Clemson has hit a nice groove, and Notre Dame has shown some shine recently as well.
One of these teams will add an accomplishment when they meet Saturday night in Atlantic Coast Conference play at South Bend, Ind.
Clemson (20-8, 10-7 ACC), which has won three straight games and six of seven, could use a little more polish on its resume. The Tigers are in line for a top-four seed in the ACC Tournament, but they still have work to do.
Notre Dame (11-17, 6-11) has won four of its last five games, including Tuesday night’s 70-65 home conquest of Wake Forest.
“I thought our guys really, really dug in and competed and guarded and willed ourselves to a win,” Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry said.
Clemson hasn’t always been sharp, coming back from a 10-point deficit to defeat Pitt on Tuesday night. Four times this season the Tigers have trailed at halftime and rallied to win.
“(Defense) has been a lot better than I’ve probably given it credit for, here for the last month or so,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “And obviously that’s a big part of why we’re having some success.”
Other than a hiccup at Syracuse on Feb. 24, an 88-85 loss, the Irish have been riding solid defense when in position to win.
“When our defense is set, we’re hard to score on,” Shrewsberry said.
Both teams have players with scoring achievements.
Tigers center PJ Hall moved into 10th place on Clemson’s all-time scoring list earlier this week. He has 1,561 points. With 18.5 points per game this season, he is tied for third in the ACC in scoring.
Notre Dame’s Markus Burton became only the fourth freshman in school history to record 30 or more points in a game when he posted 31 against Wake Forest. He’s averaging 17.2 points per game.
“He has to do it every single game,” Shrewsberry said. “He’s just rising to the occasion. He’s doing a lot for our team. That’s tough, man, for a freshman.”
This is the only scheduled meeting of the season between Clemson and Notre Dame.
–Field Level Media