Clemson basketball locked out of its own locker room during ACC Tournament. Here’s why
Clemson basketball coach Brad Brownell experienced a first on Friday night:
His team being locked out of its own locker room.
Yes, really.
The bizarre situation unfolded during halftime of Clemson’s 76-73 loss to Louisville in the semifinal round of the 2025 ACC men’s basketball tournament.
“It’s disappointing, obviously,” Brownell said postgame.
Although the Tigers had no issues accessing the area pregame at the Spectrum Center, they returned to the area at halftime to find the door locked and their entire locker room area inaccessible during a critical time for game adjustments.
The end result? Roughly two dozen Tigers players and staffers forming a circle around Brownell in the hallway while he addressed the team.
Clemson was trailing Louisville 33-28 at halftime at that point and got its pep talk more or less in public, surrounded by media members, arena staff and security.
A video of the moment posted by a Louisville television anchor captured the oddity of the moment and picked up traction on X (formerly Twitter). In the clip posted by WAVE’s Dusty Baker, Brownell’s halftime address was audible:
“They can guard the down screen, they can guard the back screen ... There’s no way they should knock us off our base that hard,” Clemson’s coach said in the clip.
Another photo of the moment shows the majority’s of Clemson’s starting players sitting on the arena floor against the wall while Brownell addressed them.
“Eventually, the door was unlocked by building security and the Tigers got in” for the remainder of halftime, according to a report from The Associated Press. Clemson was locked out for roughly four minutes, per another report.
In another video captured, Clemson associate head coach Billy Donlon can be heard making pointed comments to an ACC official once the locker room was opened.
“Thanks for the sense of urgency,” Donlon said as he walked into the locker room. “We’re just trying to win a game. ... Appreciate your sense of urgency. Unbelievable.”
Louisville led Clemson by as many as 15 points in the second half and by 11 points with two minutes to go in the game before the Tigers mounted a late rally and cut their deficit to a single possession with less than a minute remaining.
The Cardinals ultimately held on and advanced to the ACC Tournament championship game against No. 1 seed Duke on Saturday. Clemson (27-6) was eliminated and awaits its NCAA Tournament designation on Selection Sunday.
Had Brownell ever experienced being locked out of his locker room?
“No, not at this level,” he said.
Why was Clemson locked out?
As for what caused the issue? That’s not immediately clear. After the Clemson-Louisville game ended, a Clemson team spokesman and an ACC spokesman both told The State late Friday they didn’t know why the Tigers had been locked out.
The ACC is using the secondary locker rooms at Spectrum Center for teams in the men’s basketball tournament. The lockers are split into Locker Rooms 1 and 2 (lower seed) and Locker Rooms 3 and 4 (higher seed), per signage at the arena.
Clemson, as the lower seed, used the Locker Rooms 1 and 2 area on Friday against Louisville. After the lockout issue was fixed later in the halftime break, the Tigers were able to access and use their locker room space without any issues postgame.
This story was originally published March 15, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
