Brad Brownell and the Clemson men’s basketball team has had a rough go at it through the month of January starting out with a 87-68 loss to previously No. 1 ranked Duke, plus a 20-point loss to Virginia and a buzzer-beater loss to NC State.
The Tigers needed a boost to begin to get some wins, and they got it this past week with two straight ACC wins, the first coming on Tuesday night with a 82-69 win over Pittsburgh. Clemson then defeated Wake Forest on Sunday afternoon in a 64-37 rout.
Eli Thomas had a career day against Wake, scoring 23 points and seven blocks, and going 10 of 11 from the field. Clemson was able to play 12 different guys in the win, as the Tigers earned a momentum-boosting win with two straight wins in ACC play, which is important if the Tigers are going to make a bid for postseason play as the month of February rolls on.
“I think we’ve had high expectations for ourselves throughout the preseason and the ending of last season, and I think, as a team, our whole program, we just have to fully commit ourselves to committing to the things we set out to reach this year, and I think once we fully commit and we pay more attention to the details as a team defensively, we’ll get to where we want to be,” said Thomas.
Thursday night update (11 p.m.): Clemson defeated Georgia Tech on Wednesday to win their third straight ACC contest.
Virginia Tech comes to Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday afternoon at noon. The game will be televised by ESPNU or ESPN2.
Women’s basketball wraps up tough stretch of top 10 competition
Amanda Butler’s squad just wrapped up a tough stretch of games against No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 3 Louisville last week. The Tigers lost both games, falling to the Fighting Irish 101-63 on Thursday before Louisville defeated the Lady Tigers 76-44 on Saturday.
Thursday night update (11 p.m.): Clemson got back in the win column tonight on the road against Wake Forest, 69-53.
Up next: North Carolina comes to Littlejohn on Sunday at 2 p.m. Clemson’s record currently sits at 15-8 and 6-4 in ACC play.
Baseball hit with injury bug before season begins, team captains announced
The season hasn’t started for Clemson baseball yet, but the Tigers will be without sophomore Spencer Strider as he went down with an UCL injury. Strider told the media on Friday that the plan is to complete surgery this coming week, but it is a tough loss for Monte Lee’s group.
Logan Davidson and Carson Spiers will be co-captains for the team this year.
Clemson opens the season with a three-game series against South Alabama beginning next Friday at 4 p.m. at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Other scores/news of interest
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Three Clemson hurdlers, Ebony Williams, Sidney Marshall and LaFranz Campbell, qualified for the 60-meter hurdles finals at the Carolina Challenge on Friday.
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The women’s tennis team fell to No. 5 Georgia 7-0 on Saturday.
Do you have any intramural sports scores to report? Do you have a story idea that you’d like to be featured in next week’s sports notebook? Email senior sports writer Brandon Stockdale at [email protected]