Viral Meme Shows Sad State of Clemson Basketball After Disastrous March Madness Loss

The Clemson Tigers men’s basketball team were picked by many to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Tigers are back home.

Clemson, which had one of its best seasons by record and was coming off a trip to last year’s Elite Eight, was victim to one of the biggest upsets of the first round. The Tigers fell to the McNeese State Cowboys, 69-67.

It was one of those dangerous 5-12 matchups in seeding, and the Cowboys proved to be too much for the Tigers.

The game wasn’t a nail-biter. Yes, Clemson rallied to make it a two-point game. But, at one point McNeese State led the game, 51-29.

At that moment, after McNeese made a 3-pointer to reach that lead, the cameraman for the game’s broadcast on truTV cut to the Clemson mascot and, well, a viral meme ensued. He caught the mascot, normally trying to cheer on the Tigers, shaking his head in disgust at the state of affairs at that time.

#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/8OuliQxBOf
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) March 20, 2025

Naturally, it went viral. Awful Announcing compiled many of the X (formerly Twitter) accounts that capitalized on it.

One of the most notable was the well-known “Art, But Make It Sports” account. Here, the site’s owner attempts to align viral sports moments with well-known works of art.

Well, the account nailed it.

(Sad) Tiger, by Jean-Léon Gérôme, late 19th c pic.twitter.com/xUOV8zSW7M
— ArtButMakeItSports (@ArtButSports) March 20, 2025

Meanwhile, Clemson coach Brad Brownell was at a loss to figure out why his Tigers played so poorly, especially in the first half.

“You have halves like that,” he said. “You don't like having them in this setting. I was trying to get them to relax. We haven't shot the ball very well the last two weeks. I don't know why that is. We did a bunch of extra shooting this week and we're 1-15 at halftime and you can almost see our guys pressing and just trying hard and shooting is not a good concept.”

The Tigers finished in a tie for second in the ACC in the regular season and lost to Louisville in the ACC semifinals. Even after losing to Louisville twice, the Tigers received a better NCAA Tournament seed. The Cardinals were No. 8 and lost in the first round.

But the Cardinals are led by first-year Pat Kelsey and the program had a huge bounce back. Brownell is in his 15th year and is about to receive a six-year contract extension.

Brownell will likely get that extension anyway, as the Tigers have been to the NCAA Tournament five times under his watch.

Hopefully for the Tigers, this is more a bump in the road than a trend. It’s just another March Madness upset.

But for whoever is in that Tigers mascot costume, there will always be that viral moment and, perhaps, an appearance in “One Shining Moment” after the tournament ends.

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