It’s on to the Elite Eight for the Clemson men’s basketball team, which will face Alabama in the NCAA Tournament Saturday in Los Angeles after the Tigers’ 77-72 victory over Arizona at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.
Clemson got 35 points combined from seniors Chase Hunter and PJ Hall, and they held Arizona to just 37 percent shooting from the field. Caleb Love, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, was held to 13 points.
The Tigers have now defeated a No. 3 seed and a No. 2 seed, in addition to their first-round tournament victory over Mountain West champion New Mexico.
Clemson will have a familiar opponent Saturday in No. 4 seed Alabama. The Tigers met the Crimson Tide back on November 28 in Tuscaloosa, an 85-77 victory in the ACC-SEC Challenge that was part of a 9-0 start to the season.
Alabama punched its ticket to the Elite Eight with an 89-87 come-from-behind win over No. 1 seed North Carolina.
Tipoff for Clemson-Alabama is scheduled for 8:49 p.m. EDT from Los Angeles. The game will be broadcast on TBS and truTV.
Clemson coach Brad Brownell and players met with reporters after Thursday’s win over Arizona. Here’s everything Brownell, Hunter, Hall and Ian Schieffelin said at the press conference.