It’s not often that teams are scheduled against two nonconference teams ranked in the top 15, but that’s the situation the Clemson men’s basketball team finds itself in.
The Tigers have two monumental tasks over the next 10 days — facing No. 12 Alabama and No. 9 BYU — and head coach Brad Brownell believes his team is ready for the moment. After Charleston Classic championship wins on Nov. 21-23, followed by a 36-point victory over Alabama A&M at home, Brownell sees his team as confident as ever.
Guard Jestin Porter, who has come into his own since the three-day tournament, said that the wins against West Virginia and Georgia in Charleston, South Carolina, helped the team unite during adversity, something the Tigers haven’t faced much since the beginning of the season.
“Just trying to build off those two wins, you know, how we came together as a team,” Porter said after the win against Georgia. “I’m glad we’re figuring it out at the right time, man. I feel like we’re coming along every other game.”
Brownell says that since that win, the team has been riding a high in practice, leading to the beatdown of the Bulldogs last Friday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.
“We had a couple good days of practice after the good wins in Charleston, and I thought our team showed maturity, being ready to play tonight in a different situation,” Brownell said. “So, I thought we shared the ball really well, moved the ball very well, got down the floor really well in transition, and it was a great night ‘cause a lot of guys got to play.”
The Tigers travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Wednesday to face the Crimson Tide, a team that has played four ranked teams in the 2025-26 season already and has dropped two of them, against Purdue and Gonzaga. At seventh in the country in points per game, averaging 95.6 a contest, the Tigers will be in for a shootout.
Guard Dillon Hunter believes that with a group of new players, it’s all about one opponent at a time, especially in six days against two top-15 teams.
“With our team, it’s a lot of new guys, so we’re just trying to show them you got to keep composure, you know, going into the next game, not look past any opponent,” Hunter said. “Every day is the same, so treat every game the same way and, you know, building on this one for Alabama and BYU.”
Next Tuesday, Clemson travels to New York City to play at Madison Square Garden to face the BYU Cougars, led by the No. 1 recruit from this year’s class, AJ Dybantsa. BYU, led by head coach Kevin Young, made the Sweet 16 last season before Alabama coincidentally knocked the team out of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Three players are averaging 17 points or more per game for the Cougars, leaving the Tigers with their hands full for a high-stakes matchup in the Big Apple.
Clemson will look to compete at an elite level with a new-look team, which could serve as a learning experience — or a season-defining win — for Brownell and his squad.
