Clemson basketball’s slide in February has now shown up in the polls.
The latest USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll, released on Monday, did not include the Tigers. After checking in at No. 24 a week ago, Clemson fell out of the Top 25 entirely and managed just one vote, placing it well outside the rankings. It marks the first time since Jan. 12 that the Tigers have not appeared in the Coaches Poll, after climbing as high as No. 18 earlier this season.
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Clemson (20-8, 10-5 ACC) also dropped out of the AP Top 25 last week after previously sitting at No. 20. The timing is no surprise. The Tigers have lost four straight games — against Virginia Tech on Feb. 11, at Duke on Feb. 14, at Wake Forest on Feb. 18, and most recently a 70-65 setback against Florida State at Littlejohn Coliseum this past Saturday. It is Clemson’s first four-game losing streak since the 2021-22 season.
That skid comes after one of the program’s strongest stretches in recent memory. Before the loss at Duke, Clemson had won 14 straight ACC road games dating back to last season, tying Duke’s 1962-64 run for the second-longest conference road streak in league history. The Tigers had also won 13 of 14 games prior to this downturn.
From a metrics standpoint, Clemson sits No. 38 in the latest NCAA NET rankings. The Tigers are 3-5 in Quad 1 games, 7-3 in Quad 2, and a combined 10-0 against Quad 3 and Quad 4 opponents. In the ACC standings, Clemson is fifth, trailing Duke (13-1), Virginia (12-2), Miami (10-4) and NC State (10-4).
There is still time to steady things. Clemson returns to the floor on Saturday when it hosts No. 20 Louisville at Littlejohn Coliseum (2 p.m., ESPN2), a matchup that could go a long way toward shifting the narrative heading into March.
|
Rank |
Team |
Record |
PTS |
1st |
Prev |
Chg |
Hi/Lo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
25-2 |
771 |
27 |
3 |
2 |
1/6 |
|
|
2 |
25-2 |
733 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
1/13 |
|
|
3 |
25-2 |
723 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1/7 |
|
|
4 |
23-4 |
647 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2/8 |
|
|
5 |
23-4 |
629 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
2/18 |
|
|
6 |
25-3 |
604 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
3/7 |
|
|
7 |
21-6 |
547 |
0 |
11 |
4 |
3/NR |
|
|
8 |
22-5 |
538 |
0 |
7 |
1 |
1/12 |
|
|
9 |
27-2 |
532 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
5/20 |
|
|
10 |
23-4 |
463 |
0 |
9 |
1 |
5/NR |
|
|
11 |
22-6 |
453 |
0 |
10 |
1 |
6/19 |
|
|
12 |
24-3 |
449 |
0 |
14 |
2 |
12/NR |
|
|
13 |
22-5 |
404 |
0 |
15 |
2 |
8/21 |
|
|
14 |
20-7 |
373 |
0 |
12 |
2 |
9/NR |
|
|
15 |
22-5 |
359 |
0 |
16 |
1 |
6/NR |
|
|
16 |
20-7 |
332 |
0 |
13 |
3 |
11/20 |
|
|
17 |
20-7 |
235 |
0 |
17 |
– |
14/23 |
|
|
18 |
20-7 |
192 |
0 |
NR |
8 |
9/NR |
|
|
19 |
21-6 |
166 |
0 |
20 |
1 |
12/25 |
|
|
20 |
20-7 |
154 |
0 |
21 |
1 |
5/23 |
|
|
21 |
21-6 |
144 |
0 |
18 |
3 |
8/NR |
|
|
22 |
20-7 |
141 |
0 |
NR |
7 |
13/NR |
|
|
23 |
20-7 |
137 |
0 |
22 |
1 |
7/23 |
|
|
24 |
25-2 |
131 |
0 |
19 |
5 |
19/NR |
|
|
25 |
27-0 |
116 |
0 |
23 |
2 |
23/NR |
Schools Dropped Out
No. 24 Clemson; No. 25 Wisconsin;
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Others Receiving Votes
Wisconsin 35; Villanova 25; Georgia 18; Utah State 7; Iowa 6; Saint Mary’s 5; Miami (FL) 5; Clemson 1;
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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Clemson men’s basketball falls out of the latest Coaches Poll update
