The No. 20 Tigers get another chance to snap the 58-game drought on Tuesday against the 20th-ranked Tar Heels.
Clemson senior forward Donte Grantham dismissed any talk of his program’s all-time ineptitude playing at North Carolina being a major topic of conversation.
The No. 20 Tigers undertake their latest opportunity Tuesday against the 15th-ranked Tar Heels to attempt to break their streak of futility in Chapel Hill, which currently stands at a remarkable zero wins in 58 trips dating back to the 1925 season.
Wofford became the only South Carolina program to win at Chapel Hill when the Terriers stunned the defending champions, 79-75, on Dec. 20.
“I think it’s more of a media thing,” Grantham said of the hype that accompanies their visits to the Dean Smith Center. “We just go out there and play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. I think the media hypes it up, but we’re just worried about our team and being ready to play.
When asked if this year’s team, the first one to achieve a top-25 ranking since 2010 and off to the program’s best start in nine years, had the goods to finally bust the streak, Grantham was confident.
“Of course. … If we continue to do what we do, continue playing the way we’re playing, we can do anything. Anything is possible with this team.”
Grantham and senior guard Gabe DeVoe are the only players who’ve had a hand in the streak with each playing in the team’s last visit, an 80-69 loss Dec. 30, 2015. Grantham played 31 minutes and shot 2 of 7 for five points while DeVoe shot 2 of 5 for 10 points in 16 minutes.
Clemson coach Brad Brownell was asked Monday if there might be some psychological value in having the vast majority of his roster lacking experience in the Tigers’ house of horrors, but he disagreed.
“I think the more times you’re in those types of environments the better. It’s different, there’s no doubt about it. I think the first time you walk in as a freshman you’re going to look around for a while and you hope once the game gets going you’re not still looking around. If you are, it’s not going to go good. But I think being in these environments, in these arenas multiple times, is much better for your opportunity to play well.”
Clemson has rarely even left UNC’s home with any sort of moral victory as the average margin of defeat in the streak is 20.4 points per game. The Tigers have come within five points or lost in overtime just seven times and have finished within 10 points four times in the 27 visits to the current Dean Dome. One of those was during Brownell’s first season, losing 75-65 in 2011, and he’s overseen four losses in Chapel Hill.
Prior to his arrival, Clemson held a 15-point second-half lead in 2008 before succumbing, 103-93, in double-overtime. The lone time over the past 36 years the Tigers have finished within five points at UNC was a 68-66 loss in January of 2003.
With two seniors and three juniors in Clemson’s starting lineup, all averaging double-figure scoring, and the 15-2 team’s only losses by one last week at N.C. State and by seven against Temple, this may be as good a chance as any to finally get it done. And it’s easy to believe none of the Tar Heels wants to be on the roster that loses the streak, especially after Wofford pulled one of the biggest all-time upsets already this season.
“I think its human nature, nobody wants be the team that loses to Clemson,” Brownell said. “They’re not going to not be ready for the game because of that. You’re not going to catch them on a night where they’re not prepared or ready because they’re hearing about (the streak), too."