Clemson basketball wraps regular season, sets wins record. Next up: ACC Tournament
It’s been a record-setting year for the Clemson men’s basketball team.
Why not break another?
Coach Brad Brownell and the Tigers did as much Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum, cruising past Virginia Tech 65-47 in their regular-season finale and senior night.
With the win, Clemson added to its program record for single-season ACC wins (18) and set a new program record for wins in a single regular season (26).
Center Viktor Lakhin, who was brought to tears during pregame senior ceremonies, had a game-high 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting plus seven rebounds and two assists.
On a night leading scorers Chase Hunter (4 points) and Ian Schieffelin (5 points) were off and Clemson shot just 15% on 3-pointers, the Tigers dominated VT in points in the paint (44-20) and forced a season-high 23 turnovers.
Clemson led by as many as 19 points and never trailed across 40 minutes.
The Tigers (26-5, 18-2 ACC) have now won eight consecutive ACC games — another program record — and 14 of their last 15 games overall dating back to Jan. 11.
They’ll head to Charlotte for next week’s ACC Tournament as the No. 3 seed with a double bye into the quarterfinals, and as one of the hottest teams in the country.
Clemson plays its opening game next Thursday around 9:30 p.m. Its possible quarterfinal opponents are No. 6 SMU, No. 11 Florida State and No. 14 Syracuse.
“Just a remarkable regular season,” Brownell said postgame. I’m really happy and proud of our team for all their hard work and our staff, the job they did. … This team has done a lot of really, really good things for a long time.”
Clemson has long been a lock for the NCAA Tournament and is currently projected to earn a No. 5 seed, according to the website bracketmatrix.com.
Its performance in the ACC Tournament will determine whether Clemson can rise above that projection by Selection Sunday. The Tigers have been historically underwhelming in the event — they’ve never won it in 70-plus tries and have never won two games during a single ACC Tournament in Brownell’s 15-year tenure.
Saturday wasn’t about that or anything else, though, Brownell said.
“We need to enjoy this for tonight,” Brownell said.
A record-setting year
Indeed, it’s been a special season for the Tigers. Last year, Clemson won 24 games and reached the Elite Eight round as a No. 6 seed, only the second time they’ve reached that round in program history and the first time since 1980.
That group lost PJ Hall, Joe Girard III, Jack Clark and RJ Godfrey. There was an understanding that Clemson, with Hunter and Schieffelin returning alongside some intriguing transfers, would be a good team this season.
But not this good.
Hunter and Schieffelin, who’ve been at Clemson their entire careers, have raised their game to another level. Transfers Lakhin (Cincinnati) and Jaeden Zackery (Boston College), like other recent portal guys, have been perfect fits for the Tigers.
Clemson has been deep and consistent and played the sort of dominant basketball that can make the two unsightly losses on their tournament résumé (at South Carolina, vs. Georgia Tech in triple overtime) feel like afterthoughts.
As a refresher:
- Clemson has won 26 games, its most ever in a single regular season. The previous record was 25 wins by the Tigers during the 1986-87 season
- Clemson’s 26 wins also tie the program’s overall single-season wins record. The Tigers went 26-9 in 1989-90 (two games were later forfeited for NCAA violations)
- Clemson’s 18 ACC wins shattered the previous record of 14 in 2022-23. It’s also tied for the second-most wins in ACC single-season history (albeit with teams now playing a 20-game conference schedule). All three of the top win totals came this year. Louisville was also 18-2 in ACC play, and Duke went 19-1.
- The Tigers won a school-record 15 ACC games by double digits. The previous record was nine in 2022-23. They were also 9-1 in ACC road games, cruising past the previous school record of five (three times, most recently last season).
- Clemson became the seventh team in Division I history to beat UNC, Duke and Kentucky in the same season in the history of the AP Top 25 poll. It’s also the first team to beat that trio of blue bloods while at least two were ranked in the AP Top 5 since Maryland in 1957-58 (UK was ranked No. 4; Duke was No. 2)
- Clemson swept the ACC’s North Carolina schools (UNC, Duke, NC State and Wake Forest) for the first time in program history. They were 4-0 against that group.
The Tigers also entered the last day of the ACC regular season with an outside shot at a share of the conference regular-season championship until Duke won at UNC. They’d only won the ACC regular season once in their history (1990).
All of this went down in front of record crowds at Littlejohn Coliseum, too. Clemson announced Saturday that it had set a modern-day record for total attendance (over 140,000 fans, 8,248 per game) and total student attendance (over 18,500) this season.
“I’m proud of what we’ve built,” Brownell said. “It’s not easy.”
As for what’s next? Hunter summed it up in his postgame speech to the crowd.
“Like I said last year, it’s time to make a run,” he said. “Let’s go.”
Next Clemson basketball game
- Who: Clemson (26-5) in 2025 ACC Tournament quarterfinal game
- Possible opponents: SMU (22-9), Florida State (17-14) and Syracuse (13-18)
- Where: Spectrum Center in Charlotte
- When: 9:30 p.m. Thursday
- TV: ESPN or ESPN2
This story was originally published March 8, 2025 at 7:57 PM.
