only 5-of-18 from 3-point range.
–Field Level Media
