Georgetown 85, Clemson 78. Clemson basketball made it a game, which is more than the first half promised, but the Tigers still lost their first regular-season game of 2026-27 Friday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.
For about five minutes, it looked like a fair fight. David Fuchs hit an early 3. The score was 12-12 with 15 minutes left in the first half, and Dylan Faulkner’s layup put Clemson up 14-12.
Then Georgetown found its rhythm.
Jaland Lowe tied it at the free throw line, hit a 3 and started pulling strings. Vince Iwuchukwu hit a jumper off a Josiah Parker pass. Parker hit a 3 off an Iwuchukwu pass. Gabriel Landeira hit one off a Lowe pass. Georgetown scored 16 straight points in under four minutes, and the game turned.
Clemson kept shooting, and the Tigers even made five 3-pointers before the break. Fuchs, Liutauras Lelevicius, Cole Certa, Dallas Thomas and Harris Reynolds each hit one. It didn’t matter.
Georgetown led 45-27 with less than two minutes left, and it was up 47-32 at halftime. The Hoyas’ biggest lead was 19.
Most teams don’t climb out of that hole. Clemson tried anyway.
The comeback ran through Certa and Ace Buckner. Certa hit a 30-foot 3 early in the second half. Buckner followed with a 3 and then a layup. Faulkner finished a Certa feed with a one-foot dunk, and the deficit was down to four.
And then Buckner hit another 3. Two points.
Here’s the thing. Georgetown didn’t fold. Elmarko Jackson and Lowe kept answering. But Clemson kept coming, and when Certa hit a 3 with 8:01 left, the Tigers led 62-61. It was their first lead since early in the first half.
Lowe answered with a 3 of his own. Two Reynolds free throws tied it at 64-64. Then Certa’s layup made it 66-64 with 6:23 left, and that was as good as it got.
Jackson scored the next six Georgetown points by himself. A jumper tied it. A layup put the Hoyas up two. Two free throws made it 70-66. Clemson never led again.
The Tigers did everything but get over the hump. Chase Thompson hit a 3 late. Buckner threw down a dunk and then a layup in the final minute. But Lowe kept making free throws, four of them in the last 51 seconds, and Iwuchukwu’s dunk with three seconds left sealed it.
Lowe finished with 21 points and six assists. Iwuchukwu had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Jackson added 17, and Parker gave the Hoyas 11 off the bench. That’s four Georgetown players in double figures.
For Clemson, Buckner led the way with 20 points. Certa added 14, and Lelevicius had 10. Three Tigers got there, and Clemson’s bench outscored Georgetown’s 23-16.
But the numbers that tell the story aren’t in the scoring column. Georgetown made all 13 of its free throws, and Clemson missed three of 14. That’s a seven-point game decided by margins that small. The Hoyas also won the glass 33-27 and had 11 offensive rebounds.
Think about that math. The Tigers made more 3s than Georgetown, won the bench battle and scored more points off turnovers. They still lost. The Hoyas simply did more of the little things at the end.
The Citadel visits Littlejohn Coliseum on Monday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. ET.
