The Clemson Tigers (26-5, 18-2) will to make a run at the ACC Tournament title after coming up short in the regular season, and that begins on Thursday against the SMU Mustangs (23-9, 13-7). In the ACC rankings, the Tigers finished behind the Duke Blue Devils (29-3, 19-1) in second place, but they were given the third seed in the tournament behind the Louisville Cardinals (25-6, 18-2) based on tiebreaker rules. Conference play has gone seamlessly for Clemson in the past eight games, and the team will be looking to add to their streak in a neutral location as part of the ACC quarterfinals against an SMU team that knocked off Syracuse the round prior on Wednesday.

Tigers and Mustangs met in the regular season on Feb. 22, with Clemson coming away with a 79-69. To keep things rolling, the Tigers are hoping their star players show up. Ian Schieffelin is currently averaging 12.9 points and 9.2 rebounds. Support from Viktor Lakhin has come from the last 10 games, seeing him standout with an average of 14.6 points.

Chase Hunter will continue to be a force to reckon with, averaging 16.0 points per game and putting up 17 the last time these two played. Defense has also been an important facotr for Clemson. In the last 10 games, they have only allowed an average of 64.0 points from opponents.

The Mustangs, although at No. 4 in the ACC standings, will need quite the performance from some of their top players in order to disrupt the Tigers’ momentum. The Tigers have matched the 1989-90 program record for wins in a season, and a win against SMU would tip the scales to set a new record with 27 wins. As the campaign continues to roll on, Clemson will be fighting to make it past the Elite Eight round in March, the point in the NCAA Tournament that ended play for the Tigers last year.