In the course of just four days, the Tigers went from co-leaders of the Atlantic Coast Conference to mathematical longshots. After losing in a 67-54 game against No. 4 Duke on Saturday, the betting markets have essentially closed the book on a Clemson regular-season title.
The Tigers’ odds have plummeted to +12500, according to updated odds from FanDuel Sportsbook, a calamitous drop for a team that topped the standings just last week. The two-digit margin of defeat was contributed by an offensive performance that head coach Brad Brownell described as a “struggle.”
While Clemson’s 16th-ranked defense stiffened up in the first half — held Duke to 31 points and kept the Tigers within 5 at the break — the Tigers’ perimeter shooting never existed. Clemson finished the afternoon shooting 35 percent from the field and only had one made three-pointer the entire game. In a modern “ecosystem” relying on spacing and the Tigers’ inability to hit the range was lethal against an elite Duke defense.
“Much of the early offense came inside,” analysts said, as Carter Welling (12 points) and RJ Godfrey (10 points) relied on their physicality to keep the game a step away. But with no perimeter threat to keep the defense honest, the floor shrunk in the second half. The only possibility of a comeback was extinguished by a Duke surge to start the second half. Came on by transition buckets and a highlight-reel alley-oop from National Player of the Year applicant Cameron Boozer, the Blue Devils put the lead into double figures and never looked back.
The 13-point defeat was so large for several reasons: At least one reason is that it broke the Tigers' 14-game streak of ACC road wins. It was the Tigers' largest defeat in the 2025-26 season. The result was two straight defeats for the first time this year. With the regular-season crown a far-off “what if,” Tigers need to look for their high seed now that they have won the tournament in the national tournament once more.
Wednesday with Wake Forest on track are our "road warriors" are now on, a long-overdue team that has already crossed the 20-win mark, a challenge is now psychological. To get a momentum rebuild ahead of March, Clemson needs to establish that Durham’s “ice-cold” shooting was an outlier and not a signal of a late-season downfall.