On Saturday, Feb. 7, Clemson basketball moved into a tie for No. 1 in the ACC alongside Duke, which suffered its first ACC loss that same day.
This Saturday, the deadlock at the top will be broken as Clemson heads to Durham, North Carolina, to face the No. 4 Blue Devils. It’s like you can already hear the electronic synth of “The Final Countdown” by Europe.
But the opportunity to dethrone Duke wasn’t created solely by Clemson. The No. 20 Tigers’ rise to the top is the combination of hard-earned wins and well-timed good fortune — the first of which Clemson can wholly thank itself for.
On a two-game road trip to California, Clemson handled business. First, a 66-64 win over Stanford set the tone. Then, a 77-55 domination against the California Golden Bears maintained that tone. But Clemson’s 22-point blowout win didn’t properly portray the magnitude and difficulty of playing out west. Only Wake Forest this season and Duke last season have gone 2-0 in the Golden State — the Tigers are now the third name on that list.
“You go on a long trip like this, and if you really like your team, you like the guys you’re hanging out with, you win your first game. You’re enjoying the heck out of it,” head coach Brad Brownell said.
But during the first quarter of Clemson vs. Cal, a battle of blue bloods was in its dying moments in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Tarheels hosted Duke, and after trailing for 39 minutes, UNC found an opening — and then they found the guy: senior guard Seth Trimble. With 0.4 seconds remaining, Trimble drilled a 3-pointer to win the game for UNC.
“I blacked out. It all happened so fast,” Trimble said. “You dream of stuff like this as a kid. You dream of stuff like this even as a grown man before you go to sleep, man. I never would have thought that would have been me.”
But while powder-blue fans poured onto the court in celebration, the Blue Devils kicked off to the locker room with their heads down after suffering their first ACC loss of the season.
The roars from Chapel Hill’s Dean E. Smith Center echoed far beyond North Carolina. In Berkeley, California, Clemson heard the message loud and clear — the door is wide open.
Clemson pounced, defeating Cal and joining Duke at the top, with both programs now tied at 10-1 in conference play.
The away wins over Stanford and Cal were the 13th and 14th consecutive road wins, respectively, for Brownell’s team. While Duke’s 24-game road win streak from 1998-2001 remains the longest, Clemson is now in second with 14. The Tigers have been exceptional on the road for the better part of two seasons, and now they have a place in the record books to prove it.
“This team has probably been as good as any I’ve ever coached in terms of being selfless and really just buying into the coaching and trying to win,” Brownell said.
Having won 13 of its last 14 games, Clemson basketball has firmly cemented itself as a unit ready to march into March. In recent bracket projections, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projected Clemson to enter the tournament as a No. 6 seed in the West, facing No. 11 Miami Ohio in Tampa, Florida.
Other analysts tend to agree: as things stand, Clemson is a No. 6 seed. But as the saying goes, don’t count your eggs before they hatch — especially when the toughest is yet to come.
Clemson has six games remaining in the regular season. Three of those six — Duke, UNC and Louisville — are currently ranked in the top 25. Not to mention Virginia Tech, a borderline tournament team that Clemson faced earlier this week.
“They’re solid, as they always are,” Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young said. “They’re not going to beat themselves.”
The Tigers’ losses this year have come to Georgetown, BYU, Alabama and NC State in overtime. None of those losses are appalling or extreme upsets. Clemson has won when it should, and lost when it was reasonably foreseeable. The Tigers have not teetered on either extreme.
So while Clemson’s season has been historically strong, it’s still missing that win that says “I’m here.” If the Tigers can duke it out against the Blue Devils, Clemson would not just put itself on the map; it would plant its flag at the very center.
But the question is less so “Can Clemson beat Duke?” and more so “How can Clemson beat Duke?”
Duke’s Cameron Boozer is averaging 23.3 points per game, and Isaiah Evans is averaging 14. Meanwhile, RJ Godfrey leads Clemson in points per night with 11.9. A high-volume, go-to guy has been the only missing piece of the puzzle this year. Who will step up on the grandest stage? Or will Brownell stick with the formula that has fueled success thus far: a steady barrage of contributions across the lineup?
The lights are on, the stage is set. Clemson basketball is leaving the ground.
Will things ever be the same again?
It’s the final countdown.
