Moment Clemson Knew This Team was Special
By: Will Vandervort March 20, 2026

TAMPA, Fla. — Things were not looking good for Clemson in the first game of the Charleston Classic back on November 21, 2025. The Tigers were down by as many as 11 points in the second half to West Virginia.

Then Dillon Hunter stole the basketball and finished the play with a layup at the other end.

“He started screaming (at the bench) and that got us going,” forward Nick Davidson recalled.

R.J. Godfrey followed with a couple of baskets inside, Jestin Porter got a steal that led to another transition basket and then Carter Welling followed with a couple of threes. Just like that, the Tigers erased the 11-defecit and had the lead.

Godfrey led the Tigers with 14 points that night, finishing with six rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Hunter finished with 13 points and four assists, while Welling scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half. Porter also scored 14 points and added two steals in the win.

“That Clemson Spirit, that team spirit Coach (Brad Brownell) always talks about, that is when we realized, ‘Okay! We are connected.’ That is when we knew we could win,” Davidson said. “That was the moment, that was the turning point.”

The Tigers (24-10), the No. 8 seed in the South Regional, went on to beat Georgia the next day to win the Charleston Classic. From there, it sparked them the rest of the year, which led them to Friday’s first round of the NCAA Tournament game against No. 9 Iowa (22-12) at the Benchmark international Arena in Tampa.

Clemson forward RJ Godfrey (0), forward Nick Davidson (11) and center Trent Steinour (44) participate in a practice session ahead of the first round of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday, March 19, 2026 in Tampa, Fla. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images)

After losing 95 percent of their roster from last year’s 27-win team, few people expected the Tigers to be sitting where they were on Thursday – talking to the media on Media Day, a day before the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“We beat Georgia after that and went on a little bit of a run,” Davidson said.

Besides playing West Virginia and Georgia, Clemson also played Alabama, BYU and Cincinnati, as well as rival South Carolina. The graduate senior says those games played a huge role in why the Tigers are in Tampa.

“Those games were early in the season. We lost a couple of them, learned from it and then won bigger games towards the end of the season,” Davidson said. “That just shows how we can play with anyone, but more importantly that we have evolved as a team. We have gotten better during the course of the season.”

And now, they are hoping it sparks them to a run in the NCAA Tournament.