5 Things Iowa Fans Need to Know About Clemson

The Iowa Hawkeyes enter the 2025-26 NCAA Tournament against a Clemson squad who just lost to No. 1 Duke by 12 points.

First year head coach Ben McCollum was able to guide the No. 11 Drake Bulldogs to a first round upset last year vs. No. 6 Missouri, 67-57.

Now, the Hawkeyes are set to do battle with a team that is ranked just one spot ahead of them. While it's not considered a traditional upset, Iowa is still the lower ranked team, and for good reason.

The B1G and ACC are on a similar level and Clemson has three more overall wins than Iowa so the seeding is justified. At the end of the day this is about as even as a matchup in the first round gets, so it's truly anyone's game.

1. Clemson Has Been Better After a Cold Stretch

LET'S DANCE 🕺 pic.twitter.com/ENuGfc4Bxb
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) March 15, 2026

Iowa isn't coming into the tournament ice cold but they would certainly like to have a little more momentum on their side. As for the Tigers, this is a team that last four straight in mid-February before they ended their season with four wins in their final six games.

2. Iowa Started 18-5, Clemson Started 18-4

The Tigers have a slight edge as Clemson would become 20-4 before they dropped those four games. Still, 20-8 is quite impressive as that's the same record Iowa had on February 25. Both teams have had their moments this season, whether that was a multi-game losing streak or a massive run where everything was going right for them.

3. Leading Scorer Averages Just 11.9 Points Per Game

Tip Time Secured. 🫡 pic.twitter.com/khlgJa5gLS
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) March 16, 2026

It's hard to fathom that Clemson's leading scorer is senior forward RJ Godfrey who averages under 12 points per game. He is shooting an incredible 61.2% from the field which more than makes up for his points per game average, but there are only two players on this entire team averaging double-digits.

4. Godfrey's Dynamic Duo With Carter Welling

Godfrey stands 6'8'' while his counterpart, junior forward Welling is 6'10''. The Utah native leads the team in rebounds, 5.4 per game, while he sits at 10.2 points per game. For what it's worth, Godfrey averages 5.3 rebounds per game so there's not much of a difference between the two.

5. Clemson Was Upset by No. 12 McNeese Last Year

Next Stop: Tampa 😎 pic.twitter.com/SlfOPmE0eG
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) March 16, 2026

The Tigers entered last year's tournament as a No. 5 seed and were at the mercy of the dreaded 12/5 upset. Keep in mind, the year prior they made it all the way to the Elite Eight which included wins over No. 3 Baylor and No. 2 Arizona. Their team this year certainly has the best of both worlds, it's just a matter of which version shows up on March 20 in Tampa, FL.

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