The Clemson basketball team comes off a historic upset against Duke on Saturday night and will square off against another ACC blue-blood in the North Carolina Tar Heels on Monday. North Carolina (14-10, 7-5 ACC) is in the midst of a disappointing season, currently sitting at seventh in the ACC.
Clemson’s victory over No. 2 Duke marked their fifth-straight win against an AP top five opponent and their highest-ranked win since defeating UNC in 2001.
The Tar Heels wrapped up the 2024 season with a 29-8 record and claimed the ACC regular season title, finishing 17-3 in conference play. One of those 17 victories came against their archrival, Duke. However, this season, Duke had the upper hand, defeating UNC 84-79. After a standout season last year, many are questioning what went wrong. The answer is simply missing pieces and career-low performances across the board that the Tigers hope to take advantage of.
The Tar Heels were unable to find a suitable replacement for their former center, Armando Bacot, which has proven to be a significant loss for the team’s defense. North Carolina ranks 90th in 2-point defense rate, while Clemson is coming off a game where they scored 40 points in the paint against Duke, whose 2-point defense rate was the best in the nation.
On Saturday, Clemson’s 6-foot-11 center Viktor Lakhin scored 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting in the paint while Ian Schieffellin averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds against UNC last season. Schiefellin will be seeking his 10th double-double of the season. North Carolina’s vulnerability inside the arc should prove to be a major edge for the Tigers.
UNC is shooting 32.3% from beyond the arc — ranked 243rd nationally – while Clemson is ranked 15th nationally with a 38.4 percentage. UNC veteran guard RJ Davis is shooting a career-low 29.5% from three.
Clemson’s veteran, Chase Hunter, posted an impressive performance of 14 points and seven rebounds against Duke, highlighted by a game-sealing block in the final seconds of the game.
In their one-point victory over Pitt on Saturday, UNC standout freshman Ian Jackson, who earlier made history as the first UNC freshman to score 23 or more points in four consecutive games, recorded his first scoreless game, taking a career-low three shots. This kind of inconsistency around the team has been a notable struggle for North Carolina throughout the season.
Both Clemson and UNC are playing a Saturday-to-Monday stretch, marking Clemson’s shortest turnaround between games since November. After fans stormed the court in Littlejohn following the victory over Duke on Saturday, the Tigers hope to carry that momentum into Monday’s game. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
