AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — The Clemson men’s basketball program’s latest transfer portal pickup came last week, when former Duke center Christian Reeves committed to the Tigers on Thursday.
Clemson beat out Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Florida for Reeves, who officially signed with the Tigers this week.
He is a big addition for Brad Brownell’s program, both literally and figuratively, and Clemson’s head coach sees plenty of potential in Reeves as a Tiger.
“Really happy about signing Christian. Number one, just to get a 7-1 guy, 255 pounds – you get a big guy that has been at the (ACC) level,” Brownell said in an exclusive interview with The Clemson Insider at the ACC’s Spring Meetings at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, Fla.
“He hasn’t played much and obviously he’s had several injuries during his career, so we’ve got to be very patient with him, we’ve got to be careful with him. But a 7-1 guy who can catch and block shots and play around the rim is somebody that could be special one day.”
Reeves entered the portal in early April following two seasons at Duke. An injury limited him to just three games with the Blue Devils last season and he would end up redshirting.
The previous year as a freshman, Reeves played in 13 games, including six appearances in ACC play. In limited action (16 career games), he is 10-for-14 (.714) from the floor with 18 total rebounds, including 10 on the offensive glass, and 25 points scored. His career-high of six points came on 3-for-3 shooting in just six minutes against Pittsburgh in the 2023 ACC Tournament.
As Brownell pointed out, Clemson presents a “fresh start” for Reeves as he embarks on a new chapter of his college career. He will have three years of eligibility beginning in 2024-25, and Brownell noted that it will be a process of development with Reeves requiring patience, but the Tigers envision a bright future for him.
“It’s going to take time, we’ve got to develop him. But I also think sometimes guys get a fresh start and there’s an enthusiasm that comes with a fresh start, maybe a different voice,” Brownell said. “We just talked to him about hey, we’re going to be patient with you, this is a process. We’re committing to you for two to three years and want to take it step by step, but we think you can develop into a really good player at this level, and you need to start with just being healthy. We’ve got to build his confidence back a little bit, just in terms of both being healthy and being productive.”
Coming out of high school as a four-star prospect out of Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., Reeves was a top-150 talent and considered one of the better centers in the country.
Reeves was ranked as the No. 5 player from the state of North Carolina in his class by ESPN and signed with Duke as part of the 2022 class. In 29 games during the 2021-22 season at Oak Hill, he averaged 9.2 points on .639 shooting with 7.4 rebounds.
There’s familiarity between Clemson and Reeves dating back to the high school recruiting process, and that helped Brownell and the Tigers as they courted him during his transfer recruitment.
“He’s a guy that we had tracked,” Brorwnell said. “He’d been to campus as a young player. We had him on campus for an unofficial visit, so he knew a little bit about Clemson and we’d met his parents. So when we had him back down, it was almost like you could kind of rekindle a friendship a little bit there and I think it helped in us getting him, is that we did have a little bit of a small prior relationship and that they had seen our team play, were familiar with Clemson and our recent success. So, it was a lot of fun, and certainly we’re excited about having him in Tiger Town.”
Reeves joins former Boston College guard Jaeden Zackery and former Cincinnati forward Viktor Lakhin, both of whom were made official to the Tiger roster last week.