The 2024-25 Tigers are holding a pen to history.
At the end of the regular season, the Clemson men’s basketball team sits at 26 wins, a program record for regular season victories in a year.
The team tied the 1989-90 team for the all-time win total, meaning the 2024-25 Tigers only need to win a singular game in either the ACC or NCAA Tournaments, and the record will be theirs — earning themselves a place in program history as the best statistical team to ever step foot on the floor of Littlejohn Coliseum.
The 1989-90 team was led by forwards Elden Campbell and Dale Davis, both of whom played in the NBA. Campbell led the team with 16.4 points per game, while Davis led the team on the glass with 11.3 rebounds per game. The front-court domination shows its shadows in today’s team with the play of Ian Schieffelin and Viktor Lakhin.
The similarities between the two teams do not stop there. Both teams had their seasons highlighted with a win over a highly-ranked Duke team in Littlejohn Coliseum, with both matchups coming down to the wire—97-93 in 1990 and 77-71 in 2025.
Clemson fans hope not to have another comparison to that team the rest of the way, as the 1989-90 team finished as regular season ACC champions before falling in the ACC Tournament to Virginia, then losing to Connecticut in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Today’s Tigers have their eyes set on an even bigger goal: an NCAA championship.
“The goal is a national championship, ACC Championship. We got high goals. This team wants to do what has never been done here at Clemson.” Schieffelin said. “We aren’t satisfied with just going to the Elite Eight. We want more.”
New Tigers and returners alike are far from their goals for this season. Last year’s Cinderella run is still far from what the locker room hopes for this season. Although 26 wins means a lot to the record books, it means almost nothing for the Tigers.
“We are not really talking about those things,” head coach Brad Brownell said. “Obviously, we just keep talking about if we play well and handle business and do things the right way, we’ll keep having important games.”
These Tigers have already written themselves into history; however, there are two things everyone in that locker room would agree on: one, they are still holding the pen, and two, they aren’t done writing.
