Clemson basketball vs. Iowa in NCAA Tournament: How to watch, top storylines
Clemson’s 2026 NCAA Tournament opener is almost here.
Here’s how to watch and what else you need to know before coach Brad Brownell and the Tigers open March Madness against Iowa on Friday in Tampa, Florida.
Clemson vs. Iowa game, TV info
- Who: No. 8 Clemson (24-10) vs. No. 9 Iowa (21-12)
- Where: Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Fla.
- When: 6:50 p.m. Friday
- TV: TNT
- Radio: 105.5 FM locally via The Varsity Network website/app
- Stream: Via tntdrama.com/watchtnt
- Betting line: Iowa by 1.5 points
- Next up: The winner of Clemson-Iowa plays the winner of No. 1 Florida vs. No. 16 Prairie View A&M in a second-round game Sunday (time/TV channel TBA).
Update on Tigers assistant coach
On Tuesday, Clemson associate head coach Billy Donlon was announced as the next head coach at MAC school Eastern Michigan. Before heading to Ypsilanti, though, he’ll finish what he started with the Tigers.
Donlon will remain with Clemson basketball for the NCAA Tournament, he and Brownell confirmed Thursday from Tampa.
“Unless he gets sick of me,” Donlon joked of Brownell. “Unless 30 years is enough.”
Donlon, 49, has been Clemson’s associate head coach since 2022 and was previously head coach at Wright State (2010-16) and UMKC (2019-22). He’s also worked as an assistant for Brownell at all three of his Division I coaching jobs.
Brownell said he and Donlon made a “mutual decision” that’ll he stay with the Tigers as long as they’re in the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s very well-deserved. … He’s going to do a great job at Eastern Michigan,” Brownell said. “But he wants to see this through. He wants to be with these guys and our team and see how far we can go.”
Slowing down Stirtz
The top scorer in Friday’s game is Bennett Stirtz … and it’s not very close.
Stirtz, the point guard who’s followed coach Ben McCollum from Division II Northwest Missouri State to Drake to Iowa, is averaging 20.0 points per game for the Hawkeyes. That is fifth in the Big Ten and No. 34 nationally — and eight points better than anyone on Clemson’s roster (F RJ Godfrey, 11.9 PPG).
“He’s really an outstanding player,” Brownell said.
On top of his scoring acumen (15 games of 20-plus points, three games of 30-plus points), Stirtz is also a big guard at 6-foot-4, leads Iowa in assists and steals and has excellent 3-point and free throw percentages (37.6 and 84.5, respectively).
“He’s a great story of a guy playing Division II and following his coach and then playing extremely well at Drake,” Brownell said. “And now he comes to the Big Ten and the guy is on draft boards and could be a lottery pick.”
No Welling. Who steps up?
Clemson suffered an unfortunate ACC Tournament injury for the second season in a row when starting forward Carter Welling tore his ACL against UNC in the ACC Tournament. Clemson beat the Tar Heels in that game before losing to Duke.
The Tigers had to adjust on the fly last week in Charlotte but have had more time to plan out their rotation heading into the NCAA Tournament. Welling, a 6-10 transfer, was one of only two Tigers averaging double-digit points.
In its first game without Welling, Clemson went small against Duke and started three guards along with Godfrey and wing Jake Wahlin (Welling’s replacement). The Tigers brought transfer forward Nick Davidson (their most productive big outside of Godfrey and Welling) off the bench.
Brownell said Clemson could have gotten creative with minutes, considering it has only 10 healthy players on its roster right now. Welling and guard Zac Foster are out with season-ending injuries, and forward Blake Davidson is redshirting.
“It’s going to be next man up,” Brownell said. “Chase Thompson will get a few more reps. Trent Steinour is healthy again and might even get some opportunity, you never know. We’ll be challenged in this tournament with that for sure.”
Clemson vs. Iowa game notes
- This is the first-ever meeting between Clemson and Iowa.
- This will be Clemson’s sixth NCAA Tournament appearance under Brownell (2011, 2018, 2021, 2024, 2025). The Tigers have won at least one game in three of five previous appearances under Brownell, who’s 6-5 in NCAA Tournament games at Clemson.
- No. 9 seeds are 18-10 (.643) against No. 8 seeds since 2018 and have won 51.9% of all 8/9 games since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
This story was originally published March 19, 2026 at 4:37 PM.
