All you need to know about Notre Dame-Clemson regular-season finale
Tom Noie
MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
∎ WHO: Notre Dame (11-19 overall; 3-16 ACC) vs. Clemson (21-9; 13-6)
∎ WHERE: Littlejohn Coliseum (9,000), Clemson, South Carolina
∎ WHEN: Saturday at 8 p.m.
∎ TV: ACC Network
∎ RADIO: WSBT (960 AM)
∎ ONLINE: Follow every Notre Dame game with live updates from Tribune beat writer Tom Noie at twitter.com/tnoieNDI
One more night of magic for Notre Dame and Mike Brey at Purcell Pavilion
∎ NOTING: Forward P.J. Hall scored 19 points with nine rebounds and fellow forward Hunter Tyson added 17 points and nine rebounds in Tuesday’s 64-57 loss at No. 13 Virginia. The Tigers shot .418 percent from the field, .318 percent from 3 and .800 percent from the foul line. They scored 32 points in the paint in a game that featured one tie and one lead change. Clemson trailed for 33:56 and by as many as 14. … The Tigers head into the final Saturday of the regular season tied for fourth place with Duke; the Irish are locked in to finish 14th. … Clemson is 14-1 overall at home, 8-1 in league play with the loss to No. 16 Miami (Fla.). … Picked in preseason to finish 11th, Clemson returned three starters off last year’s team that went 17-16 overall, 8-12 and 10th place in the league. ... The Tigers spent three consecutive weeks in the Associated Press Top 25 this season, and was ranked as high as No. 19 the week of Jan. 16. … They look to get back to the NCAA tournament this month for only the third time since 2011. … Clemson has won a school record 13 ACC games. Since joining the league in 1953-54, it has tallied double-digit league wins only four times, including a then-school best 11 league wins in 2017-18. … The Tigers lead the league in free throw percentage (.795) and field goal percentage defense (.408); Tyson leads the conference in defensive rebounding (8.13). … Notre Dame leads the overall series 8-2, all as ACC colleagues, including 4-1 at Littlejohn Coliseum. The Irish have won three straight in the series after previously losing two in a row. Their last loss at Littlejohn was Jan. 20, 2018 (67-58). … This game is the last one to tip during the ACC regular season. … Notre Dame is 0-9 in league road games and 0-11 overall away from home this season. The Irish have lost 11 straight league road games since its last league road win, Feb. 12, 2022 at Clemson (76-61). … Coming off Wednesday’s 88-81 victory over No. 25 Pittsburgh, Notre Dame looks to win consecutive games for the first time since opening the year 5-0. … Notre Dame will remain on the road after this one and bus Sunday to Greensboro, North Carolina in advance of next week’s ACC Tournament.
∎ QUOTING: “The guy knows how to coach and he’s got his guys chances to win games. Winning is hard.” — Clemson coach Brad Brownell on Mike Brey
— Tom Noie