A look at Clemson basketball's schedule as Tigers make case for NCAA Tournament seeding
Crunch time is here for the Clemson basketball team.
A 40-point victory against Florida State on Wednesday night – the largest margin of victory ever for the program in an ACC game – was an impressive way to snap a three-game losing skid, but now the margin for error increases with each successive game.
“We’re still in it – we’re right there,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said following his team’s 94-54 demolition of the Seminoles. “We may be one game out (of first place). But we’ve got to continue to play well to keep us in it. It’s where you want to be. You want to be playing meaningful games in March, right?”
This has the potential to be the most meaningful March for the program since the Tigers’ Sweet 16 run in 2018. Clemson has five league games remaining, three of which will be on the road, beginning Saturday at Louisville, then there's the ACC Tournament that offers all teams a final shot at redemption the second week in March.
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Louisville? That should be an automatic win against a team that’s residing in the ACC basement with a 1-13 league mark, right?
Not so fast. League-leading Virginia, the highest-ranked ACC team at No. 7, was fortunate to escape Louisville with a three-point victory Wednesday night.
After that comes successive games against Syracuse, NC State and Virginia, which are three of the hottest teams in the conference. Syracuse has won three in a row, NC State has won nine of its last 11, and Virginia has won 11 of its last 12.
At 19-7 overall and 11-4 in the ACC, one might think Clemson should be a shoo-in for the NCAA Tournament. In the past, yes. But the Tigers continue to rank low in the NET ratings – 78th at last check – which is one of the factors considered when it comes time to judge postseason resumes.
It would be a shame for Clemson’s March Madness hopes to be derailed by a couple of November Nightmares – namely, losses to South Carolina and Loyola Chicago in a 10-day span. Those two teams rank 254th and 264th, respectively, in the NET, which qualifies both as damaging losses.
Clemson has righted the ship in impressive fashion since and with the exception of the recent slide that included not-so-good losses at Boston College and North Carolina, the Tigers would still appear to be sitting pretty as the regular season draws to a close.
“We’re still in a position to play for something special, but we need to have a good week,” Brownell said. “Now we’ve got to take it on the road.”
With three of the Tigers’ final five games away from Littlejohn Coliseum, challenges await, and no one realizes this more than junior forward PJ Hall.
“I don’t know what the standings are, but I know we’re not in first,” Hall said. “So there’s more work to be done.”
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton believes the Tigers have the wherewithal to reach their goal.
“We caught them on a night when they needed to win this game,” Hamilton said. “It was a perfect scenario for them – they couldn’t afford to lose four games in a row and try to go to the NCAA Tournament. They were playing for something more. They’re capable of doing some real good things in the NCAA Tournament.”
Scott Keepfer covers Clemson athletics for the USA TODAY Network.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson basketball schedule as Tigers pursue NCAA Tournament seed
