Clemson AD Graham Neff Updates Status of Postponed Clemson-Duke Men's Basketball Game

It would appear that Clemson's home basketball game with Duke that was originally scheduled for December 29, will in fact be made up.

New Clemson athletic director Graham Neff appeared on WCCP's Out of Bounds on Thursday to provide an update on the game that was postponed due to COVID issues inside the Duke program.

"I can't announce anything specifically, but anticipate here maybe in the next 24 to 48 (hours) to have some specifics out there," Neff said. "It is important for Clemson of course to have that Duke game rescheduled."

Neff said that he and new Duke athletic director Nina King have been working diligently to come up with a solution that works for both sides.

"How it fits within the schedules of Clemson's remaining time and kind of open dates and same with Duke, you know," Neff said. "There's a handful of dates, that kind of work. So I've been back and forth with the Duke athletic director, who is actually a good friend of mine. So needless to say Nina (King) and I have been working on it."

While Neff would not go as far as confirming an exact date, Clemson's new athletic director did give a timeframe for when fans can expect the game to made up, which looks to be shortly after the Tigers visit Duke later this month.

"We do expect to have this game rescheduled probably sometime late January early February," Neff said. "Obviously we're slated to go to Cameron on January 25. Anticipate that to hold and then for us to be able to squeeze in the Duke game here probably midweek for us and have those that had the tickets for the December game to work for that new game."

Brad Brownell's Tigers are coming off a 72-56 road loss to Notre Dame, and currently sit at 10-6 overall and 2-3 in ACC play, which puts the Tigers in the bottom half of the league standings. The way the season is playing out, having the opportunity to play a team the caliber of Duke (13-2, 3-1) at home, where Clemson is 6-1 this season, gives the Tigers a chance to add an impressive win to their resume against a Blue Devil team that is the odds-on favorite to win the ACC at -115 according to Fanduel.

Neff also noted that in the grand scheme of things, the game being postponed just might work out in Clemson's favor. It was originally scheduled for the same day that the football team defeated Iowa State 20-13 in the Cheez-It Bowl, and Neff thinks this new date gives the Tigers a better shot at having more fans in attendance.

"At the end of the day, seemingly it'll be a better date and a better, maybe opportunity for our folks to join," Neff said. "Because obviously with it being in December when it was overlapped with the Cheez-It Bowl, now it'll be more standalone and we'll be able to have that back in Littlejohn."

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