Setting the Stage: Tigers Open ACC Tourney Play With Miami
Clemson (15-15 overall, 9-11 ACC) begins its quest for its first ever ACC tournament title on Wednesday when it takes on Miami (15-15, 7-13) at noon in Greensboro, N.C.
The game between the eighth-seeded Tigers and ninth-seeded Hurricanes will be televised on ESPN.
Clemson is looking to bounce back strong after losses last week to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets are serving a one-year postseason ban by the NCAA, so the annual ACC tourney will feature 14 teams instead of 15. There were only two games on Tuesday.
Here's a breakdown of what the Tigers are facing at Greensboro Coliseum:
What’s at stake?
The Tigers, who are not an NCAA tournament bubble team, are staring down an overall record below .500 with a loss in their first game.
That doesn’t eliminate them from NIT contention, since the tournament committee revamped their rules in 2017, but it would likely put Clemson on a tenuous bubble to get into the other postseason tournament.
There are 12 Power 6 teams currently ranked ahead of the Tigers in the NET rankings that are above .500 and not in the ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s latest NCAA tournament projection. Last year, 14 Power 6 teams received at-large bids into the NIT, which is required to select mid-major schools that won their regular-season league title but lost in their conference tournament. It makes predicting the NIT difficult.
A loss to Miami, which ranks 21 spots behind the Tigers in the NET, would put Clemson at a three-game losing streak, which wouldn’t appeal to the fan base or the NIT committee.
Last meeting
Clemson lost to Miami 73-68 in overtime on New Year’s Eve. The Tigers led by 10 with 12:53 left but couldn’t close the deal. Aamir Simms scored 21 points to lead Clemson while the Hurricanes got 27 from guard Chris Lykes.
Miami scouting report
The Hurricanes enter the game off an overtime win over Syracuse last Saturday that clinched the ninth seed in Greensboro and ended a three-game losing skid. Lykes, who leads the team with 15.2 points per game, missed four games in late January/early February due to injury, and the team went 1-3 during that stretch.
DJ Vasiljevic (13.1) and Kameron McGusty (12.5) also average double figures in scoring.
Who’s awaits?
A victory over Miami would pit Clemson against Florida State, the No. 1 seed in Greensboro. The Seminoles won the regular-season title outright, finishing a game ahead of Louisville, Duke and Virginia.
Clemson upset then-sixth ranked FSU on an Al-Amir Dawes layup with 1 second left in a 70-69 win Feb. 29, but the Seminoles are the odds-on favorite (7/4) to win the ACC tourney.
By the numbers
•Clemson is 20-65 all-time in the ACC tournament and 4-9 under Brownell.
•The Tigers are 7-27 all-time at Greensboro Coliseum in the ACC tourney.
•The Tigers are 0-1 against Miami in the conference tournament, last facing off in 2006.
•The only ACC team Clemson holds a winning record against is Boston College (3-0).
•In 8-9 seeded games since 1992, Clemson is 3-9.
•Bill Yarborough (1955) and Jim Brennan (1962) are tied for the school record for most points in an ACC tournament game: 34.
•Clemson has never played four current ACC teams (Louisville, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse) in the tournament.
