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
Notre Dame | Clemson | |
Blake Wesley 21 | Scoring | PJ Hall 19 |
Paul Atkinson Jr. 4 | Assists | Chase Hunter 3 |
Dane Goodwin 6 | Rebounds | Ian Schieffelin 9 |
Blake Wesley 2 | Free Throws Made | Nick Honor 2 |
Cormac Ryan 2 | Steals | Ian Schieffelin 2 |
Matt Zona 1 | Blocks | PJ Hall 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Notre Dame | 76 | 52.7 | 13-24 | 5-10 | 16 | 31 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
Clemson | 61 | 42.6 | 5-18 | 4-5 | 10 | 28 | 1 | 5 | 5 |