CLEMSON – Last week, Clemson wide receiver Tristan Smith won a six-month-long legal battle, receiving an injunction against the NCAA that allowed him one more season of eligibility at Clemson.
Though Mia Moore and Taylor Johnson-Matthews, two women’ s basketball players at Clemson, had similar backgrounds as Smith, they were both denied an additional year of play this offseason by the NCAA, according to Clemson head coach Shawn Poppie during Wednesday’s press conference at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Both players submitted waivers to the NCAA after Clemson’s season concluded in March, arguing that due to their respective situations, they should both be eligible to play in the 2026-27 season.
“Taylor, to start, was probably the quickest,” Poppie said. “Hers got, as we all expected, denied and then her appeal got denied. Now it’s her and her team trying to figure out what’s next. Mia, unfortunately, just got denied this week. So, we waited, however, many days to hear that news. Now we’re in the process of putting an appeal together, and so we’ll figure out what happens. What does that look like? I don’t know.”
Johnson-Matthews started her collegiate career at Wright State, making one start in 30 games. After receiving limited minutes, she transferred to Pearl River Community College, where she led her team with 18.2 points per game and was named Conference Player of the Year.
With that success at the junior college level, the Cleveland, Ohio native transferred to DePaul in 2025, and averaged 14.5 points per game. Last year, attending her fourth school in as many seasons, she made five starts for the Tigers, knocking down 39 percent of her three-pointers and helping Clemson to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.
In her initial waiver request and following appeal, Johnson-Matthews argued that, based on other precedents from rulings across the country, her junior college year should not count towards her overall eligibility. Now, with a denied appeal, she is still working out on Clemson’s campus, doing personal workouts parallel to the Tigers’ team.
“She is here on campus finishing up, she’ll graduate here at the end of the summer,” Poppie said of the guard. “So, it’s still who knows on that side of things.”
After Smith’s win against the NCAA last week, Johnson-Matthews might fall in line with what happened in Smith’s complaint against the NCAA. Smith’s legal team argued the NCAA granted similar blanket waivers in 2025.
Last Friday, Smith was granted a temporary injunction from the NCAA, allowing him to become eligible for the 2026 football season. The injunction was handed down from South Carolina’s 13th Circuit Judge Jessica Salvini in Pickens County.
The Court used the NCAA’s own ruling in the eligibility waivers granted to former Oregon wideout Malik Benson and Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia to make the decision.
“The NCAA granted the eligibility waiver for both individuals. Mr. Benson’s case is nearly identical to the present case. Mr. Benson also attended Hutchinson Community College, and like Mr. Smith, had two JUCO years counted by the NCAA. Nevertheless, the NCAA granted Mr. Benson the waiver and he was permitted to compete for the University of Oregon. The only material distinction the Court can identify between Mr. Benson’s case, and the instant matter is that Mr. Smith’s final Division I season falls in 2025-26 rather than 2024-25,” according to the order granting Smith the temporary injunction.
Smith played two years at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College before attending Southeast Missouri State in 2024 and Clemson in 2025.
Unlike Johnson-Matthews and Smith, Moore’s argument for one more year at Clemson is based on her lack of playing time as an underclassman at the Power Four level, not a junior college stint..
Before playing two seasons at Clemson and earning second team All-ACC honors in 2026, Moore started her career at Mississippi State after being ranked the No. 52 player in her high school recruiting class. She missed her entire first season due to injury, and played in just four games as a redshirt freshman.
The crux of Moore’s argument for one more season, Poppie said, stems from the fact that she played just two minutes over the redshirt threshold in her second year in Starkville before beginning a prolific career at UAB and Clemson.
Despite playing just 12 minutes in the 2022-23 season, that year currently counts as one of Moore’s four guaranteed seasons under the current NCAA structure.
“We felt confident that we could get that back,” the third-year head coach said. “Unfortunately, that’s not how the NCAA has seen it. So we got to take a deeper dive into an appeal and see what happens. It’s really about as deep as I can get. Going into it felt confident because there have been a handful that have had that, where they get that waiver back.”
As a redshirt senior last season, Moore earned an honorable mention All-American honor, recording 23 double-figure scoring games, with 13.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game. In February, the Alpharetta, Ga., native recorded back-to-back 30-point performances against Boston College and Georgia Tech.
Now, with the ongoing eligibility situation in flux, Moore missed out on a potential chance to be selected in the 2026 WNBA Draft. Her next step, according to Poppie, if not allowed another year, would be to play professionally overseas.
“That’s ultimately what we’re supposed to be in this for, right?” Poppie said. “Is to make sure that they’re getting the most opportunity or opportunities that they deserve.”
While Moore and Johnson-Matthews look at their options, both legal and professional, the Tigers will continue with their summer practices, welcoming in a strong freshman and transfer class to build on the success Clemson found last season.
That success, in large part, came from the talents of the two players looking for one more year of college basketball.
