College Basketball

Another year, another early exit for a highly-seeded Clemson team in the National Invitation Tournament.  No. 8 seed Morehead State overcame an early 15-point deficit and Clemson went on too many scoring droughts as the Eagles walked into Littlejohn Coliseum and escaped with a 68-64 victory over the top-seeded Tigers Wednesday night in the first round of the NIT.  Chase Hunter led Clemson with 18 points, while PJ Hall scored all 13 of his points in the second half. Furman and Virginia tip-off at 12:40pm Thursday roughly 43 years since the Paladins last played in the NCAA Tournament.

The 13th-seeded Paladins, 27-7, will try to stay with a fourth-seeded ACC team, which won the national title in 2019. That victory came one year after Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers were the first-ever number one seed to fall to a number 16 seed in the tourney when the lost to UMBC in 2018.