Moving on: Clemson handles Wake Forest in Tigers’ ACC Tournament opener
Clemson men’s basketball will play another day in Charlotte.
The No. 5 seed Tigers came out on top in their opening ACC Tournament game, putting together a big first half and surviving a subpar second half to score a 71-62 win over No. 13 Wake Forest on Wednesday night at Spectrum Center.
With the win, Clemson advances to a Thursday night quarterfinal game against No. 4 UNC (9:30 p.m., ESPN). The Tar Heels beat Clemson by four points in their only matchup this season, which came just over a week ago in Chapel Hill.
“I thought we played about as well as we’ve played (this year) in the first half and then had to manage it a little bit in the second half,” coach Brad Brownell said postgame. “But really, for the most part, we did a lot of good things.”
Clemson led by 18 points in the first half against Wake, then by as many as 20 in the second half before seeing its lead dwindle to 10 in the final minutes of the game.
The Tigers (23-9) missed multiple opportunities to put the game away, including senior forward RJ Godfrey missing the front end of three straight one-and-one free-throw trips in less than one minute of game time.
But Clemson guard Ace Buckner had a key layup to put the Tigers up 10, 65-55, with 1:27 left after Wake Forest guard Juke Harris cut his team’s deficit to eight points.
The Tigers followed that up with two defensive stops and four free throws to extend their lead to 14 points and end the night with a comfortable win.
Next up: UNC. The Tigers, who closed the regular season losing five of their last seven ACC games after a 10-1 league start, are an early 1.5-point underdog.
“We knew we wanted to come in and prove that we’re one of the top teams in the ACC,” senior guard Dillon Hunter said. “We’re ready to go kill tomorrow.”
Game recap
The first time Clemson played Wake Forest this season, it felt like the Demon Deacons couldn’t miss. Wake Forest shot a blistering 55% from the field and 10-22 on 3-pointers in an 85-77 win against Clemson on Feb. 18 in Winston-Salem.
The Tigers flipped the script in Wednesday’s first half, though.
Clemson hit six of its first 10 3-pointers and got production from up and down its roster in one of the better first halves of its recent ACC Tournament history.
The Tigers shot 50% from the field (16 of 32) and 50% on 3-pointers (9 of 18) and led by 18 points at halftime, 41-23. Playing their first tournament game, they looked sharper and fresher than Wake Forest, which beat No. 12 seed Virginia Tech in overtime Tuesday to advance to the second round.
The only true negative was the loss of Clemson starting forward Carter Welling, who hurt his right knee on a drive to the basket shortly before halftime and had to be helped to the locker room. Welling was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game.
Wake Forest (17-16) found its rhythm in the second half, going on a 9-0 run at one point and cutting Clemson’s lead to just 10 points (56-46) with 8:43 remaining after trailing by as many as 20 points earlier in the period.
One thing that helped Clemson hold the line: Its bench unit, which had 34 points to the starters’ 37 points. The Tigers shook things up by returning to the five-in, five-out “hockey substitution” pattern they used during non-conference play and early in their conference schedule, and they felt the results.
“It’s five fresh guys going against guys that have been in the game four or five minutes,” said freshman forward Chase Thompson, who scored nine points on 4-7 shooting in 19 bench minutes. “That’s an advantage.”
The Demon Deacons kept up their hot shooting, though. At the game’s final media timeout, they were shooting 9 of 17 from the field and 6 of 10 on 3-pointers and, despite trailing 63-53, were very much still in the game.
But Wake Forest never got within eight points of Clemson in the second half, sending the Tigers off to an ACC quarterfinals game against coach Hubert Davis and UNC. Clemson hasn’t won two games at a single ACC tournament since 2008, an eye-opening drought that covers Brownell’s entire 16-year tenure.
“It was a great college game,” Brownell said of Clemson’s 67-63 loss at UNC on March 3. “Hopefully tomorrow is the same.”
Clemson vs. UNC: ACC Tournament quarterfinal
- Who: Clemson (23-9) vs. UNC (24-7)
- When: 9:30 p.m. Thursday
- Where: Spectrum Center in Charlotte
- TV: ESPN
This story was originally published March 11, 2026 at 11:43 PM.
