After knocking off No. 5 Kentucky last week and going on the road and beating Miami last weekend, the Clemson basketball team now finds itself ranked No. 16 in the AP Poll.

Since taking down the Hurricanes, the Tigers (9-1) had the week off and will now get set for another tough test as Memphis (7-2) visits Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday. The other Tigers are currently just outside of the Top 25.

Making this matchup a little more challenging is the fact that it tips off at 11 a.m. That means pregame will start bright and early.

“I don’t know that I have played at 11 a.m. I’ve played at noon, but 11 is early,” head coach Brad Brownell said. “Pregame is at eight and we will probably have a really short meeting and that is about all you’ll do. You get most of your work in on Thursday and Friday. Obviously, you have to be cognizant of your guys and see how they feel right away.”

These two teams faced off in Memphis last December, with Brownell’s Tigers dropping a tightly-contested game 79-77. There was a raucous crowd inside Fed-Ex Forum that day and Brownell is hoping the Clemson fan base can return the favor Saturday.

“You hope there is energy in the building,” he said. “The fan base can really help us. I know when we played in Memphis last year they had a white-out and it was electric. It was a tough place to play. We need to have a similar atmosphere here to help give our guys juice and energy. So I am optimistic that we will turn out for a basketball brunch in Littlejohn.”

Another challenge will be slowing down the Memphis offense. The team currently has four different players averaging double-digits in scoring, led by guard PJ Haggerty, who is scoring 23 points per game, while shooting 44% from from beyond the arc.

“They’ve got really good guard play,” Brownell said. “Shooting, ability to drive it. Haggerty, he is tremendous. Might lead the country in guards that draw fouls. He gets in the paint, lives in the paint. He can make plays for himself, his teammates. Super dynamic in terms of one-on-one play, pick and rolls.”

This will mark one of Clemson’s final non-conference games before getting fully entrenched in ACC play. On Tuesday, Brownell’s Tigers will travel to Columbia to face off with the rival Gamecocks, wrapping up what has been one of the toughest out of conference slates in the country.

“That’s how you challenge yourself, that’s how you find out things,” Brownell said. “We certainly learned from our Boise game. We learned from our tournament with San Francisco and Penn State, Kentucky, Miami the other day. When you’re playing good competition, you’re forced to figure some things out along the way. Different styles of play. Memphis is a team that likes to mix their defense. There’s a loft of things that they do and we’ve seen some of it before.”

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