Clemson is living on the edge.
The Tigers have won six straight games, none by more than seven points. It’s a dicey formula on which to rely, but also an indicator of their grace under fire.
The composure of Clemson (13-3, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) will be tested against Notre Dame (10-5, 1-1) Saturday in South Bend, Ind.
Coming off another of their recent escape acts, 74-70 on Wednesday over No. 24 SMU, the Tigers face a challenging task against the rested Fighting Irish who haven’t played since falling 72-71 at Cal on Jan. 2.
“Yeah, I love that. They’ve had all week off,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell joked about Notre Dame, moments after the SMU victory.
The Tigers enter with an 11-game winning streak in conference regular-season play. They’ve also reeled off a program-record 10 straight ACC road victories.
Clemson is doing it with a deep, equal-opportunity rotation. Only one player has scored 20 points in a game this season and just two average in double-digits — RJ Godfrey (12.0 points per game) and Jestin Porter (10.8 ppg).
“Extra possessions, rebounding and turnovers,” Brownell said of what the Tigers emphasize. “We’re not a dynamic enough scoring team that we can lose those battles probably very often.”
Notre Dame is in recovery after being dealt a stunning loss at Cal in which it surrendered a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left followed by a controversial four-point play with 5.5 seconds left.
After the final buzzer, Fighting Irish coach Micah Shrewsberry charged an official, leading to a reprimand from the ACC.
Notre Dame was on the verge of a West Coast sweep of Stanford and Cal before imploding against the Bears.
With the loss of top scorer Marcus Burton (18.5 ppg) to a broken ankle, Notre Dame has to rely more on freshman Jalen Haralson (14.7) and Braeden Shrewsberry (11.9). Meanwhile, Carson Towl ranks second in the ACC in rebounds (10.5).
The Fighting Irish will look to duplicate the defensive effort from their 47-40 win at Stanford Dec. 30.
“That’s how we need to play,” Micah Shrewsberry said. “If we shoot it well, if we don’t shoot it well, if we guard that way, we’ve got a chance to win every night. We are a full team defense.”
