Clemson Sets Regular Season Wins Record with 18-point Victory over Virginia Tech

CLEMSON, S.C. – No. 11/11 Clemson University men’s basketball used an 18-5 first-half burst to take a 15-point lead and cruised to a 65-47 win over Virginia Tech in the regular-season finale in Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday evening.

The Tigers (26-5, 18-2 ACC) set a program record for regular season wins and tied for the most wins on-court in school history overall and won their 15th ACC game of the season by double-digits, tied for third-most in league history.

Clemson has already earned a double-bye and will open play in the ACC Tournament on Thursday in Charlotte’s Spectrum Center. As the No. 3 seed, Clemson will open play at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2.

The Tigers were opportunistic on defense, forcing a season-high 23 turnovers and turning those into 25 points, while holding the Hokies to their second-lowest scoring output of the season. Clemson had 15 steals on the night, with four players tallying two or more, and were whistled for just six team personal fouls on the night. The Tigers did most of their offensive damage inside, hitting on .584 percent of field goal attempts inside the arc and 44 points in the paint, offsetting a 3-for-20 night from three-pot range.  

Redshirt senior Viktor Lakhin (Anapa, Russia/CSKA-2/Cincinnati) led Clemson’s attack with 16 points, his fifth straight game in double-figures, and graduate guard Jaeden Zackery (Salem, Wis./Westosha Central/Boston College) added 12 points and four steals, moving into 10th in program history for single-season steals (61). 

Early in the contest, the teams traded buckets as five different Tigers scored Clemson’s first six field goals. Del Jones (Landover, Md./Arizona Compass Prep) scored six consecutive points in a 1:09 span and sparked an 18-5 run as Clemson opened up a 29-14 lead 12 minutes into play and eight different Tigers scored field goals in the first half. 

Clemson forced 14 turnovers in the half, tallied 28 of its 35 points in the paint and scored on 17 of its 32 possessions in taking a 35-20 lead into halftime. Lakhin scored 12 points and pulled down four boards (3 offensive) by halftime.

In the second half, neither team scored more than five consecutive points, and each time Virginia Tech scored, Clemson had an answer. Twelve Tigers found the scoring column, including Matt Kelly (Charleston, S.C./Porter-Gaud), who hit his first career-three-pointer with 30 seconds left, and Daniel Nauseef (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade Julienne Catholic), who hit a free throw after being fouled with 14 seconds left.

Notes: Clemson extended a school record and earned its 18th ACC game … Clemson finished its ACC season 18-2 overall (9-1 home, 9-1 road), the best mark in school history by both wins and percentage (.900) …  the Tigers tied a school record for wins on the court (26) in a season and set a school record for most regular season wins … Clemson has won 15 ACC games by double-digits, marking a school record and becoming just the fourth ACC team ever to do so (2024-25 Duke, 1998-99 Duke, 2024-25 Louisville) … Clemson won its eighth consecutive ACC game, a school record, surpassing the seven from the 1966-67 team and the 2022-23 team… Head Coach Brad Brownell won his 458th game of his career and his 291st overall and 146th conference win at Clemson … Clemson is fourth in the ACC since 2017-18 with 90 league victories … Chase Hunter extended his program record of wins at Clemson (109)... Clemson forced a season-high 23 turnovers… Virginia Tech’s 47 points were the second-fewest scored against the Tigers this season… Andrew Latiff recorded his first career steal … Matt Kelly recorded his first career three-pointer.