Countdown to tipoff: Tigers Take on BC in ACC Quarterfinals
By: will-vandervort March 8, 2018

NEW YORK — Clemson is looking to advance to the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament for the first time since the 2010-’11 season when it plays No. 12 Boston College in the quarterfinals today at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn at 2 p.m.

The Tigers, the No. 4 seed in the ACC Tournament, earned a double-bye and will be playing its first game, while the Eagles will be playing their third game after earning wins over No. 13 Georgia Tech and No. 5 NC State in the first two rounds.

Coincidently, the last time Clemson advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinals, it defeated Boston College. The Tigers are 2-0 all-time vs. BC in the ACC Tournament.

GAMEDAY SETUP

CLEMSON (22-8, 11-7 ACC) vs. BOSTON COLLEGE (19-14, 7-11 ACC)

Date: Today

Tipoff: 2 p.m. (or after the first game)

Arena: Barclays Center (19,000)

Radio: CTN (Don Munson-pbp; Terrence Oglesby-color)

TV: ESPN/ESPN2 (Sean McDonough-pbp; Dan Dakich-color; Maria Taylor-sideline)

TV: ACCN (Tim Brando-pbp; Mike Gminski-color)

  • No. 4 seeded Clemson will face-off against No. 12 seeded Boston College in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament this afternoon.
  • The Tigers won 74-70 at BC earlier this season.
  • Head coach Brad Brownell is 8-3 against Boston College in his career.
  • Clemson is 2-0 all-time against the Eagles in the ACC Tournament with meetings in 2008 and 2011.
  • The last meeting between both in ACC tournament play was during head coach Brad Brownell’s first year at Clemson and ended up as a 70-47 win for the Tigers.

SERIES HISTORY
CU Series W-L record: Clemson is 16-7 all-time against Boston College.
Streak: The Tigers have won six in a row over the Eagles.

 TIGER TRACKS

  • Clemson is 19-64 in the ACC Tournament over the years with two appearances in the championship game. Those appearances took place in 1962 and 2008. Clemson is the only original ACC team that has not won the ACC men’s basketball tournament.
  • This is the 14th time Clemson has had a top 4 seed in the ACC Tournament and the Tigers are 9-13 as a top 4 seed.
  • If Clemson wins its first game of the ACC Tournament it would be just the third time Clemson has won an ACC Tournament game in consecutive years. Clemson won ACC Tournament games in three straight years in the Tree Rollins era—1975, 1976 and 1977—and in 1993 and 1994.
  • Clemson clinched its first top-four seeding at the ACC Tournament since 2011 when head coach Brad Brownell was in his first season at Clemson.
  • Brownell has a 3-7 all-time record in the ACC Tournament. His three wins are tied for the most in Clemson history with Bill Foster (3-9), Cliff Ellis (3-10) and Oliver Purnell (3-7). Obviously, a win on Thursday against BC would give Brownell the most ACC Tournament wins for a Clemson head coach.
  • The Tigers were predicted to finish 13th in the ACC according to the media during the preseason and proceeded to finish tied for 3rd. The jump of 10 places from preseason to postseason is the largest in ACC history since the preseason poll was inaugurated in 1970.
  • A trio of Tigers earned All-ACC recognition: Marcquise Reed (second team), Gabe DeVoe (honorable mention) and Elijah Thomas (all-defensive team).
  • Marcquise Reed tallied his 11th 20-point outing of the season with 21 points in the regular season finale at Syracuse.
  • Gabe DeVoe remains 11th all-time in the Clemson record book for threes in a career (154). He needs just one more to tie for 10th.
  • The Tigers’ win over Florida State marked a new program record for ACC wins during the regular season with 11. The 11 wins ties for the most all-time in any conference for Clemson. (Posted 11 wins in the Southern Conference in 1951-52).

SCOUTING BOSTON COLLEGE

  • The Eagles are led by guards Jerome Robinson, the ACC’s leading scorer, and Ky Bowman. The two lit up NC State in the second round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday by scoring 50 of the Eagles’ 91 points. Robinson had a game-high 26 points, while Bowman had 24 points. The two also combined for nine assists, five by Robinson and four by Bowman.
  • Center Nik Popovic also had a good game against the Wolfpack. He scored 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting. He also had two assists and had seven rebounds.
  • Third guard Jordan Chatman had 12 points and three assists in the win over NC State.
  • This is the fourth day BC has been in Brooklyn. They arrived in New York on Monday for practice and then beat Tech and State in the first two rounds.
  • BC shot 51 percent from the floor overall vs. NC State and was 7-of-21 from behind the arc.

–Staff Reports