No. 11 Clemson’s dream regular season can end in historic fashion when the Tigers host Virginia Tech on Saturday evening.
Clemson (25-5, 17-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) needs a win against the Hokies on Senior Day to surpass the regular-season win total of the 1986-87 Tigers for most in program history. Clemson, which has won its last seven, has already set the school record for most conference victories in a single campaign.
“Obviously, I’d be surprised,” Tigers coach Brad Brownell said when asked on Thursday if he saw this kind of impressive record coming before the season.
“I thought we had a chance to have a good team. Are we 17-2 now in the league? I don’t know that I believed we’d be that.”
Brownell, who started at Clemson in the 2010-11 season, guided the Tigers to last year’s NCAA Tournament and within a game of reaching the Final Four as a No. 6 seed, falling to Alabama 89-82 in the Elite Eight.
“You just kind of coach your team, hope your team is good enough to give you a chance to play important games at the end, and certainly this team has done that,” said Brownell.
Clemson’s latest win — a 78-69 victory at Boston College on Wednesday — was still in the balance late before Victor Lakhin grabbed two important offensive rebounds to thwart an Eagles comeback bid. The Cincinnati transfer finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds — his fifth double-double of the season — while former Boston College star Jaeden Zackery scored a game-high 21 in his return to his former school.
Brownell gives a lot of credit for this season’s success to his two transfers that are set to make their NCAA Tournament debuts later this month.
“Just speaks to how competitive he’s been,” Browell said about Lakhin’s late rebounding efforts.
“He and Jaeden both are guys that really want to go to the tournament. You can sense it. I think that’s part of the reason why they came to Clemson. They are both very hungry to try to be a tournament team. Obviously, we are going to be that this year and it’s because of plays like that.”
Zackery, who posted a career-high 22 points in a win over Clemson in the 2024 ACC tournament, said he’s still focused on closing out the regular season before letting himself get wrapped up in NCAA Tournament scenarios.
“I’m definitely excited but, honestly, I’m not looking at that right now,” Zackery said.
Virginia Tech (13-17, 8-11) will hope that life on the road continues to be kind. The Hokies have alternated wins and losses over their last four games but suffered their heaviest defeat of the season on Tuesday in a 91-59 home loss to North Carolina.
Despite the losing record overall, Virginia Tech is 5-4 away from home in the league.
For coach Mike Young, who hasn’t had a losing campaign since arriving at Virginia Tech for the 2019-20 season, turnovers were the main reason a close game before the half quickly turned into a 46-29 deficit for the Hokies.
“It’s really bothersome and I haven’t been able to correct it,” Young said after the Hokies committed 12 turnovers, one below their ACC league leading average of 13 in conference play.
“That is very frustrating for me. I don’t know that I’ve had this in my 23 years and it keeps me up at night.”
Jaydon Young, who recently had scoring outbursts of 27 at Miami and 26 against Syracuse, led the Hokies with 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting against North Carolina but struggled from the outside by missing eight 3-pointers.
Clemson won the first meeting 72-57 on Jan. 25 in Blacksburg, Va.
–Field Level Media
