After winning the Mountain West Tournament, No. 11 seed New Mexico entered Friday’s matchup against sixth-seeded Clemson as a popular pick to upset the Tigers in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64.

The Lobos (26-10) were a 2.5-point favorite going into the game against Clemson (22-11), which limped into March Madness after losing three of its previous four contests, including a lopsided defeat at the hands of Boston College in the ACC Tournament’s second round.

But Clemson completely flipped the script against what had been a red-hot New Mexico team. The Tigers controlled the game from the start en route to a 77-56 rout over the Lobos in the first round of the West Regional at FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn.

Although Clemson came in as an underdog according to betting lines, senior guard Chase Hunter says the Tigers weren’t paying much attention to that.

“We weren’t focused on any betting lines or anything like that. We were focused on winning our game, playing our game,” said Hunter, who shined with a game-high 21 points.

“We heard a lot of talk about that New Mexico was going to beat us, but we were just focused on us. We came out with some fire and intensity. They couldn’t handle it in the beginning. We kept it on them. We just kept our poise and our confidence. And we finished this game.”

Clemson dominated throughout, leading for all but 30 seconds of game time and leading by as many as 23 points in the second half.

Like Hunter, Clemson star big man PJ Hall said the Tigers didn’t worry a whole lot about being an underdog or trendy upset pick going into the game.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s not a whole lot of our focus right now,” said Hall, who posted 14 points. “Whenever we hear that outside noise — obviously we want to prove people wrong, but once you start focusing on the outside stuff that’s when you get astray from your game plan. You have to focus on your own agenda and your own style of play and just have some poise.”

After earning its first NCAA Tournament victory since the Sweet 16 run in 2018, Clemson will now face third-seeded Baylor in the second round on Sunday with another trip to the Sweet 16 at stake.