CLEMSON — Miami came into Saturday’s matchup with No. 22 Clemson boasting one of the best offensive units in the country. The Hurricanes were averaging 87 points per game and 82.3 points per night in their first four ACC games.

With Tre Donaldson running the show, and Malik Reneau dominating the paint, Miami appeared to be unstoppable. However, there is always something that can stop a good offense – a good defense.

The Tigers have that defense.

Clemson forced 12 steals and held the Hurricanes to 25-percent shooting (6-24) from 3-point range, in a 69-59 victory at Littlejohn Coliseum. The Hurricanes’ 59 points were a season low, nine points lower than their previous low.

“We were just active, aggressive,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “They have really good players. Donaldson is one of the better guards in the league, and I thought our pick-and-roll coverage was outstanding.”

Donaldson was averaging 16.9 points and 6.8 assists per game coming into Saturday’s matchup of ACC unbeatens. However, he was a non-factor against the Tigers, as he scored just five points, had two assists and turned the ball over three times.

Reneau, one of the league’s top scorers and rebounders, did not do much either. He scored just 11 points—nine points below his season average—and had just one rebound before fouling out with 7:05 to play. He was averaging 6.8 rebounds per game.

“Our guys were locked in. They competed. They fought over ball screens,” Brownell said. “I thought we had pretty good communication throughout and played just very connected on the defensive end.”

This is not a new thing for Clemson. Brownell teams have always been good on the defensive side of the court. The Tigers are one of the best defensive teams in the country and lead the ACC in points allowed.

Saturday was not the first time Clemson shutdown a good offensive team. The Tigers held No. 10 BYU to 67 points.  SMU, one of the highest scoring teams in the country, scored just 70 points, 21 points below their average.

SMU is just one of four teams to score 70 or more points on the Tigers through 19 games. During the Tigers’ nine-game win streak, eight teams failed to produce more than 68 points and seven of those scored 65 or fewer points.

Clemson (16-3, 6-0 ACC) now produced back-to-back games where its opponents failed to score 60 points. The Tigers held Boston College to 50 points last Tuesday night.

But with nine new players on the team, most from the transfer portal, no one expected the Tigers to be this good on defense, especially this early in the ACC season.

“I thought we would play the way we are playing for the most part, maybe more aggressively picking guys up,” Brownell said. “Without Zak (Foster), now it has shortened our bench just a little bit in different ways.

“I do think this team was willing to learn and wanted to learn and grow. You hope through the course of a year you get better and I think that is what has happened.”