Three Clemson Players That Will Decide Tigers’ NCAA Tournament Run

Clemson men’s basketball begins its NCAA Tournament run on Friday night, facing the Iowa Hawkeyes in Tampa, Florida.

The Tigers have seen the highs and lows of the season thus far, and that includes the players who have played an important role on this team. With players like Carter Welling and Zac Foster now out for the remainder of this season, some pieces within the group must step up if Clemson has a deep run within this tournament.

These are the three most important pieces on the Tigers, who, if they step up, can play into the second weekend.

Jestin Porter

Porter’s been the wild-card guard for Clemson this season, but when he is playing at a high level, the Tigers become a completely different team.

Just go back to the team’s Charleston Classic win back in November, when two performances of double-digit points saw the guard win the tournament’s MVP award at the end of the two-game campaign. That’s the power that Porter can bring to this team, and he’s shown it at the highest level.

When he goes cold, this is where the team changes. In the Tigers’ 22-point blown lead to BYU back in December, the Middle Tennessee transfer had 14 in the first half, and Clemson went into the half with a 43-22 edge. He only had three in the second half, and that caused the Cougars to mount a comeback.

Games like Louisville, Notre Dame and Pitt have seen him take over the game and become a valuable piece to the Tigers like never before. If he does that this weekend, not only would we see a win on Friday, but perhaps some magic later on in the weekend, most likely playing No. 1 Florida.

Nick Davidson

Another transfer, Davidson was the big-name transfer for the Tigers from this past offseason, being the primary scorer on Nevada over the previous two seasons.

Especially with the loss of Welling, Davidson will see more minutes, similar to that in the Tigers' last two games against North Carolina and Duke in the ACC Tournament. In the win against the Tar Heels, he hit four threes and finished with a team-high 17 points. That will be the necessary production if the team wants to make another run similar to that of two years ago.

Davidson has made his name this season coming off the bench, and if he becomes another piece that Clemson can use to its advantage this weekend, it will bode a lot of success and bring optimism.

Dillon Hunter

Hunter was the only active player who returned from last season’s roster to this season, and the Tigers’ March Madness run perhaps could start and end with him, too.

The senior isn’t the primary scorer that Clemson needs, but he will need a scoring performance that can help the Tigers hang with the best in the first two rounds. He only averages 7.5 points per game, but that needs to be higher in the NCAA Tournament. That’s when the guards must play their best, just look at names like Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr., who became the star of the national champion last season.

In the win over North Carolina, Hunter finished with 14 points, meaning he can bring that scoring output on the biggest stages in March. That just needs to be reciprocated going into his final games in a Clemson uniform this weekend.

If that ends up being the case, partnering up with Porter as an efficient backcourt duo, it would unlock a new Clemson offense that coaches aren’t ready to handle just yet.