CLEMSON — The last time the Clemson basketball team played in Tampa, Fla., for an NCAA Tournament game was in 2011, and it was an interesting trip.

It was also Brad Brownell’s first team, as he led the Tigers to a 22-12 record that year, while becoming the first coach to take the program to the NCAA Tournament in his first year.

“That was a fun first year at Clemson,” he said.

It was a good first year.

Brownell led the Tigers to a 9-7 record inside the ACC, which tied for fourth that year in the league’s standings. They also advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinals and had wins over NC State, Wake Forest and a nationally ranked Florida State team on their resume.

The team was led by starters such as Demontez Stitt, Andre Young, Jerai Grant, Tanner Smith and Devin Booker.

It was the first year of the First Four in the NCAA Tournament and Clemson received a No. 12 at-large bid and was placed in the First Four.

“That was crazy,” Brownell said.

Why were things crazy?

The Tigers opened the tournament with a 70-52 win over UAB in Dayton, Ohio. The win set up a matchup with No. 5 seed West Virginia in Tampa on that Thursday morning as part of the East Regional.

“I think we (flew) that night and got in at some crazy hour,” Brownell said. “Then, by the way, we had a mandatory shoot around like at noon or something and team had to be there and (talk to) the media. That was crazy!”

The Tigers lost to West Virginia, 84-76, the next day, despite leading by as many as 18 points in the first half. However, in the second half, Clemson ran out of gas. It was obvious their legs gave out.

“Then we had to play the next afternoon, the first game. It was nuts,” Brownell said. “Afterwards they were like, ‘We are just experimenting with the play-in situation. What are your thoughts?’  ‘I think you need to move that game back and give that team a little bit more time to actually enjoy the fact that they won a game.’”

Clemson, the No. 8 seed in the South Region this year, returns to the scene of the crime for the first time since that faithful day in 2011, where this time it will take on No. 9 seed Iowa Friday at 6:40 p.m., at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa.

The Tigers also lost to Villanova in 2008 in Tampa, as part of the Midwest Regional. They also had a big lead in the first half of that game, too.