When the ACC Tournament bracket was finalized, many people probably assumed that we’d see Duke-UNC III on Friday. Well, Clemson had something to say about that.
The Tigers pulled ahead, 25-22 with 7:27 to play in the first half, and never looked back – until UNC rallied late.
Clemson was up 69-54 with 5:07 to play. The Tar Heels outscored the Tigers 25-11 over the last 4:55. That included 5 threes.
Clemson held on, but barely. Still, they did hold on and will play Duke on Friday. So what to expect?
Well, like Duke, they have a serious injury issue: Carter Welling blew out his knee in Clemson’s first tournament game.
In the Duke-Clemson game in Cameron last month, Welling played 21 minutes and got 12 points and 5 rebounds. Clemson shot 35% overall and 25% on threes.
Brad Brownell has done a really good job of identifying useful guards who are sometimes below the radar, guys Duke doesn’t really look at, and has pretty much gone toe-to-toe with the Blue Devils for years.
Most of that was against Mike Krzyzewski, of course. Since Jon Scheyer took over, Duke is 2-2 against Clemson. Brownell won the first game at Clemson, 72-64. Scheyer won the second game, at Duke, 72-71. Clemson won last year down there, 77-71, while Duke won this year, 67-54.
Duke is missing Pat Ngongba and Caleb Foster, of course, but still has a height advantage over the Tigers, and that might prove decisive. In Durham, Dame Sarr had a huge night defensively, and Clemson in general struggled shooting:
- Jake Wahlin – 2-7
- RJ Godfrey – 4-10
- Jestin Porter – 2-8
- Dillon Hunter – 1-4
- Ace Buckner – 3-12
Moving fast and shooting threes is a useful way to compete against a taller team, but Clemson shot just 25% there (6-24).
They shot better against Wake Forest on Wednesday, shooting 10-22 (45%) on threes and 22-50 (44%) overall. Against a much taller UNC team, the Tigers hit 9-19 (47%) on threes and 27-55 (49%) overall.
Also notable: Clemson grabbed 17 offensive rebounds against Wake, but just 3 against UNC.
There are a couple of other things to keep in mind for this game. First, Duke did not play particularly well for the entire game against Florida State. Our guess is they’ll play better overall on Friday.
And second, Clemson will be playing its third game in three days. It gets more challenging every day, and it’s not easy winning this tournament while playing four straight games.
That said, Duke did it in 2017 and Virginia Tech in 2022, and of course NC State ran the table in 2024, winning five games as a 10-seed.
Still, it just gets harder every game.
A couple of other things to keep in mind: first, Clemson is a very physical team. It’s not a dirty team, but they are quite physical. And second, consecutive wins over UNC and Duke would be a huge resume boost. Clemson is currently a 9-seed, according to Joe Lunardi, and over at CBS, it’s an 8-seed. A win on Friday would be a huge help.
All that said, Clemson gave up a big lead against UNC and nearly blew the game in what would have been an epic choke, and the Tigers are 3-5 over their last eight games. Wake Forest was an ideal opponent because they have no inside game. UNC was also a good opponent, because the starters are all essentially role players, and Hubert Davis is not a particularly gifted coach.
Duke will be favored, but as you can see, this will be an interesting game in several respects.
Go to the DBR Boards to find Blue Healer Auctions | Drop us a line
