Clemson Basketball Turning Heads With Sizzling ACC Start

Brad Brownell’s Tigers stole one on the road at Pitt on Saturday, beating the Panthers 75-74, and things in the ACC seem to be a little upside down.

With the win, Clemson moves to 5-0 in ACC play, and 13-3 overall. The Tigers sit atop the league standings, as the only team without a loss in conference play. That includes three road wins in league play, with back-to-back road ACC wins as well.

The 5-0 start ties a school record set in the 1996-97 season. It’s also the first time the Tigers have won consecutive road ACC games since the same season, a season that ended with a trip to the Sweet 16.

It’s also just the fifth time in program history that Clemson has won back-to-back road ACC games.

The Tigers now sit at No. 54 in the NET rankings, having jumped 24 spots in the past week. The team is also almost guaranteed to be ranked this week when the new polls come out. Clemson already has three Quad 1 wins on the season (Pitt, Va Tech, NC State), with two of those coming away from home. Not bad for a team picked to finish 11th in the ACC.

After the success away from home, Clemson now returns to Littlejohn to see if they can keep the momentum going. The Tigers will host a Louisville team that has struggled mightily so far this season. The Cards are just 2-13 on the season and 0-5 in ACC play.

Then the mighty Blue Devils come to town. Duke is 12-4 overall but just 3-2 in ACC play. It should make for a very interesting week in the Upstate.

While we are still only in January, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the potential of this team. Even if you are cautiously optimistic. Game on.