Clemson Tigers Fans Storm Court Following Massive Upset Over Duke Blue Devils

The Clemson Tigers hosted the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday night in what was a fantastic game of college basketball.

It was the Tigers that came out on top, picking up a 77-71 win. The fans did not take long to storm the court.

It was just the second ranked game for Clemson this year and also the second top-five game. The last one was against the Kentucky Wildcats, which was also a victory.

With the win, the Tigers improve to 19-5 on the season overall and 11-2 in ACC play. They were the first conference team to beat the Blue Devils this year.

The impact of this game was lessened slightly after the three overtime loss that Clemson had to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, but it was still obviously a massive game. Anytime a team is hosting the second-ranked team in the country is a big deal.

Court storm after Clemson beats No. 2 Duke. Tigers’ second top-5 win of the year. Major bounce back after a 3x OT loss to Georgia Tech. pic.twitter.com/DNaS9Oc6S6
— Jon Blau (@Jon_Blau) February 9, 2025

Mostly, it is just that the Tigers would have been the conference leaders if they had won that game against the Yellow Jackets. This is still an important win for the program.

The environment matched the hype of the event. Littlejohn Coliseum was filled to the brim and loud all night. It was an electric atmosphere for an excellent game.

This game was even the welcoming back of legendary college basketball announcer Dick Vitale. He had last called a game back in April of 2023, for the National Championship game. Now, after a two-year bout with cancer that he came out on top of, he is back on sidelines.

As for on the court, the biggest story of any game against Duke will be what happened with Cooper Flagg. For the most part, Clemson did about as much as any team could be asked to do with him.

Entering the night, Flagg was averaging 19.5 points with 7.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists on efficient shooting.

In this game, the presumed number one pick in the 2025 NBA draft had 18 points on 35% shooting with five rebounds and a single assist. That is slightly misleading as to how most of the game felt. He had just six points until the final 10 minutes.

The star didn't have much to offer for most of the game, but did start to hit some clutch shots late that made the crowd start to sweat.

As for Clemson, it was a bit more balanced of an attack. They were able to shoot 58.8% as a team and dominate the boards, two big reasons that they came out on top.

Senior center Viktor Lakhin led the team in scoring with 22 points on 75% from the field. He didn't do much with rebounding in this one, but Chase Hunter and Ian Schieffelin picked up the slack with 17 combined boards.

Dillon Hunter had just seven points in this one, but one of the most important shot of the night. Right after Flagg hit a massive three to tie the game with just under two minutes left, Hunter was able to answer with a three of his own on the following possession.

It was his older brother, Chase, that put up the eventual go ahead bucket and knocked down crucial free throws to secure the win.

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