Clemson Hoops Heading to California For Pivotal Two-Game Stretch

With the release of their 2026 schedule, Clemson football unsuccessfully requested that its week seven matchup against Charleston Southern be moved to week zero, citing concerns over rest and recovery following a cross-country trip to Cal in week four.

This week, No. 22 Clemson basketball is tasked with making the same trip, and then some. The Tigers are set to play in Stanford, California on Wednesday before turning around to play Cal in Berkley, California, on Saturday.

Ahead of his stay at hotel California, Clemson basketball head coach Brad Brownell is kicking up much less fuss than fellow Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney.

“You just got to kind of play it by ear, but, you know, we think we have a decent plan in place to hopefully be ready to play Stanford and Cal on a good, good trip. These are two good teams,” Brownell said.

Clemson will jump on a plane on Monday, Feb. 2. If Clemson were playing an away game anywhere else, they would be afforded the luxury of leaving on Tuesday, which ultimately equates to an extra day of preparation in home facilities.

Cal and Stanford, two programs that were added to the ACC in 2024 along with SMU, will host Clemson basketball for the first time ever. Last year, Clemson hosted both Californian programs back-to-back in early January 2025, beating them both.

In all-time matchups, the Tigers are 1-0 against Stanford and 2-1 against Cal. Prior to their meeting at Littlejohn Coliseum last January, Clemson played Cal at two neutral sites, beating them in 2022 in Florida and losing 60-61 in New York in 1999.

Riding a 12-game ACC road win streak — tied for the fourth-longest such streak in ACC history — Clemson needs to take their West Coast opponents seriously if they want to see that streak hit 14.

This year, early projections have Cal and Stanford on the fringe of March’s NCAA Tournament. Last updated on Jan. 30, ESPN’s bracketology projections have both programs in their “Next Four Out” category, where Cal’s predicted No. 74 ranking and Stanford’s predicted No. 75 ranking put them just outside of the 64-team field.

The last time Clemson played in California was during their Elite Eight run in 2023. First, Clemson beat No. 2-seed Arizona at Crypto.com Arena in the Sweet 16 before losing to No. 4-seed Alabama in the same arena two days later.

Dillon Hunter and RJ Godfrey are the only remaining Clemson players from that run, but they aren’t the only Clemson players familiar with California.

Carter Welling, formerly with the University of California, Irvine, and Utah Valley, is no stranger to the Golden State.

“I think it'll be fun. It'll be fun to play in a familiar arena. I played at Stanford last year and I think, you know, there's some familiarity there. But yeah, definitely going out west will be fun. We'll have friends and family at the game for sure,” Welling said.

Nick Davidson, who grew up playing for Mater Dei High School in Southern California, is similarly looking forward to a homecoming.

“I mean, going back home, West Coast, I know it's at Nor Cal instead of So Cal, but I have a lot of people there and we're excited. They're two very good teams over there,” Davidson said.