KU coach Bill Self praises Clemson's 'impressive' performance in rout of Auburn
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self watched with interest as Clemson, the Jayhawks’ next foe in the NCAA Tournament, clobbered Auburn 84-53 on Sunday in a second-round Midwest Regional contest in San Diego.
“That was probably as impressive of a performance as anyone has had in the tournament so far, and there have been some great performances,” Self said after a game in which Clemson led 43-19 at halftime — quite lopsided considering the Tigers entered as a No. 5 seed and Auburn's Tigers were No. 4.
“They dominated Auburn in every area — perimeter play, speed, rebounding and in the paint. Watching them today (on TV) was like watching a clinic. We’ll have a good book on them in the next 24 hours or so.”
Senior guard Gabe DeVoe scored 22 points and junior forward Elijah Thomas had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Clemson, which closed the first half on a 25-4 run. Junior guard Marcquise Reed contributed 16 points and junior guard Shelton Mitchell scored 10 for Clemson.
“They are so well-coached and sound,” Self said of the Tigers (25-9). “Playing in the ACC they’ve played against some unbelievable teams all year long. This will be a difficult game, a game that will require us to play a lot better than we did this past weekend.”
No. 1 seed KU defeated No. 16 seed Penn 76-60 and No. 8 Seton Hall 83-79 in first- and second-round games Thursday and Saturday in Wichita.
Clemson, which will meet KU at 6:07 p.m. Friday in Omaha, Neb., is in the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in school history and the first since 1997. This year’s run was unexpected as the Tigers were picked to finish 13th in the ACC preseason poll. KU has reached the Elite Eight the last two seasons. The winner of the Clemson-KU game will meet either No. 2 seed Duke or No. 11 seed Syracuse on Sunday for a spot in the Final Four.
“Bill Self is one of the best in the business,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell told Live5News.com of Charleston, S.C., after Sunday’s rout of Auburn. “They have a tremendous team again, won the Big 12, are playing great. We’re going to enjoy this tonight (and) worry about Kansas tomorrow.”
KU coach Self provided the team’s basic itinerary for the upcoming week.
“We’ll meet on Monday and have a light workout, (then) practice hard Tuesday, practice Wednesday and then after practice, bus up to Omaha. We’ll practice Thursday in Omaha and be ready to play Friday,” Self said Sunday night in a release.
This story was originally published March 18, 2018 at 10:14 PM with the headline "KU coach Bill Self praises Clemson's 'impressive' performance in rout of Auburn."