Clemson Tigers Men’s Basketball Learns Next Sunshine Slam Opponent

The Clemson Tigers men’s basketball team will reportedly play a west coast team in the first round of the Sunshine Slam later this year.

Mar 27, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Clemson Tigers head coach Brad Brownell during a press conference prior to NCAA Tournament at West Regional at Crypto.com Arena. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Clemson Tigers will face the San Francisco Dons in their first neutral site game in the Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach, Fla., later this year, according to a report by College Hoops Today.

The tournament has not made an official announcement. The other matchup is expected to have Penn State face Fordham.

The Sunshine Slam is expected to take place on Nov. 25-26 at the Ocean Center. Per Clemson, the Tigers are set to host Radford on Nov. 21, which is considered the Tigers’ first game in the Sunshine Slam. But the game will be at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Clemson is coming off its biggest season since 1980, the last time it reached the Elite Eight. This past March in the NCAA Tournament, Clemson was a No. 6 seed and defeated No. 11 New Mexico, No. 3 Baylor and No. 2 Arizona before falling to No. 4 Alabama.

Coach Brad Brownell has led the Tigers since 2010 and in that span he’s won 265 games. Since the 2017-18 season he’s led the Tigers to 20 or more wins four times, three NCAA Tournament bids and two NIT bids.

Earlier this season the Tigers announced their non-conference schedule, which features seven games at home, not including their Oct. 30 exhibition against Augusta.

The regular season begins on Nov. 4 against Charleston Southern at 7 p.m.

Two more home games follow, as the Tigers host Saint Francis on Nov. 8 and Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 12, with both game times set for 7 p.m.

Clemson plays the first of its two true road games on Nov. 17 when it goes to Boise State. The Broncos were an NCAA Tournament team last season.

At the Sunshine Slam there are two brackets for the two days of games in Daytona Beach — Clemson, Penn State, San Francisco, and Fordham in the Beach bracket and Radford, Chicago State, Drexel, and Purdue Fort Wayne in the Ocean bracket.

After Daytona Beach, Clemson hosts three straight games — Nov. 29 against Florida A&M at 7 p.m., Kentucky on Dec. 3 in the ACC-SEC Challenge and Memphis on Dec. 14.

The Tigers’ final non-conference game is their other road trip — Dec. 17 at South Carolina.

The men’s ACC opponents were determined in February. Game days and times have not been announced.

The Tigers will play Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech both home and away. Clemson will host Cal, Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Stanford, Syracuse and Wake Forest. The Tigers will travel to Boston College, Louisville, Miami, NC State, Pitt, SMU and Virginia.