It has been a wild 24 hours for the Clemson Tigers. Facing LSU in the CFP National Championship, Clemson lost 42-25 and were unable to win back-to-back titles on the football field. On the basketball court however, Clemson must’ve taken the loss and channeled that because they upset No. 3 ranked Duke 79-72 at home. This comes after beating North Carolina in Chapel Hill last Saturday marking the first time Clemson beat North Carolina and Duke in consecutive games since 1990.
Clemson knocks off No. 3 Duke!
The last time the Tigers beat North Carolina and Duke in consecutive games was in 1990 🔥 pic.twitter.com/tahuxJZsGL
— ESPN (@espn) January 15, 2020
The Tigers were led by the duo of Aamir Simms and Tevin Mack, who scored 25 and 22 points respectively. Early in the game, John Newman III put out the dunk of the game, throwing it down with a thunderous one-handed strike.
John Newman III, POSTER TIME 😤 pic.twitter.com/vtM5L9SBM8
— ESPN (@espn) January 15, 2020
After going out to a seven-point lead by halftime, Clemson maintained their lead but Duke came clawing back. Chipping away at the margin, Duke took the lead for the first time since midway in the first half with a Tre Jones three with 10:14 left. While both teams were fighting it out, trading the lead back and forth, Clemson took the lead for good with a little over five minutes left and held out for the 79-72 win as Tigers fans stormed the court.
THEY'RE STORMING THE COURT IN CLEMSON!@ClemsonMBB takes down No. 3 Duke! pic.twitter.com/S1U4V5XQiK
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) January 15, 2020
Duke’s loss should move them down in the polls but it shouldn’t be a cause for concern…yet. At 15-2 and 5-1 in conference, Duke is tied with Louisville for the ACC lead. As far as Clemson is concerned, the win puts them at 9-7 and 3-3 in the ACC. After going on a bad run where they lost six out of seven games, the Tigers probably won’t put themselves into the Top 25 just yet but they now have a signature win against a top five team that’ll no doubt help them on the journey to March Madness.
