The 2025–26 Clemson Tigers men's basketball team represented Clemson University during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Tigers were led by sixteenth-year head coach Brad Brownell, and played their home games at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, South Carolina as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Clemson started the season by winning three straight games, all by more than twenty-five points, but all against non-Power 4 competition. Their first loss of the season came at Georgetown 74–79. They followed that by winning four straight games, a stretch that included victories in the Charleston Classic Palmetto Bracket. In Charelston, the Tigers defeated West Virginia by three points and Georgia, also by three, in overtime. Clemson faced their first ranked opponent of the year in number twelve Alabama in the ACC–SEC Challenge. The Tigers lost in Tuscaloosa 84–90. They followed that with a neutral site loss against number ten BYU 64–67. The Tigers led by as many as twenty-two points in the second half, but could not close the game out as BYU sunk a three as time expired to secure the victory. Clemson won its last three non-conference games, including a rivalry victory over South Carolina. The Tigers began ACC play by winning six straight games. The highlight of the streak was a four-point victory over then number twenty-four SMU. After their first four victories, the Tigers entered the AP poll at number twenty-two. They rose to number eighteen, where they suffered their first conference loss of the season, against NC State in overtime. They followed that with four straight victories, including winning at both California and Stanford. At the end of the streak, the tigers were ranked number twenty in the AP poll. They then suffered four straight defeats, including a game at number four Duke. They broke the streak by defeating number twenty-four Louisville 80–75. They lost to number seventeen North Carolina and defeated Georgia Tech 79–76 to end the regular season.
The Tigers finished the season 24–11 and 12–6 in ACC play to finish in a tie for fourth place. As the fifth seed in the 2026 ACC tournament earned a bye into Second round where they defeated thirteenth seed Wake Forest, avenging a loss from the regular season. In the Quarterfinals they avenged another regular season loss, defeating fourth seed and number nineteen North Carolina. They faced first seed and number one Duke in the Semifinal, where theylost 61–73. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers were an eight-seed in the South regional. They were defeated 61–67 by ninth-seed Iowa in the First round.
Previous season
The Tigers finished the season 27–7 and 18–2 in ACC play to finish in a tie for second place. As the third seed in the 2025 ACC tournament earned a bye into Quarterfinals where they defeated sixth seed SMU. In the Semifinals they could not avenge a regular season loss to Louisville as they lost by three points. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers were a five-seed in the Midwest regional. They were upset 69–67 by twelfth-seed McNeese in the First round. The Tigers mounted a comeback after being down 31–13 at halftime of the game, but they fell just short.
Offseason Departures Clemson Departures 0 C 6'11" 245 Anapa, Russia Graduated 1 G 6'4" 202 Atlanta, Georgia Graduated 3 G 6'5" 180 Floyds Knobs, Indiana Transferred to Fresno State 4 F 6'8" 240 Loganville, Georgia Joined Clemson football 5 F 6'7" 200 Lake Forest, Illinois Transferred to Furman 6 F 6'7" 245 Brooklyn, New York Graduated 7 F 6'10" 216 Covington, Georgia Transferred to Florida State 10 G 6'2" 187 Landover, Maryland Transferred to Radford 11 G 6'11" 218 Salem, Wisconsin Graduated 13 G 6'5" 195 Clemson, South Carolina Graduated 14 C 7'1" 261 Charlotte, North Carolina Transferred to Charleston 20 G 6'2" 175 Charleston, South Carolina Graduated 32 G 6'7" 220 Dayton, Ohio Graduated 35 F/C 6'11" 247 Tampa, Florida Entered transfer portal
Incoming transfers Clemson incoming transfers 0 F 6'8" 230 Suwanee, Georgia Georgia 1 G 6'1" 180 Houston, Texas Middle Tennessee 4 G 6'4" 180 Hunstville, Alabama UAB 10 F 6'10" 212 Provo, Utah Utah 11 F/C 6'10" 238 Mission Viejo, California Nevada 22 F 6'10" 225 Draper, Utah Utah Valley
2025 recruiting class
Roster
Schedule and results
Source
!colspan=9 style=""| Exhibition
!colspan=9 style=""| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=9 style=""| ACC regular season
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Rankings
Statistics
RJ Godfrey 35 32 25.2 61.1% 20.0% 66.0% 5.3 1.6 12.0 Carter Welling 32 24 20.8 49.3% 29.3% 70.1% 5.4 1.1 10.2 Jestin Porter 35 31 27.0 37.3% 34.8% 76.2% 1.8 1.3 9.6 Nick Davidson 35 12 22.0 51.1% 34.5% 67.4% 4.0 1.1 9.1 Ace Buckner 35 3 19.5 42.9% 31.2% 81.3% 2.9 1.8 8.3 Dillon Hunter 35 35 28.6 41.1% 34.7% 78.6% 3.7 3.0 7.5 Zac Foster 12 0 18.6 31.0% 27.7% 81.8% 2.8 2.5 6.9 Efrem Johnson 35 9 21.1 38.5% 35.5% 83.0% 2.1 1.0 6.3 Jake Wahlin 35 29 20.4 40.3% 34.0% 68.8% 3.9 0.7 5.3 Chase Thompson 35 0 9.0 52.8% 40.0% 68.4% 1.1 0.3 2.3 Dallas Thomas 22 0 4.5 51.6% 57.1% 62.5% 0.4 0.1 2.2 Trent Steinour 6 0 2.5 25.0% — 66.7% 1.2 — 1.0
Source:
References