2026 ACC men’s basketball tournament bracket is set. Here’s when Clemson plays
Clemson men’s basketball’s ACC Tournament path is set.
Coach Brad Brownell’s Tigers are the No. 5 seed in the field for this year’s tournament at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Clemson will play its opening game Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. against either No. 12 Virginia Tech or No. 13 Wake Forest on ESPN2 or ESPNU.
With a win, Clemson would face No. 4 seed UNC in the Friday quarterfinals.
At 22-9 and 12-6 in the ACC, the Tigers are already considered a safe lock to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. According to bracketmatrix.com projections, Clemson’s average seed across 101 brackets is a No. 8 seed as of Saturday.
The Tigers closed out their regular season with a 79-76 home win vs. Georgia Tech earlier Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum, which clinched them the No. 5 seed. Clemson’s late slide (five losses in its last seven ACC games) prevented its chances of earning a top four seed and a double-bye to the quarterfinals.
Clemson is the only ACC charter member to never win the conference tournament championship despite competing in all 72 iterations of the tournaments. The Tigers have made two ACC title games and lost both (1962 to Wake Forest, 2008 to UNC).
Under Brownell, the Tigers have struggled even more: They’ve never won two games in a single ACC Tournament in his 16 seasons as coach. The last time the Tigers won two games in the same ACC Tournament was 2008 under Oliver Purnell.
Clemson is 0-2 this season against its possible opening game ACC Tournament opponents. The Tigers lost 76-66 at home to Virginia Tech on Feb. 11 and lost 85-77 on the road at Wake Forest on Feb. 18. Those losses were part of a mid-year four-game losing streak for the Tigers after a 10-1 ACC start.
Clemson also lost to UNC, its possible quarterfinal opponent, on the road last week. The Tigers lost 67-63 against the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill on March 3.
2026 ACC men’s basketball tournament
All games at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina
Tuesday, March 10 (first round)
2 p.m. – No. 10 Stanford vs. No. 15 Pitt (ACC Network)
4:30 p.m. – No. 11 SMU vs. No. 14 Syracuse (ACC Network)
7 p.m. – No. 12 Virginia Tech vs. No. 13 Wake Forest (ACC Network)
Wednesday, March 11 (second round)
Noon – No. 7 NC State vs. Stanford-Pitt winner (ESPN/ESPN)
2:30 p.m. – No. 6 Louisville vs. SMU-Syracuse winner (ESPN/ESPNU)
7 p.m. – No. 8 Florida State vs. No. 9 California (ESPN2/ESPNU)
9:30 p.m. – No. 5 Clemson vs. Virginia Tech-Wake Forest winner (ESPN2/ESPNU)
Thursday, March 12 (quarterfinals)
Noon – No. 2 Virginia vs. Wednesday Noon winner (ESPN/ESPN2)
2:30 p.m. – No. 3 Miami vs. Wednesday 2:30 p.m. winner (ESPN/ESPN2)
7 p.m. – No. 1 Duke vs. Wednesday 7 p.m. winner (ESPN/ESPN2)
9:30 p.m. – No. 4 North Carolina vs. Wednesday 9:30 p.m. winner (ESPN/ESPN2)
Friday, March 13 (semifinals)
7 p.m. – Thursday afternoon winners (ESPN/ESPN2)
9:30 p.m. – Thursday evening winners (ESPN/ESPN2)
Saturday, March 14 (championship)
8:30 p.m. – Semifinal winners (ESPN)
This story was originally published March 7, 2026 at 8:41 PM.
