Following a week of historic road wins, Clemson returns home to face free-falling Miami in Atlantic Coast Conference play on Wednesday night.
Clemson (16-7, 6-6 ACC) was 1-60 all-time at North Carolina before beating the then-No. 3 Tarheels 80-76 on Feb. 6. The Tigers followed that with Saturday’s 77-68 win at Syracuse, just their second road victory ever against the Orange.
Adding to the record-breaking week was Clemson guard Joseph Girard III, who scored his 2,000th career point against Syracuse, his former team.
“I hadn’t really thought about 2,000 — I knew it was within reach before the season had all things gone to plan,” Girard said. “I’m at a loss for words, I don’t really know what to say, it’s just crazy how it all works out.”
Girard, who played at Syracuse from 2019-23, led Clemson with 18 points on 4-for-5 shooting from 3-point range against his former team. PJ Hall added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers, who improved their NCAA Tournament resume.
“(The Orange were) 11-1 up here, and they had a huge crowd (Saturday),” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “It gets loud in here. But we took a deep breath and a couple of big baskets and handled the ball against the press.”
On the season, Hall leads Clemson with 19.9 points per game, followed by Girard’s 15.1.
After 10 days away, the Tigers return to the friendly confines of Littlejohn Coliseum, playing host to a Miami squad that comes in as a loser of three of its past four games.
The Hurricanes (15-9, 6-7) had North Carolina on the ropes on Saturday, but they couldn’t complete a late rally, falling 75-72 at home.
“I thought that was a heck of a college basketball game,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. “The thing about North Carolina is that they’re exceptional at running the court. … We fought back and put ourselves in a position to win the game late but were not able to pull it off.”
Following Miami’s 95-82 win over then-No. 16 Clemson on Jan. 3, the Hurricanes have dropped seven of 11 games.
Norchad Omier leads the Hurricanes with 17.7 points per game this season. Nijel Pack averages 14.3 points per contest.
The Hurricanes have won four in a row against Clemson dating back to the 2020-21 season.
–Field Level Media
