2020–21 Clemson Tigers men's basketball team

The 2020–21 Clemson Tigers men's basketball team represented Clemson University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Tigers were led by eleventh-year head coach Brad Brownell and played their home games at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, South Carolina as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

2020–21 Clemson Tigers men's basketball
Space Coast Challenge Champions
NCAA tournament, first round
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Record	16–8 (10–6 ACC)
Head coach	Brad Brownell (11th season)
Assistant coaches	Antonio Reynolds-Dean (4th season) Dick Bender (5th season) Anthony Goins (2nd season)
Home arena	Littlejohn Coliseum
Seasons ← 2019–20 2021–22 →

2020–21 ACC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 15 Virginia	13	–	4		.765			18	–	7		.720
No. 14 Florida State	11	–	4		.733			18	–	7		.720
No. 25 Virginia Tech	9	–	4		.692			15	–	7		.682
Georgia Tech †	11	–	6		.647			17	–	9		.654
Clemson	10	–	6		.625			16	–	8		.667
North Carolina	10	–	6		.625			18	–	11		.621
Louisville	8	–	5		.615			13	–	7		.650
Syracuse	9	–	7		.563			18	–	10		.643
NC State	9	–	8		.529			14	–	11		.560
Duke	9	–	9		.500			13	–	11		.542
Notre Dame	7	–	11		.389			11	–	15		.423
Pittsburgh	6	–	10		.375			10	–	12		.455
Miami (FL)	4	–	15		.211			10	–	17		.370
Wake Forest	3	–	15		.167			6	–	16		.273
Boston College	2	–	11		.154			4	–	16		.200
† 2021 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The Tigers finished the season 16–8, and 10–6 in ACC play to finish in a tie for fifth place. As the fifth seed in the ACC tournament they earned a bye into the Second Round where they lost to Miami. They earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a seven seed in the Midwest Region. They lost in the first round to 10 seed Rutgers.

Previous season

The Tigers finished the 2019–20 season 16–15, 9–11 in ACC play to finish in eighth place. The team was scheduled to play Florida State in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament before the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1] The NCAA tournament and NIT were also cancelled due to the pandemic.^[2]

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Curran Scott	10	G	6'4"	205	Senior	Edmond, OK	Graduated
Tevin Mack	13	G/F	6'6"	227	Senior	Columbia, SC	Graduated
Khavon Moore	21	G/F	6'8"	217	Sophomore	Macon, GA	Transferred to USC Upstate
Paul Grinde	30	F	6'10"	300	Senior	Virginia Beach, VA	Graduated
Trey Jemison	55	C	7'0"	256	Sophomore	Birmingham, AL	Transferred to UAB

2020 recruiting class

College recruiting information

Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight	Commit date
Olivier-Maxence Prosper G/F	Montreal, Canada	NBA Academy Latin America	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	218 lb (99 kg)	Oct 24, 2019
	Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    247Sports:
PJ Hall F	Spartanburg, SC	Dorman High School	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Oct 23, 2019
	Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    247Sports:    ESPN:    (87)
Lynn Kidd C	Gainesville, FL	IMG Academy	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Jul 29, 2020
	Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    247Sports:    ESPN:    (81)
Overall recruit ranking:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, On3, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2020 Clemson Basketball Commitment List". Rivals. Retrieved November 12, 2020. "Clemson Tigers". ESPN. Retrieved November 12, 2020. "2020 Team Ranking". Rivals. Retrieved November 12, 2020.

Roster

2020–21 Clemson Tigers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 0 Clyde Trapp 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 194 lb (88 kg) Sr Columbia, South Carolina F 1 Jonathan Baehre 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 209 lb (95 kg) RS Sr Hessen, Germany G 2 Al-Amir Dawes 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Trenton, New Jersey G 3 Chase Hunter 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Atlanta, Georgia G 4 Nick Honor 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 205 lb (93 kg) RS Jr Orlando, Florida F 5 Hunter Tyson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 211 lb (96 kg) Jr Monroe, North Carolina G/F 10 Olivier-Maxence Prosper 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 218 lb (99 kg) Fr Montreal, Canada G 11 Parker Fox (W) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 202 lb (92 kg) Jr Reno, Nevada G 12 Alex Hemenway 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Newburgh, Indiana G 15 John Newman III 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 207 lb (94 kg) Jr Greensboro, North Carolina F 20 O'Neil McBride (W) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 207 lb (94 kg) So Myrtle Beach, South Carolina G 21 Wells Hoag (W) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 199 lb (90 kg) Jr Greenville, South Carolina F 22 Lynn Kidd 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Fr Gainesville, Florida F 24 PJ Hall 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Fr Spartanburg, South Carolina F 25 Aamir Simms 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Sr Palmyra, Virginia	Head coach Brad Brownell (DePauw) Assistant coach(es) Antonio Reynolds Dean (Rhode Island) Dick Bender (McDaniel) Anthony Goins (St. John's) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: November 12, 2020

Schedule and results

Source:^[3]

