Tevin Mack’s road to Clemson was long. Closer to home and more mature, he belongs
Tevin Mack admits it now. It’s hard not to play the “what if” game when it comes to his college basketball career.
What might have happened had the former top-60 recruit picked Clemson when coming out of Dreher High School in Columbia rather than go halfway across the country to play for Shaka Smart at Texas?
At the least, he likely wouldn’t be at his third college in five years — Texas, Alabama and now Clemson. At best, Mack believes he could be playing in the NBA.
“I feel like I probably would’ve left early,” Mack told The State. “I probably would’ve had some good early-on years, freshman and sophomore years. I probably would have had a better chance to get to the league.”
Getting to the NBA has always been a goal Mack’s been open about. He has loved basketball since he was a toddler and has dreamed about playing in the pros for as long as he can remember. The senior still hopes to reach that goal after his final season at Clemson.
For now he is focused on one thing.
“I want to win,” Mack said. “I’ve been to the (NCAA) tournament one time, my freshman year (at Texas). But I haven’t been since then. So I want to get back to the tournament this year, just kind of finish out my college career the right way. Definitely winning is the most important thing to me right now.”
Developing a mind-set of putting team before self is something Mack hasn’t always been able to do. The lessons he learned at Texas and Alabama are a big reason why he’s playing the best basketball of his career as a senior for the Tigers.
The Columbia native is the second leading scorer for an inconsistent Clemson team that has knocked off a pair of top-five opponents in Duke and Louisville, yet could still miss out on the NCAA tournament and NIT. As Clemson makes a late push for a postseason berth, Mack is doing everything he can to help the Tigers win games.
“His approach has been outstanding,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “His effort in practice has been really good. I think he’s got a good energy and spirit about him to compete. That comes out and has been helpful to this team.”
First stop
Paula Mack, Tevin Mack’s mother, describes her son’s recruitment as he was finishing up his high school career succinctly: “a mess.”
Mack originally committed to and signed with VCU over offers from Clemson, South Carolina, UConn, Georgia and others. But Smart left to take over coaching Texas, and Mack asked for and received his release from VCU.
He reopened his recruitment before eventually signing to play for Smart again, this time at Texas.
“It was a headache,” Paula said. “He had certain people in his ears saying, ‘Go here, go there … Do this, do that.’ It was a mess. I told him to go where he thinks he’ll fit in best.”
Mack was a reserve for the Longhorns as a freshman, averaging five points and two rebounds per game for a Texas team that earned a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Longhorns were upset in the first round by Northern Iowa and finished the 2015-16 season with a 20-13 record.
As a sophomore, Mack earned a starting role and was averaging 15 points and five boards. He was the leading scorer for the Longhorns when he was suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules in January 2017 and missed the final two months of the season. Mack had to sit out the rest of the year and decided to transfer.
“I went to school all the way in Texas. Most of my teammates were from Texas. Everybody was from that area,” Mack said. “I kind of felt like I was the oddball most of the time.”
Mack didn’t do himself any favors with the suspension, and he learned many valuable lessons in Austin, including how important it is to handle your business off the court.
“I learned how to respond to adversity, because obviously I went through some adversity early on in my college career,” Mack said. “So responded back from that, learned how to dig through it no matter what is going on around me. Just kind of have tunnel vision on my goals and set sights on that. That’s kind of what’s kept me going this whole time.”
Getting closer and closer
From Texas, Mack transferred to Alabama, partly because it was a chance to get closer to home.
Paula had watched her son play basketball from the time he was 3 years old shooting into a Nerf hoop in the bathtub, all the way through his high school career at Dreher. But with Mack 17 hours away in Texas, she only made it to two games in his two seasons in Austin — one home game and one in New York.
Mack arrived at Alabama for the 2017-18 season and sat out as a transfer before averaging nine points and three rebounds in his one season at Alabama last year. He earned his degree while playing for the Crimson Tide and made the choice to get even closer to home by playing at Clemson for his final year.
“I used to come up here a lot on visits to football games. I came to a couple of elite camps for basketball as well. It’s been cool to see that come back full circle and be here now,” Mack said. “I knew Brownell from high school. They recruited me to come here. I feel like now it’s a perfect time, the situation, how everything’s playing out for me and the team. I just feel like it was all about timing.”
Brownell recruited Mack out of high school and again when he transferred from Texas. Finally, the third time was the charm.
Mack has been arguably the key to Clemson’s success this season — the Tigers seem to go as he goes.
Mack has scored in double figures 17 times through 25 games. Clemson is 11-6 when Mack scores 10 points or more and 2-6 when he doesn’t. He’s second on the team in scoring (12.4 ppg) behind Aamir Simms (13.3).
“He’s a guy we need to score for us,” Brownell said. “I told him that when I recruited him. I told him that four years ago when I recruited him. It just wasn’t as appealing then. It was more appealing when he didn’t get to do it as often at some other places as he thought he was.”
Finding his place
After two schools, four seasons and some growing up that needed to happen, Mack finally feels at home at Clemson.
“He’s happier to me,” Paula said.
Clemson has had a pair of losing streaks of at least three games this season. Instead of spiraling or quitting, the Tigers have fought back each time, most recently earning blowout wins at Pitt and against No. 5 Louisville after dropping three straight. Mack has played a large role in making sure the Tigers don’t give up on this season, his final one.
“One of the best things that Tevin has done for our team is, he’s an energy giver, and he practices hard,” Brownell said. “That’s the one thing I probably have been the most surprised about. I didn’t know as a fifth-year guy, is he really going to want to be a guy who comes in and practices hard every day? When it’s not going well, he’s not playing good, he still comes to practice and goes every day. Hard. Those are things that are unbelievably appreciated by your coach.”
Perhaps the best part of this season for Mack has been having his mother and other family members and friends close by. Paula has not missed a home game and has traveled to most of the road contests. A nurse technician at Prisma Health Baptist Hospital in Columbia, she credits her coworkers for working around her schedule to make sure she gets to see her son play so often during his final season of college basketball.
“She loves basketball. She came to all of my games in high school, too. She’s really just a big fan of basketball,” Mack said. “She’s a big fan of me. She’s one of my biggest supporters, so having her in the crowd means a lot to me. Seeing her work hard, single parent, raising three kids by herself taught me how to just persevere through hard times, fight through adversity and just always keep your head up no matter what.”
Overcoming obstacles is something Mack has done throughout his basketball career, but he believes he is better for it.
“I feel like everything played out for a reason,” he said. “I feel like I’m here now for a reason. I feel like it’s just going to keep getting better for me.”
Mack also has advice for those who might find themselves in a similar situation to his during their recruiting process.
“What I learned by going far away is that probably the best thing you should do is stay closer to home and go to school. You’ll feel more comfortable. You’ll have your family around,” Mack said. “You can just really be yourself and grow into who you want to become easier at a more steady pace than to go somewhere far out.”
His mother agrees.
“It’s just a lot of fun having him being so close where I can go to the games live and in person,” Paula said. “This is the best I’ve ever seen him as far as being mature. ... He’s got a new demeanor about himself.”
It’s one that took a while to develop but is finally shining through in a positive light.
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
