CLEMSON, S.C. — So much for an Atlantic City hangover.

After dropping both of its games at the Legends Classic last weekend, the Michigan men’s basketball team roared into Clemson on Tuesday night and silenced the Tigers, besting the home team 69-61.

The game was part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, an event in which the Wolverines have not had much success recently, dropping their matchups in each of the past four seasons.

But Michigan (4-2) drew Clemson this year, a team it has beat twice now in three years.

The last memorable victory over the Tigers came when the two squads met in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. In that game, the Wolverines were a No. 10 seed but defeated the No. 7 seed Tigers, 62-59.

An underdog yet again, Michigan battled through a raucous atmosphere at Littlejohn Coliseum to prevail once more over Clemson. The Wolverines are now 4-0 all-time against the Tigers.

“It’s hard to win on the road,” Michigan coach John Beilein said after the game. “Everywhere (a game) is, it’s hard to win on the road. It does feel good. That’s the mark of the really good teams, the ones that can get up to 50 percent on the road.”

The Wolverines managed to quiet the 7,237 fans in attendance early on, as they led by as many as 20 in the first half and entered the break with a 16-point lead. Michigan shot 60 percent from the field in the first frame and held the Tigers to just 27.9-percent shooting.

But Clemson (5-2) came out with a renewed intensity in the second period and quickly cut the lead to eight with 11:17 left in the game. The Tigers took advantage of a stagnant Wolverine offense that could not find open shots and capitalized on several turnovers to cut the deficit.

With the crowd on their side and a young Michigan team appearing to fade with the pressure turned up, the Tigers were poised to send the Wolverines to another disappointing loss just four days after the Michigan dropped a tough game to then-No. 9 Syracuse.

It was Clemson, though, that appeared to be the jittery team for most of the game. The Tigers failed to capitalize on their momentum, missing shots or turning the ball over right as they were on the verge of going on a tear.

Michigan showed newfound nerves and continued to battle until finally coming away with the win.

“It’s just a testament to this team,” junior guard Zack Novak said. “We’ve got a whole new demeanor to us and a whole new toughness. It showed tonight.”

With the score at 45-37 in the Wolverines’ favor with 10:33 left in the game, redshirt freshman center Jordan Morgan’s three baskets led to an 8-2 Michigan run to reestablish a solid lead.

Novak’s back-to-back 3-pointers then gave the Wolverines a 59-41 lead with 5:07 remaining. But the Tigers refused to quit, reducing the deficit to as few as seven points with just over 15 seconds left. Michigan, though, hung on by making enough free throws once Clemson started fouling.

“It was almost good they got it down to eight,” Beilein said. “We could realize that we had to get it back up there and persevere through that. … (We) got just enough stops, because they are a good 3-point shooting team. We got just enough to keep (the coaches) nervous down the stretch.”

Freshman forward Evan Smotrycz headlined Michigan’s first-half surge, scoring 13 points before the break and ending the game with 18. He was nearly perfect, going 6-for-7 from the field and 2-for-2 from 3-point range.

Sophomore point guard Darius Morris was also a critical part of the team's success, as he was all over the court offensively and defensively. Morris finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and four steals in 39 minutes of play.

But it was the Wolverines’ tenacity that helped them come up big in Littlejohn Coliseum.

“You need every win that you get, (but) this was a big game for our confidence,” Novak said. “To win on the road, especially here (being) a tough place to play. They got a great crowd. It’s just, we fought.

“For such a young team, coming into this environment, to play as well as we did, it’s encouraging.”