Clemson Basketball Climbs AP Poll, Ranked For Second Straight Week

After another 2-0 week for the Clemson Tigers, they are ranked in the AP Poll for the second-straight week.

Clemson moves up four spots to No. 18 in the poll, which was revealed on Monday afternoon. The climb comes after two double-digit wins over Boston College and Miami at home.

This is the Tigers’ highest ranking since March 17 of last season, when the program was ranked No. 12 heading into the NCAA Tournament, before their loss to McNeese State in the first round.

Coincidentally, head coach Brad Brownell will see his team play the head coach who was in charge of the Cowboys that season. New NC State (12-6, 3-2 ACC) head coach Will Wade will lead his team into Littlejohn Coliseum on Tuesday night, while Brownell looks to get back his win from the previous postseason.

The Wolfpack picked up only one singular vote of consideration in this week’s poll. It had a two-week stint of being ranked, only as high as No. 23 before being knocked out.

The Clemson head coach spoke about it during Monday’s ACC teleconference, saying that both coaches have completely new teams, and the coaches aren’t the ones playing. It’s a new season, so that’s the mentality.

“Will and I will not be playing,” Brownell said. “NC State is playing Clemson, and we’re not, you know, talking about any of that. I don’t even know if any guy on my team played in that game. Obviously, Dillon Hunter was hurt, and so didn’t play.”

Later on this week, Clemson will travel to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech (11-8, 2-4 ACC) in the first of two contests this season.

Only two other teams in the ACC are higher than Clemson currently in the poll. Virginia is at the No. 14 seed and the Duke Blue Devils are No. 5. North Carolina and Louisville are also ranked, being No. 22 and 23, respectively.

The team is currently riding a nine-game win streak, dating back to the buzzer-beater loss against now-ranked No. 13 BYU. Clemson has begun ACC play a perfect 6-0 and will be looking to begin the season 11-0 at home with a hopeful win against an in-conference rival.

Brownell’s squad is running through teams with its defense to win games. Clemson is 13th in the country in scoring defense, only allowing 64.5 points per game so far this season. That is the best in the ACC.

Tipoff from Littlejohn Coliseum between the Tigers and Wolfpack is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on the ACC Network.