Clemson crushes Auburn, dances into NCAA tournament Sweet 16

Clemson’s game plan was simple and its execution sublime.

The Tigers looked to force perimeter-oriented Auburn off the three-point line and go from there, and it took them the way to Omaha, Neb., for the ACC-infused NCAA Midwest Regional.

No. 20 Clemson used its dominant defense and Gabe DeVoe’s 22 points and six 3-pointers to roll past No. 16 Auburn 84-53 in an NCAA tournament game here Sunday, in the process tying the school season record with 25 victories while advancing to its first Sweet Sixteen since 1997.

Clemson held Auburn without a field goal for 11 minutes, 17 seconds, including the final 10:33 of the first half, and used a 28-4 run to take complete control for its biggest margin of victory in an NCAA tournament game.

“I’ve never seen it that way, but it happened at the right time,” senior DeVoe said of the spurt.

“Early on, it was a close game. We smelled a little blood and kept our foot on the gas. When shots are not going in, it affects your defense, and you just feel that. You want to show up on the biggest stages, and and so far we’ve been able to do that.”

Auburn had season-lows in points and in shooting percentage, 25.8.

Clemson will play No. 1 seed Kansas on Friday in a regional that also includes second-seeded Duke and upstart play-in winner Syracuse, the last at-large team selected to the tournament.

Marcquise Reed hit a 6-footer in the lane to break a tie at 13 with 11 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half before DeVoe hit the first of his threes for an 18-13 lead.

That turned out to be the trigger point.

After Auburn’s Jared Harper hit a jumper on the next possession, Clemson clamped down. Auburn missed its final 18 field goal attempts on the first half, its only points in the final 10:33 coming on four free throws.

When tried the Auburn interior, senior forward Elijah Thomas and freshman forward Aamir Simms were there to seal the paint. Thomas and Simms had two blocked shots apiece in a 3 1/2-minute span, one apiece when the same shooter recovered the first shot and tried another shot.

Reed, Thomas, Simms and Shelton Mitchell also had steals in that stretch as the lead grew to 35-15, 39-17 and finally 43-19 at half.

“I think it’s a statement game,” Reed said. “I think it showed how hard we could compete defensively.”

Thomas had 18 points and 11 rebounds and Reed had 16 and seven, and Thomas said he could see this coming.

“It all starts with film,” Thomas said. “We don’t wait until we get to the arena to feel like we can impose our will. We feel like we can impose our will when we watch film.

“Their whole team is full of guys who can shoot the stretch three. We just wanted to play defense. If we could force them to shoot contested twos and get to the layups, we had a chance to defend the rim and we had a chance to win a game.”

Auburn main weapons, guards Bruce Brown, Jarred Harper and Mustapha Heron, were 9-of-35 from the field. Averaging 46 points a game combined, they had 29.

“I thought this team could be really good,” coach Brad Brownell said. “They way we played out here was at an extremely high level.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2018 at 9:16 PM with the headline "Clemson crushes Auburn, dances into NCAA tournament Sweet 16."