Clemson men's basketball ranked for first time in two years

Clemson topped Duke and Louisville this past week to be ranked by the AP for the first time since January 2021.

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Mon Jan 16 12:05:23 GMT-04:00 2023

Clemson men’s basketball is ranked for the first time in two years after a historic ACC start.

The Tigers swept last week’s matchups with Louisville and Duke for the first 7-0 start in school history. That meant a move into the Associated Press top 25 Monday at No. 19, which is the first AP ranking for the program since mid-January 2021 (No. 20 then).

Clemson has secured a two-game conference lead over a quintet of teams at 5-2 currently, including a couple of squads Brad Brownell’s bunch beat once already with Wake Forest and Pitt.

Despite the ACC success and a 15-3 overall record, the NCAA’s NET ranking resume tool still has Clemson at just inside the top 50 (49).

The Tigers own a 4-1 record against NET Quadrant 1 teams but have also suffered two losses to Quadrant 4 teams. Clemson went 3-7 against Q1 teams in its last NCAA Tournament season (2020-21) but played just one game versus a Q4 opponent (1-0; 7-2 versus Q4 teams this year).

The Tigers are an 8-seed in CBS Sports’ latest projection and a 10-seed in ESPN’s latest.

Clemson leading scorer Hunter Tyson ranks fourth in the ACC in rebounding average (9.8), fifth in free throw percentage (83.8) and 13th in scoring (15.7).

The Tigers head to Wake Forest for a 9 p.m. tip Tuesday (RSN). Clemson pulled away in the first meeting on Dec. 2 to a 77-57 victory.

Clemson was also ranked No. 19 in Monday’s Coaches Poll.

AP Top 25

1. Houston

2. Kansas

3. Purdue

4. Alabama

5. UCLA

6. Gonzaga

7. Texas

8. Xavier

9. Tennessee

10. Virginia

11. Arizona

12. Iowa State

13. Kansas State

14. TCU

15. UConn

16. Auburn

17. Miami

18. Charleston

19. Clemson

20. Marquette

21. Baylor

22. Providence

23. Rutgers

24. Florida Atlantic

25. Arkansas

Others receiving votes:

North Carolina State 111, Saint Mary's 106, Arizona State 79, New Mexico 67, Illinois 61, San Diego State 44, Michigan State 29, Duke 24, Wisconsin 14, Creighton 9, Kent State 8, Boise State 6, Texas A&M 5, Ohio State 3, Missouri 3, VCU 2, Iowa 2, North Carolina 1