Clemson hasn't exactly been starving for hoops success in recent seasons—this is a team coming off an Elite Eight appearance, after all.
However, a home win over a No. 2 Duke team is a signature moment for any ACC school—and so it was for the Tigers Saturday afternoon.
Behind 22 points from center Viktor Lakhin, Clemson rallied from six down at the half Saturday to knock out the Blue Devils in a nationally televised contest that featured the return of ESPN's Dick Vitale. After the game, Tigers fans streamed onto the Littlejohn Coliseum court—as shown in this video taken by Grayson Mann of
The program, long overshadowed by its football counterpart, has come a long way under coach Brad Brownell.
Of Clemson's 14 NCAA men's tournament appearances, four have come since Brownell's 2011 arrival. The Tigers have won five straight games against top-five teams—a skein that dates back to 2020 and includes none of their tournament wins last year.
As March looms, it appears another tournament trip is in the offing.