The Clemson men’s basketball team upset the No. 23 Alabama Crimson Tide, defeating them by a score of 85-77 at the Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Tuesday night.

Despite a tall task of holding one of the best scoring teams in the country, the Tigers combined a great defense in key moments as well as a clutch 3-point shooting to improve to the best start of Brad Brownell’s career at 6-0.

This early streak is also Clemson’s best record since the 2008-09 season when they started 16-0.

The Tigers came out to an early lead to start the game, controlling by as much as eight points in the first half before a scoring drought brought the Tide back into the game. The team was unable to score a point over five minutes late in the first half, failing to make a field goal in over six minutes. The scoring drought allowed Alabama to bring the game to within one point at halftime when the Tigers entered the locker room up 33-32.

The game became a battle of runs heading into the second half as both teams began to catch fire. Alabama struck first, going on a 9-2 run to give the home team a seven-point lead at one point.

Just a few minutes later, the Tigers began a run of their own, going on a 16-3 run to return the seven-point lead to themselves.

Despite Alabama’s effort offensively, important 3-point shots from Clemson guards Chase Hunter and Joseph Girard III kept Clemson in the driver’s seat.

Center PJ Hall led the scoring for Clemson, pouring in 21 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Girard and Hunter contributed 16 and 15 points, respectively, in the Tigers’ statement win.

Clemson will be back in action on Sunday afternoon when it will travel to Pittsburgh to face the Pittsburgh Panthers in the Tigers’ first in-conference matchup of the season at 2:00 p.m.