Clemson will take as much momentum as it’s had all season into the ACC Tournament this week, but the Tigers know they have to cut down nets inside the Barclays Center if they want to get back to the NCAA Tournament.
Brad Brownell’s team ended the regular season on a four-game winning streak after taking down Virginia Tech on Saturday. It’s a much more positive place than the Tigers (16-15, 8-12 ACC) found themselves nearly three weeks ago when they had lost six straight games to drop to a season-worst three-games under .500 following another setback at Louisville on Feb. 19.
That was when leading scorer PJ Hall reaggravated his foot injury that sidelined him for two more games. But Hall and senior forward Hunter Tyson (broken clavicle) have since returned, putting Clemson as close to full strength as it’s been in a while needing to win five games in five days in Brooklyn to earn the ACC’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
“I think we feel pretty good,” Tyson said. “Just got to take it one day at a time and one practice at a time. Just keep the momentum rolling, keep playing together as a team, and I like our chances.”
Clemson’s winning streak, which is tied for its longest of the season, elevated the Tigers to the No. 10 seed, which earned them a first-round matchup Tuesday with the league’s last-place team during the regular season, North Carolina State. The Wolf Pack (11-20, 4-16) enter the postseason reeling with 10 losses in their last 11 games.
Clemson has already beaten N.C. State away from home once, winning 70-65 in the teams’ lone regular-season matchup. Tuesday’s 4:30 p.m. rematch will mark exactly two months since the Tigers won that game on Jan. 8 in Raleigh.
Should Clemson advance to Wednesday’s second round, the Tigers would get another rematch with the team it most recently beat. Virginia Tech, the tournament’s 7 seed, has a first-round bye and awaits the winner between Clemson and N.C. State.
If Clemson is still playing past the middle of the week, the Tigers would likely start running into some teams they have yet to beat this season. In that scenario, Notre Dame, which received a double bye as the No. 2 seed, would be awaiting Clemson in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The Fighting Irish swept the Tigers during the regular season, handling Clemson 72-56 back in January before notching a 76-61 victory inside Littlejohn Coliseum on Feb. 12.
But a win in the teams’ final meeting this season would move Clemson into Friday’s semifinals against, in all likelihood, North Carolina or Virginia (14th-seeded Georgia Tech and 11th-seeded Louisville are also on Clemson’s side of the tournament bracket). Clemson played UNC, which finished third in the regular-season standings, to a one-possession game in a home loss on Feb. 8, the teams’ lone meeting so far. The Tigers split their regular-season series with Virginia with the road team winning each time.
The semifinal winner from Clemson’s side of the bracket would likely meet top-seeded Duke, Miami or Wake Forest in Sunday’s championship game. Duke swept Clemson during the regular season, though the Tigers pushed Mike Krzyzewski’s team to the brink at Cameron Indoor Stadium in a two-point loss on Jan. 25.
Miami (4) and Wake Forest (5) will also be top-5 seeds in Brooklyn. Clemson lost by five to the Hurricanes on the road back on Dec. 4, but the Tigers beat Wake Forest by double digits at home in the teams’ lone meeting on Feb. 23.
“We’ve played a lot of good teams in this league very close,” Brownell said. “Just haven’t had as many wins as we’d like. But there are a lot of us that are all very similar. What team plays a little better that day? Does somebody get in foul trouble on the other team? It’s so close most of the way up.”
Boston College (13 seed), Pittsburgh (12), Syracuse (9) and Florida State (8) are also on the opposite side of the bracket as teams Clemson could potentially run into Sunday if the tournament doesn’t go chalk. Clemson is entering the postseason riding a wave of confidence as big as any of them.
“There are certainly a couple of teams that are a little more talented and have been more consistent, and a lot of those teams are the bye teams,” Brownell said. “But we’re good enough to win some games up there for sure.”
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