Clemson basketball makes final NCAA tournament pitch after ACC loss to Virginia
Clemson forward Hunter Tyson isn’t looking for sympathy.
“I’m just looking for recognition of what we’ve earned,” he said late Friday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.
And what Clemson has earned, according to Tyson and his teammates and coach Brad Brownell, is crystal clear: an at-large bid in next week’s NCAA tournament.
Even after their ACC tournament run ended earlier than they hoped against Virginia in the semifinals.
“This team has worked so hard, and I can honestly say I feel like we’ve left it all out there ...” Tyson said. “Like Coach said, if you really want the best 68 teams, we’re one of them. And we’ll have our fingers crossed on Sunday, but I truly believe we should get in.”
Brownell delivered those words after a 76-56 loss to Virginia, a game that began as another golden opportunity for Clemson — widely regarded as a “first four out” bubble team battling for an at-large bid — to sway the NCAA tournament selection committee.
But it ended with Clemson (23-10) on equal, if not shakier, ground, returning home in wait-and-see mode as Virginia advanced to Saturday’s ACC championship against Duke with both teams locked in as NCAA tournament participants.
Forward Jayden Gardner had a team-high 23 points as the No. 2 seeded Cavaliers cruised past the No. 3 seeded Tigers, who’d earned only their second top 3 tournament seed since 1990.
Come Selection Sunday, Clemson will hope that its record-setting season in ACC play, No. 51 NET ranking and four Quadrant 1 wins (with three coming on the road or at neutral sites) will offset a poor non-conference schedule and some unsightly Quad 3 and 4 losses to teams including South Carolina, Loyola Chicago and Louisville.
Other teams scrapping for the tournament’s final at-large bids include Pittsburgh, Arizona State and Oklahoma State, according to ESPN.
“The games we got to play, we were .500 or better in those Quad 1 games,” Brownell said. “There’s teams that they have in the tournament ahead of us, some in our league, that we’ve beaten — some multiple times, others at their place. In other leagues we’ve beaten teams. So I think just for those reasons, if you’re truly looking for the 68 best teams, we’re one of the 68 best teams. Finishing third in this league, too, by the way.”
While confident in their season-long track record, the Tigers will also leave smarting from the Jekyll and Hyde performance they pulled in Greensboro.
They were excellent in Thursday’s 26-point quarterfinal win over NC State but had no such luck against Virginia, a team that’s had their number for years.
Coach Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers had won 15 of their last 18 meetings with Clemson, including a seven-point win earlier this season, and put on another defensive clinic.
In need of another résumé booster as one of the first four teams out of the 68-team field, according to the most recent projections by ESPN and CBS Sports, Clemson instead got a dud.
The Tigers’ team-wide 35.8% field goal percentage and 56 points were their second-worst mark and third-worst mark, respectively, in 33 games this season.
They never led the game past the 14:52 mark of the first half, trailed by 12 points at halftime and trailed by as many as 23 points in the second half against Virginia (25-6), currently projected as an NCAA tournament No. 4 seed.
“They’re probably the hardest team in the league to play against in terms of what it takes, consistency of effort and discipline,” Brownell said. “Their offensive movement is very good and taxing on you, and if you’re just a little fatigued and wear down a little bit, you’re going to get burned.”
Clemson also let its frustration show in the second half as reserve forward Ben Middlebrooks was whistled for a Flagrant 1 foul and Brownell was called for a technical foul.
Virginia and Duke, which beat Miami earlier Friday, will play in Saturday night’s ACC championship game. Clemson, meanwhile, returns home having failed to win an ACC tournament championship in 69 tries (they played for it in 1962 and 2008) despite coming into this week as a No. 3 seed.
It was a disappointing 33rd game, Hall said, but it doesn’t discount all of his team’s success in the 32 games prior.
With Selection Sunday looming, he hopes that’s the focus.
“If you look at some of the games we played this year, how we played on the road, how we played on the ropes late in games and finished, there’s not a doubt in my mind that we’re one of the best teams in the country and belong in the tournament,” Hall said. “I say that wholeheartedly, and there’s nothing more to it.”
ACC tournament scores, schedule
Friday’s scores
Duke 85, Miami 78
Virginia 76, Clemson 56
Saturday’s schedule
Duke vs. Virginia, 8:30 pm (ESPN)
This story was originally published March 10, 2023 at 11:38 PM.
