The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have really struggled badly in ACC play this season, thanks to injuries and an odd youth movement for a Mike Brey team. It didn’t get any better on senior night inside Purcell Pavilion as the Irish lose to the Clemson Tigers in the final seconds. The Irish had a rough start to the game and quickly arrived at the point where they were playing from behind for most of the first half. Huge scoring droughts have plagued Notre Dame all season, and this game was no different as they went 8 minutes with a bucket at one point. Amazingly enough, the Irish fought back to tie the game heading into the half, and it looked like tonight might be different. The Irish actually built up a 4 point lead late in the second half, but they turned the ball over, took bad shots, and got lost on defense enough for Clemson to come back to take the lead. With 3 seconds left in the game, Nate Laszewski went to the line for a 1 and 1 with the Irish only down two. Nate hit the first one, but rimmed the second. Clemson went back to the free throw line with 2 seconds left and made the first shot, and then missed the second shot. The ensuing full court lob found nothing but air. John Mooney had a huge game with 18 points and 20 rebounds. T.J. Gibbs added 14 more on a night the Irish were down their usual number and also Nikola Djogo and D.J. Harvey. Freshman Dane Goodwin had 12 points and his classmate, Prentiss Hubb added 7 more. It was all about droughts, untimely turnovers, and Clemson playing extremely well against the zone. Notre Dame has just 3 ACC wins this season, and will try to close out the regular season with a 4th against the Pittsburgh Panthers in Pittsburgh.<doc-sep>OMAHA, NE - MARCH 23: Head coach Brad Brownell of the Clemson Tigers reacts against the Kansas Jayhawks during the second half in the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at CenturyLink Center on March 23, 2018 in Omaha, Nebraska. The Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Clemson Tigers 80-76. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) Clemson Football: Trevor Lawrence discusses why he won’t sit out his CFB career by Shawn Spencer There’s one week of the regular season remaining for the Clemson basketball team. Here’s the Tigers’ path to the NCAA Tournament after a tough loss to UNC. The Clemson basketball team suffered yet another heart-breaking loss this past weekend, this time at the hands of the North Carolina Tarheels. The Tigers competed with the Tarheels- a top-five team in the nation- but came up just two points shy with a questionable no-call to end the game. With the loss, Clemson basketball fell to 7-9 in the ACC with just two games remaining before the beginning of the conference tournament. Despite the loss- which was the fourth loss by two points or less in conference play this season- the Tigers still have tournament hopes alive. What will it take? Here’s a look. The Path to the NCAA Tournament… For Clemson basketball to feel good about its chances, the Tigers need to win the final two games of the regular season and then one game in the ACC Tournament. Clemson plays @ Notre Dame tonight and then plays Syracuse at home this weekend to close out the season. The Tigers should be able to beat both of those teams and will need to, in my opinion. If they win those two, they could basically lock up a berth in the NCAA Tournament with a win over, presumably, NC State in the ACC Tournament. This would the 8-vs.-9 game in the conference tournament. A loss in one of these three games doesn’t necessarily knock the Tigers out, though. The bubble this season is very weak and there’s a chance that a few other teams could play the Tigers into the field. What Clemson can’t have happen is to have teams- like Wofford- from one-bid conferences lose. That would create less at-large bids and, as a result, make the chances much less likely. In the end, it really comes down to this week. The Tigers can get into the NCAA tournament with a couple of quality wins to close out the season. They’ll have a chance to make some noise in the conference tournament, as well, but it’s going to come down to their mindset. There’s certainly not any room for error, but the season isn’t over. Clemson is more than capable of winning these next three games- two in the regular season and one in the conference- but it’s best to just take it one game at a time. It all starts tonight with Notre Dame.<doc-sep>
Clemson bounces back with close win at Notre Dame TigerNet Staff by Few things have come easy for Clemson men's basketball this season but the Tigers turned a close game in their favor to a 64-62 win at Notre Dame Wednesday. Clemson (18-12, 8-9 ACC) jumped out to six-point lead five minutes into the second half and maintained that edge almost seven minutes in. Notre Dame and Clemson then kept it to a two-possession - and mostly one-possession - game into the final stretch. Marcquise Reed, who scored a game-high 22 points, keyed the Clemson effort down the stretch. The Tigers jumped on top by one with under a minute to go with a Reed jumper. Reed then swooped in for a steal after Notre Dame called a timeout to gameplan and went to the free throw line, hitting both to extend the edge to three points. Notre Dame (13-17, 3-14) answered with a drive to the hoop from Prentiss Hubb and then Clemson's Shelton Mitchell went to the line. He hit 1-of-2 but sent the Irish to the line with a foul on the baseline. There, Notre Dame's Nate Laszewski stepped to the charity stripe and returned the favor with a miss on his second attempt to effectively seal the game. Clemson led by as much as nine points in the first half but the Fighting Irish closed the gap to even at the break, 32-32. The Tigers improved to 2-5 in games decided by three points or less with the effort. Elijah Thomas (14) and Shelton Mitchell (11) joined Reed in double-figures scoring. John Mooney led Notre Dame with 18 opints. The win keeps Clemson in the NCAA Tournament hunt, projected on the last four in and first four out depending on where you look. The Tigers close the regular season slate at home versus Syracuse on Saturday (noon, CBS).