Aamir Simms helps Tigers get back to their winning ways

Simms lets out a yell in the latter moments of the win over Louisville, (Photo courtesy ACC)

by Zachary Wagner - Correspondent - Fri Jan 29 14:01:03 GMT-04:00 2021

Aamir Simms poured in a team-high 16 points en route to helping the Clemson men’s basketball team snap its three-game losing streak on Wednesday, defeating the No. 25 Louisville Cardinals 54-50 inside of Littlejohn Coliseum. He missed a double-double by just one rebound with a final stat line of 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and one block.

“It’s definitely a breath of fresh air. I think over the last week and a half everyone in the country forgot how we play defense,” Simms said after the win.

The Virginia native shot 50% from the field on 12 shots and was perfect from the charity stripe. The senior showed a great deal of emotion in the opening minutes of the game, scoring five of the Tigers first nine points and assisting on another bucket. Simms finished the first half of play with seven points and three rebounds as Clemson headed to the locker room down one point, 22-21.

Even though the Tigers struggled from behind the three-point line (7-of-35), Simms knows that the Tigers can’t stop shooting the rock.

“If you’re not shooting good, you’re not supposed to stop shooting, because that's the moment you lose the game, mentally and physically," Simms said. "We just wanted to come into this game and focus on playing our game.”

At the eight-minute mark of the second half, with the game deadlocked at 34 apiece, Simms and his upper-class leadership really took over. Simms helped the Tigers go on a 9-3 run to open up the lead and force Louisville into running its offense from behind.

After struggling the last three games on the offensive side of the ball during the Tigers losing skid, Simms got back to why he was pegged as an All-ACC First Team selection. Simms is now averaging 12 points per game and hauling in 5.9 rebounds a game on the season. Both stats lead the Tigers.

Head coach Brad Brownell knows if the Tigers are to win, it’s going to be when No. 25 is playing his brand of basketball.

“I talked to him a little bit about it, and told him 'Hey man, you’re going to have to do more.' Sometimes he’s trying to lead and talk so much, but sometimes you have to lead by example," Brownell said. "Sometimes I think his energy needs to be focused more on going to play than trying to coach up the younger guys.”

Clemson (10-4) will be back in action this weekend when they travel to Durham, North Carolina to take on the Duke Blue Devils inside of Cameron Indoor Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 and will tip-off on Saturday at noon.