Clemson suffered a big setback in its push for ACC Tournament seeding, falling in a 69-62 upset to Notre Dame at Joyce Center Saturday night.
Clemson led 34-31 at halftime behind 16 points from PJ Hall. The senior wasn’t able to replicate his performance in the second half, though, and the Tigers (20-9 overall, 10-8 ACC) suffered a disappointing loss to a team it was reasonably expected to beat.
The Fighting Irish (12-17, 7-11) made 10 of 28 3-pointers compared to Clemson’s 5 of 28 from beyond the arc. Freshman Markus Burton led Notre Dame with 21 points, and Tae Davis finished with 18 points.
Hall finished with 21 points to lead the Tigers. Chauncey Wiggins started for Jack Clark, who was out due to illness. Wiggins had 12 points, and Joe Girard (11 points) and Ian Schieffelin (10 points) also finished in double figures.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Tigers and came after Wake Forest had dropped its second straight earlier in the day at Virginia Tech. A win Saturday would have done a lot to help Clemson in its quest for a double bye in the ACC Tournament. Now, the Tigers essentially have to win their final two regular-season contests to secure that goal.
Clemson fell to fifth in conference standings behind Syracuse (20-10, 11-8), who the Tigers will face Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum in a 7 p.m. tipoff. The game will be televised on ESPN2.