Minnesota runs past Clemson 78-60

Marcus Carr scored a career-high 24 points, Daniel Oturu chipped in 21 and Minnesota pulled away from Clemson to win the teams’ ACC/Big Ten Challenge game on Monday night.

The Tigers were still within reach at halftime, down by just six, but the Gophers opened the second half on a 13-3 run to stretch their lead to 16. They kept Clemson at arm’s length from there, as the Tigers were never able to cut the deficit to fewer than 12 points.

Normally stingy defensively, the Tigers were unable to slow down Minnesota’s offense. Carr was able to get to the basket and free-throw line at will, and the Tigers were simply over-matched trying to defend Oturu in the post. The few times Clemson was able to combat those two, Gabe Kalscheur was seemingly always there to knock down a 3-pointer.

Things weren’t much better at the offensive end for the Tigers, where they shot 46% and made just 2 of 11 three-point attempts. Typical contributors Tevin Mack, John Newman and Al-Amir Dawes combined for just 11 points.

Aamir Simms’ 11 points weren’t nearly enough to give Clemson the offensive pop it needed to win the game.

Oddly enough, Clemson got better-than-usual secondary scoring in the game. Hunter Tyson bounced back from a rough stint in Vegas with 12 points and five rebounds, while Khavon Moore and Curran Scott chipped in 10 points apiece. The Tigers’ core, however, picked a bad night to have a bad night.

Clemson travels to Florida State on Sunday afternoon to face the red-hot Seminoles.