Clemson Tigers Put Winning Streak on Line Against Struggling NC State

The Clemson Tigers men's basketball team has the chance to extend its winning streak to six games on Saturday.

Jan 25, 2025; Blacksburg, Virginia, USA; Clemson Tigers head coach Brad Brownwell looks on during the second half against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Cassell Coliseum. / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

The Clemson Tigers will be heading on the road after getting some much-needed rest this week.

Coming into Saturday’s game, the Tigers haven’t had to play since last weekend and are well-rested for their upcoming game against the NC State Wolfpack.

Clemson is hitting their stride of late, winning five straight games in the conference. The strong play of late has kept them within arms length of the Duke Blue Devils and Louisville Cardinals, who are both playing good basketball.

The Tigers are right on the brink of getting back into the Top 25 and a win on Saturday with some help in front of them in the rankings could get the job done.

Clemson (17-4, 9-1 in ACC) will be putting their five-game winning streak on the line against the Wolfpack, who have the opposite record during that span.

It has not been a good season for NC State (9-11, 2-7 in ACC), which is coming off a Final Four appearance last season. If there is something to be optimistic about for the Wolfpack is that they have been much better at home than they have on the road. NC State has yet to win a game this season away from their home court.

The top duo for the Wolfpack entering this matchup will be Marcus Hill and Jayden Taylor. Each are average just over 12 points per game, and they will be the main two that the Tigers will have to focus on defensively.

Overall as a team, the Wolfpack don’t shoot the ball very well from beyond the arc, making a potential upset that much harder. However, while they haven’t played well overall, they did just hang with the Blue Devils a bit this week at home.

Clemson was surely keeping a close eye on that matchup with Duke ahead of them in the conference standings, and NC State being their next opponent at the time.

The Tigers should never take a team lightly on the road and the scare that the Wolfpack recently put into the Blue Devils should result in a focused Clemson team on Saturday afternoon.

This matchup is certainly one with two teams going in opposite directions. While the Tigers do have Duke coming up in a week, they need to be focused and win on Saturday and also their next game to make that matchup next weekend even more meaningful.

Even though anything can happen on the road in a conference game, Clemson should be able to extend their winning streak to six games.