The most anticipated game of the regular season has arrived for the Clemson basketball team as No. 2 Duke is in town putting its perfect ACC record on the line at Littlejohn Coliseum. It is an opportunity for the Tigers to make a statement on the national scene and reassert their standing as a legitimate ACC title threat after Tuesday's disappointing 3-OT home loss to a bad Georgia Tech team.
It is a shame that Clemson couldn't prevail against the Yellowjackets in their last game. If they would have been able to close that game out (and they had plenty of chances to do so), then tonight's game against Duke would be a chance to move into first place in the ACC standings.
While that is not the case, this game is still a chance for the Tigers to make serious noise on the national scene. The Tigers already did that once this season by beating then-No. 4 Kentucky 70-66 in Littlejohn back in early December.
That win proved to the nation what this Clemson team is capable of accomplishing when it plays its best basketball. But since then, the Tigers have not beaten (or even played) a ranked team.
That speaks to the overall weakness of the ACC this season. Therefore, opportunities like tonight's game against Duke are going to be rare for the Tigers. In fact, this could be the final ranked opponent that Clemson faces the rest of the season depending on how the ACC Tournament shakes out.
In other words, the Tigers need to take advantage of the chance to improve their NCAA Tournament resume tonight because there isn't much meat left on the schedule moving forward. Of course, it won't be easy to put this one in the win column.
Duke is 20-2 on the season and hasn't lost since falling to Kansas back on November 26. And they are led by perhaps the best player in the country, true freshman Cooper Flagg. The 6-foot-9 forward leads the Blue Devils in scoring (19.5 points per game) and rebounding (7.8 rebounds per game) and will likely be the No. 1 overall pick in the next NBA Draft.
As usual, freshmen are a huge part of Duke's team this year. 6-foot-7 forward Kon Knueppel is second on the team in scoring at 13.5 points per game and he shoots 37.3% from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, Khaman Maluach is a 7-foot-2, 250-pound defensive menace. In addition to scoring 8.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, he blocks 1.1 shots per game and deters an untold number of others.
The ESPN.com Matchup Predictor gives Clemson just a 25.9% chance of pulling out this win. However, that won't keep head coach Brad Brownell and his team from putting their best foot forward and seeing what will happen and Clemson fans across the country will be tuning in to see how the Tigers look against arguably the best team in the country. So here's all the game information fans need to know to get ready for the year's biggest home tilt.
Clemson vs. Duke broadcast information
Tip: 6:30 p.m. Eastern
TV: ESPN (Dave O'Brien, Cory Alexander and Dick Vitale)
Radio: Clemson Athletic Network (Don Munson, Tim Bourret, Ben Milstead)
Clemson Radio Affiliates: WCCP 105.5 The ROAR (Flagship)
SiriusXM: Ch. 371, and on the SiriusXM App
Clemson vs. Duke series history
Overall: Clemson trails 33-113
In Clemson: Clemson trails 25-40
In Durham: Clemson trails 4-64
At neutral sites: Clemson trails 4-9
Current streak: Duke, 1
Coach Brownell vs. Duke: 4-13
Clemson vs. Duke Odds
Odds courtesy of FanDuel.com.
Favorite | Moneyline | Over/Under |
|---|---|---|
Duke -6.5 | Duke -255 | 133.5 |
Clemson vs. Duke game notes
Notes courtesy of clemsontigers.com.
- Hall of Fame broadcaster Dick Vitale will make his return to college basketball at Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday, Feb. 8 when the Tigers face the No. 2 ranked Duke Blue Devils.
This will be Vitale’s first broadcast since he did the April 3, 2023 National Championship game between UConn and San Diego State.
- Clemson has 13 wins over top 25 Duke teams in the city of Clemson and 12 have taken place at Littlejohn, the same total Clemson has over North Carolina. The list includes Clemson’s first win over the No. 1 ranked team, on Jan. 9, 1980.
- Clemson’s first win at home over a top-25 team took place on Valentine’s Day 1967 when the Tigers won 73-68 over a 14th-ranked Duke team at Fike Fieldhouse.
- Clemson’s first win over a top 25 Duke team in Littlejohn Coliseum took place on Feb. 21, 1979, a 70-49 victory behind Bill Foster’s (Clemson) Tiger PAWS offense. Duke was sixth in the AP poll entering that game.
- Brad Brownell has four wins over Top 25 Duke teams, including the win over the third-ranked Blue Devils team on Jan 14, 2020 – the year was cut short by COVID-19.