With California trying to get back into the game after trailing by 22 points in the second half, No. 20 Clemson gave the basketball to R.J. Godfrey.

The Bears had no answer for Clemson’s big man, who scored seven straight points while extending the Tigers’ lead back to 22 points, as they rolled to a 77-55 victory at the Haas Pavilion in Berkely, California. Clemson led by as many as 24 points in the second half.

Godfrey finished with a team-high 13 points on 6 of 8 shooting and had five rebounds. Guard Ace Buckner came off the bench to also score 13 points to go along with four assists. Jake Wahlin added 11 points and six rebounds. Carter Welling also scored 11 points.

In all, nine Tigers scored in the road win. Clemson has now won 14 of its last 15 games.

“I think one of the keys in beating a good Cal team is you have to keep them out of transition,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said on the Clemson Athletic Network after the game. “In order to help keep them out of transition, you have to run a good offense and you have to make shots.”

Clemson connected on 55-percent of their shots overall and were 12 of 26 (46 percent) from behind the arc.

“Today we made 12 threes. We are pretty good when we make 12 threes, so that helped keep them in the halfcourt. Then again, our defense was outstanding.” Brownell said.

ROAD WARRIORS

With the win, Clemson (20-4, 10-1 ACC) won its 14th consecutive road game in ACC play. It is now tied for the second longest streak in ACC history, tying Duke’s 1962-64 teams.

The ACC record is 24 straight, also by Duke from 1998-’01, making Clemson’s ACC road winning streak the longest in the conference in the last 25 years.

The 14-game ACC road streak is currently the longest active streak in the country by any team in conference play.

The Tigers’ next road game is at Duke next Saturday.

FIRST PLACE

Coupled with Duke’s loss at North Carolina on Saturday, Clemson’s win over Cal moves the Tigers into a tie for first place in the ACC with the fourth-ranked Blue Devils (21-2, 10-1 ACC).

ONE OF THREE

Since Cal and Stanford joined the ACC in 2024-’25, 14 teams have traveled to California to play the two newest ACC members. Thanks to Saturday’s win over Cal, coupled with Wednesday’s win at Stanford, the Tigers are just the third team to sweep the California teams in the week long trip.

Clemson joins Wake Forest, who did it last year, and Duke, who did it earlier this season. The Tigers have been in California since Monday.

20-WIN SEASONS

Clemson has now posted a fourth consecutive 20-win season, one shy of the school record of five straight from 2006-’07 to 2010-’11.

Brownell, who is already the winningest coach in Clemson history, tied Oliver Purnell’s record of four consecutive 20-win seasons at Clemson. Purnell had four straight 20-win seasons from 2006-’07 to 2009-’10.

WHAT A RUN

Clemson used a 23-3 run over a 10:54 period in the first half to grab control of the game.

Cal (17-7, 5-6 ACC) opened the game by making its first three 3-pointers, including Justin Pippen’s with 15:21 to play that gave the Bears a 13-9 lead. That was their last field goal until Dai Ames made a layup with 2:41 to go in the half. It was a 12 minute and 40 second stretch between field goals.

“That was a testament to our defense,” Godfrey said after the game on ACCN. “When you make big plays on defense, that kind of carries over to offense. You have that confidence and that energy.

“I think we just had that savvy, that confidence on defense and it carried over to offense.”

While Cal went cold, Clemson heated up.

The Tigers outscored the Bears 30-7 over the last 15:21. They made 59 percent of their shots, including 6 of 13 (46 percent) from deep. They also made 7 of 8 free throws.

Nine Tigers scored in the first half, while Cal made just six field goals.

BENCH WAS DOMINANT, AGAIN

Clemson’s bench continues to play well. The Tigers outscored Cal 20-0 off the bench in the first half.

To put that into perspective. The Bears scored just 20 first-half points as a team.

The Tigers led 39-20 at the break.

Clemson finished the game with a 35-5 advantage in bench points.

VERY DEFENSIVE

Cal came into Saturday’s game as one of the ACC’s best scoring teams and best 3-point shooting teams. The Bears won four of their last five prior to Saturday, while scoring 80 or more points in each of those games.

The Bears finished the first half shooting just 24 percent from the field overall, and were just 3 of 8 from downtown. The Tigers also forced nine first half turnovers, including seven during their 20-1 run.

Cal scored just 20 first half points.

“We got off to a slow start, so I got after them on that first media timeout,” Brownell said. “I was really disappointed, because I thought we had some good things setup defensively, but we were not doing what we practiced.

“But guys got alert real quick and the last 15 minutes, defensively, was elite.”

Though Pippen scored a game-high 19 points and Chris Bell added 13, the Bears shot just 40 percent from the field overall and were just 4 of 13 (31 percent) from long range. In the last 35:21 of the game, Cal connected on just 1 of 10 shots from 3-point range. They came into Saturday shooting 38 percent from downtown, which ranked second in the ACC.

In the previous five games, the Bears made 44 percent of their 3-pointers.

FOUL TROUBLE

Clemson point guards Dillon Hunter and Ace Buckner picked up three fouls each before the 16-minute media timeout in the second half.

Buckner had eight points and four assists before picking up his third foul, while playing 17 minutes. Obviously, he played 15 of those in the first half, because Hunter picked up two fouls before the first media timeout in the first half.

Hunter played just five minutes in the first half.

Buckner picked up one more foul and played 22 minutes overall, while Hunter did not foul again and played 15 minutes overall.

UP NEXT

Clemson will return home on Wednesday to host Virginia Tech. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. (ACCN)