Hall says topping Duke 'felt good' before raucous Littlejohn crowd

PJ Hall scored a season-high 26 points as the Tigers improved to 7-0 in ACC play with a win over Duke. (Photo: Ken Ruinard / USATODAY)

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Sun Jan 15 07:00:05 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON - Clemson men’s basketball captured a ranked win Saturday in a game that went back and forth throughout. After losing to Duke last season, 82-64 at home, Clemson got their revenge, winning 72-64 against No. 21-ranked Duke. Junior center PJ Hall led the charge with a season-high 26 points in his nearly 27 minutes in the game.

“We got our tails handed to us last year,” Hall said. “We got kind of beat in the dirt a little bit. We got, in our own arena, people chanting ‘Let’s go Duke.’ So, it felt pretty good to have this place packed out and throw it back in their face. So, it felt good.”

With Duke severely limiting Clemson star player and sixth-year forward Hunter Tyson to just seven points, other players like Hall got the opportunity to step up. Boston College graduate transfer guard Brevin Galloway also played a significant role in their win Saturday. He scored a total of 17 points, including a three-pointer to give Clemson a 56-54 lead with 6:15 left in the game. Galloway may have only made 50% of his free throws and 33.3% of his three-point shots, but that doesn’t bother him.

“I really don’t care about the miss,” Galloway said. “That’s how I’ve been my whole career since I was a kid. I’m going to shoot it whenever I get the chance to. I feel like that’s just what I do. I feel like if I don’t do it, I feel like I’m harming the team.”

After how Duke played Saturday, it serves to reason that they care about the misses, particularly in the second half. While Clemson played well offensively and defensively, there was a drop in their performance from the first to the second half. In the first half, they were shooting 46.7% on field goals and 37.5% on three-point attempts. In the second half, however, they were shooting 30.3% on field goals and missed all 12 of their three-point attempts.

Clemson received 45 votes in the las Associated Press poll released. After beating Duke and getting an even bigger lead in the ACC, the Tigers are sure to be ranked following this game. However, despite now being the hunted and a ranked team, Hall and the team are not taking a different approach to their games.

“It (doesn’t) even matter,” Hall said. “We just keep our heads down, keep working, keep winning games.”

Their next game will be against Wake Forest, who currently has a 5-2 record in the conference, including a 77-57 loss delivered by the Tigers earlier in the season. However, the Demon Deacons are still doing very well with a 13-5 record overall. This game will be an away game for Clemson, before returning home to face Virginia Tech next Saturday. The Hokies are 11-6 overall, but have only one win in the conference so far this season. Clemson also beat Virginia Tech earlier in the season in a close game, 68-65. In that game, both Tyson and Hall had a total of 13 points while junior guard Chase Hunter scored 12, Galloway scored 11, and freshman RJ Godfrey scored 10 points.