Men’s basketball splits the week, heads into pivotal final stretch
Clemson’s men’s basketball split last week with a win and a loss. The loss came on this past Tuesday night at home to Florida State 77-64. The loss gave the Seminoles a regular season sweep of the Tigers, and more importantly, it may have knocked the Tigers out of a chance for the NCAA Tournament.
But those slim chances got a little bit better with a win over Boston College this past Saturday in Littlejohn. Marcquise Reed said after the game that there was a sense of urgency all week in practice to break the Tigers’ recent three-game losing streak, and they did just that with a 77-66 win over Boston College. Reed registered 31 points, which set a new career high in helping his team to the win.
Reed’s attitude during the losing streak was simple.
“You just can’t get your head down when you go on a losing streak. You can’t get your head too high when you go on a winning streak because everybody can beat you on any given night,” Reed said.
Clemson head coach Brad Brownell accentuated the positives, when the Tigers played well, which they did in spurts during the losing streak.
“Everybody in the league has good players and every player can play. Unless you’re just an elite team with much better players than everybody else, which there’s only two or three of those then it’s a war to hang in there and fight.
“We had good stretches against Miami and we had bad stretches. I thought defensively we played one of our best games of the game against Louisville, defensively we were on point, competitive and we did a lot of the things that we wanted to do as far giving ourselves chances to win but we turned the ball over, missed some shots we need to make if we’re going to beat a team like that are their place,” Brownell said.
Clemson will host Pittsburgh on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised by RSN (check theACC.com for channel listings in your area). Clemson sits at 16-11 overall and 6-8 in ACC play.
Strong season continues for Clemson women’s basketball as regular season draws to a close
Clemson’s women’s basketball won one conference game during the 2018 season, and right now, they’re at nine wins in conference play after splitting the week against Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. Clemson lost to Georgia Tech last Thursday 75-53, before defeating Virginia Tech on Senior Day, 73-66. Kobi Thornton led all scorers in the win with 23 points.
Clemson’s last regular season game will be against Duke on the road Thursday night at 7 p.m.
After that, it’s the ACC Tournament beginning on March 6 in Greensboro, N.C. where if the Tigers win the whole thing, they could certainlysecure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Regardless, they should be a lock at this point for the NCAA Tournament as their record sits at 18-10 overall and 9-6 in conference play.
Clemson baseball sweeps the weekend series despite weather delays
The Tigers swept Virginia Military Institute (VMI) despite weather delays that forced the Tigers to play a doubleheader on Saturday. Clemson won Game 1, 8-6, Game 2, 8-2 and Sunday’s game 11-6.
Freshman Davis Sharpe was named national player of the week by Collegiate Baseball for his performance in helping the Tigers sweep the week with wins.
Tuesday night update (10 p.m): Clemson defeated East Tennessee State, 14-3. Clemson’s record improves to 7-1 on the season.
Huge week for Clemson athletics on tap: You’re going to want to be in Clemson, S.C. this weekend for basketball and baseball games!
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Clemson baseball will host South Carolina on Friday night at 6 p.m. in Clemson before the series heads up Highway 123 to Greenville where the two schools will play at Flour Field on Saturday with a 1 p.m. first pitch. The series concludes in Columbia on Sunday with first pitch now moved up an hour to a noon start.
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Clemson football spring practice begins tomorrow. The Tigers will conduct 15 practices, culminating with the annual Orange and White Spring Football Game on April 6 in Death Valley. Game time has not been set yet.
- Clemson basketball will host the 5th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. in Littlejohn Coliseum. A win over UNC would be huge for the Tigers as they need all the wins they can get to bolster their tournament resume.