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
November 25, 2020* 8:30 p.m., CBSSN		Mississippi State Space Coast Challenge	W 53–42	1–0	10 – Tied	8 – Tyson	4 – Trapp	Titan Field House (0) Melbourne, FL
November 26, 2020* 8:30 p.m., CBSSN		Purdue Space Coast Challenge	W 81–70	2–0	24 – Simms	5 – Dawes	4 – Simms	Titan Field House (0) Melbourne, FL
December 2, 2020* 6:00 p.m., ACCN		South Carolina State	W 75–38	3–0	13 – Tyson	6 – Tyson	4 – Tied	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,345) Clemson, SC
December 9, 2020* 5:00 p.m., ESPN2		Maryland ACC–Big Ten Challenge	W 67–51	4–0	16 – Simms	7 – Tied	2 – Tied	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,876) Clemson, SC
December 12, 2020* 8:30 p.m., ACCNX		vs. Alabama Holiday Hoopsgiving	W 64–56	5–0	10 – Dawes	8 – Baehre	3 – Tied	State Farm Arena (0) Atlanta, GA
December 15, 2020 6:30 p.m., ACCN	No. 24	at Virginia Tech	L 60–66	5–1 (0–1)	18 – Dawes	4 – Dawes	4 – Honor	Cassell Coliseum (250) Blacksburg, VA
December 19, 2020* 12:00 p.m., ESPNU	No. 24	at South Carolina Rivalry	Postponed due to COVID-19 issues[4]					Colonial Life Arena  Columbia, SC
December 21, 2020* 12:00 p.m., ACCN		Morehead State	W 66–51	6–1	14 – Honor	10 – Simms	3 – Dawes	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,508) Clemson, SC
December 29, 2020 7:00 p.m., ACCRSN		No. 18 Florida State	W 77–67	7–1 (1–1)	15 – Trapp	11 – Simms	4 – Newman III	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,876) Clemson, SC
January 2, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCRSN		at Miami (FL)	W 66–65	8–1 (2–1)	25 – Simms	7 – Simms	5 – Tied	Watsco Center (0) Coral Gables, FL
January 5, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 19	NC State	W 74–70 OT	9–1 (3–1)	21 – Honor	7 – Tied	4 – Simms	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,876) Clemson, SC
January 9, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN	No. 19	at North Carolina	Postponed due to COVID-19 issues[5]					Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, NC
January 16, 2021 6:00 p.m., ESPN	No. 12	No. 18 Virginia	L 50–85	9–2 (3–2)	8 – Hall	5 – Tied	2 – Honor	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,876) Clemson, SC
January 20, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCRSN	No. 20	at Georgia Tech	L 65–83	9–3 (3–3)	19 – Simms	7 – Trapp	4 – Baehre	McCamish Pavilion (1,200) Atlanta, GA
January 23, 2021 3:00 p.m., ABC	No. 20	at Florida State	L 61–80	9–4 (3–4)	12 – Newman III	5 – Tied	3 – Honor	Donald L. Tucker Civic Center (2,950) Tallahassee, FL
January 27, 2021 9:00 p.m., ACCRSN		Boston College	Postponed due to COVID-19 issues[6]					Littlejohn Coliseum  Clemson, SC
January 27, 2021 9:00 p.m., RSN		No. 25 Louisville	W 54–50	10–4 (4–4)	16 – Simms	9 – Simms	4 – Simms	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,876) Clemson, SC
January 30, 2021 12:00 p.m., ESPN2		at Duke	L 53–79	10–5 (4–5)	19 – Simms	9 – Prosper	4 – Simms	Cameron Indoor Stadium (0) Durham, NC
February 2, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCN		North Carolina	W 63–50	11–5 (5–5)	16 – Tyson	9 – Trapp	6 – Simms	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,876) Clemson, SC
February 6, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCN		Syracuse	W 78–61	12–5 (6–5)	18 – Simms	11 – Simms	11 – Trapp	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,876) Clemson, SC
February 12, 2021 8:00 p.m., ACCN		Georgia Tech	W 74–72	13–5 (7–5)	25 – Simms	8 – Trapp	3 – 3 tied	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,876) Clemson, SC
February 17, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCRSN		at Notre Dame	Postponed due to COVID-19 issues[7]					Edmund P. Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
February 21, 2021 6:00 p.m., ACCN		at Pittsburgh	Postponed due to COVID-19 issues[8]					Petersen Events Center  Pittsburgh, PA
February 24, 2021 4:30 p.m., ACCN		at Wake Forest	W 60–39	14–5 (8–5)	17 – Hemenway	10 – Tied	6 – Honor	LJVM Coliseum (70) Winston-Salem, NC
February 27, 2021 2:00 p.m., ACCRSN		Miami (FL)	W 66–58	15–5 (9–5)	19 – Tied	6 – Tied	4 – Trapp	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,876) Clemson, SC
March 3, 2021 5:00 p.m., ACCN		at Syracuse	L 54–64	15–6 (9–6)	11 – Tied	8 – Simms	5 – Trapp	Carrier Dome (0) Syracuse, NY
March 6, 2021 12:00 p.m., ACCRSN		Pittsburgh	W 77–62	16–6 (10–6)	21 – Dawes	6 – Trapp	5 – Tied	Littlejohn Coliseum (1,876) Clemson, SC
ACC tournament
March 10, 2021 2:30 p.m., ACCN	(5)	vs. (13) Miami Second round	L 64–67	16–7	17 – Simms	8 – Simms	4 – Simms	Greensboro Coliseum (2,820) Greensboro, NC
NCAA tournament
March 19, 2021 9:20 pm, TBS	(7 MW)	vs. (10 MW) Rutgers First Round	L 56–60	16–8	15 – Simms	11 – Simms	3 – Tied	Bankers Life Fieldhouse  Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. All times are in Eastern Time.

Rankings

See also: 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	—	RV	RV	24	RV	RV	19т	12	20	RV	—	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	Not released
Coaches	—	—^	RV	RV	RV	RV	18	12	22	RV	—	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV

*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings
^Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll.

See also

• 2020–21 Clemson Tigers women's basketball team