No more noodles: NCAA rules shut down popular Clemson fan tradition
A popular Clemson men’s basketball fan tradition has been banned.
For years, the school has passed out orange and purple pool noodles to the student section at Littlejohn Coliseum. Fans will wave the long foam noodles during opponent’s free throws and use them to generally distract the other team.
But the noodles weren’t present during No. 22 Clemson’s home win over Boston College on Tuesday night ... because, according to an ACC spokesman, officials at Clemson’s last home game determined they violated NCAA rules.
ACC spokesman Andy Fledderjohann told The State that during Clemson’s last home game (Jan. 7 vs. SMU), the officials working the game approached the scorer’s table and were concerned about the noodles being used as artificial noisemakers.
NCAA basketball rules state that fans, bands, cheerleaders and mascots associated with a team “shall not commit an unsportsmanlike act, including, but not limited to, the following: Using musical instruments, amplified music, canned music or artificial noisemakers while the game is in progress.”
Playing music and/or using “artificial noisemakers” is only allowed during timeouts, intermissions, dead balls and other moments when the game clock is stopped.
It’s unclear why exactly the Clemson-SMU officiating crew viewed the pool noodles as artificial noisemakers, or what fans were doing to prompt that concern. The noodles are hollow but don’t make noise when blown through. They could theoretically generate noise if dozens of students hit them against seats.
Whatever the refs’ reasoning was, it got through to Clemson and the ACC. The ACC, according to Fledderjohann, sent out a reminder to all 18 league schools about the NCAA policy on artificial noisemakers after the Clemson-SMU game.
And ahead of Tuesday night’s home game vs. Boston College, Littlejohn Coliseum’s in-arena host informed the student section that pool noodles wouldn’t be distributed for the game, according to the Greenville News.
Many students weren’t aware of the change until that announcement. The pool noodles are usually handed out before the second half (when the opposing team is shooting on the basket directly in front of Clemson’s student section).
The noodles are a small but visible part of Clemson’s homecourt advantage at Littlejohn Coliseum and are often featured during TV broadcasts of Tigers games.
The Tigers are 9-0 at home this season and were 15-2 at Littlejohn Coliseum last year. Their 24-2 home record and .923 home winning percentage since 2024 are second best in the ACC in that span, only trailing Duke (25-0).
After Clemson beat Boston College 74-50 on Tuesday night, coach Brad Brownell said postgame he had “no idea” the pool noodles had been banned from use.
“I have no idea,” Brownell said, laughing. “I’m unaware. I’m not even sure I noticed them during the game. Did we have those? I didn’t know.”
Next four Clemson MBB games
- Saturday: vs. Miami, 2:15 p.m. (The CW)
- Jan. 20: vs. NC State, 7 p.m. (ACCN)
- Jan. 24: at Georgia Tech, noon (ACCN)
- Jan. 31: vs. Pitt, noon (ACCN)
This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 10:13 AM.
