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Clemson Tigers’ Elite Eight Run Last Year Fuels Return to NCAA Tournament

The Clemson Tigers appear to have capitalized on last year’s incredible run as they prepare for March Madness.

Matt Postins

Mar 19, 2025; Providence, RI, USA; Clemson Tigers guard Chase Hunter (1) practices at Amica Mutual Pavilion.
Mar 19, 2025; Providence, RI, USA; Clemson Tigers guard Chase Hunter (1) practices at Amica Mutual Pavilion. / Eric Canha-Imagn Images
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Last year the Clemson Tigers men’s basketball team did something it had done just one other time in program history — reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers want to follow that up with another deep March Madness run this month, as they prepare to face the McNeese State Cowboys in the first round on Thursday at 3:15 p.m. eastern on TruTV.

Clemson (27-6) has already done something that the program didn’t do back in 1980 — follow up that Elite Eight with another NCAA Tournament berth.

Back in 1980, the Tigers were in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. But, after that magical run, Clemson did not return to the tournament until 1987.

This is the kind of consistent that coach Brad Brownell wants to build. The Tigers have gone to the NCAA Tournament five times in his tenure, with three of those appearances coming in the last five years.

Under Brownell, the Tigers went to the Sweet 16 in 2018, and he said that helped the program with exposure and recruitment.

This time around, Clemson not only got exposure, but it also helped the Tigers import an impressive transfer class, including forward Viktor Lakhin, and fueled holdovers like Chase Hunter and Ian Schieffelin to return to March Madness.

“It's also been really good for this year's team,” he said on Wednesday in Providence, R.I., ahead of Thursday’s game. “Guys knowing what they're playing for, Chase and Ian especially. Chauncey Wiggins, Dillon Hunter, guys who were part of last year's run. That kind of success fuels you and you want to continue to do it. You want to be in big-time games and play significant games in March, and I think it helped grow our team and fuel our team a little bit throughout the course of the season.”

Lakhin, for one, is thrilled with the chance to play in the tournament after failing to get there at his former school, Cincinnati. He told The State’s Chapel Fowler that he intended to “play his heart out” in his NCAA Tournament debut.

The Tigers (27-6) finished in a tie for second in the ACC this season and scored one of the biggest wins of the season by any team, defeating Duke on its home floor in February. Clemson lost in the ACC semifinals to the Louisville Cardinals. The Tigers dropped to No. 12 in the final AP Top 25 and were installed as a No. 5 seed in the Midwest Region.

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Matt Postins
MATT POSTINS

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