By Lady Houston
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico men’s basketball team is headed to Memphis for the opening weekend of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The Lobos, who earned the Mountain West’s automatic berth as conference champion, are the No. 11 seed in the West Region and will play No. 6 seed Clemson in a first round game on Friday at FedEx Forum.
The Lobos (26-9) enter the NCAA Tournament after becoming the first team in Mountain West history to win four games in four days to capture the conference tournament. New Mexico entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed and topped Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State and San Diego State in a span of 70 hours in Las Vegas to win its fifth Mountain West title. Jaelen House was named Tournament MVP, while Jamal Mashburn, Jr. and JT Toppin were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
New Mexico is making its 16th NCAA Tournament appearance, its first since 2014. The Lobos have eight all-time tournament victories, the last coming in 2012 when they defeated Long Beach State in the round of 64 before falling to Louisville.
Clemson (21-11) went 11-9 in the ACC this season and is coming off a loss to Boston College in the second round of the ACC Tournament.
It will be the first ever meeting between the Lobos and Clemson.
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CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson University men’s basketball earned an at-large bid into the 2024 NCAA Tournament as a No. 6 seed and will face the No. 11 seed New Mexico in Memphis, Tenn. on Friday in the first round. The game is scheduled to tip at 3:10 p.m. ET on TruTV.
This marks the fourth time under Head Coach Brad Brownell that the Tigers have advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers will be making their 14th tournament appearance overall. All have taken place since 1980.
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Clemson enters the tournament with a 21-11 record, including an 11-9 mark in regular-season ACC games.
PJ Hall (Spartanburg, S.C./Dorman) was named First Team All-ACC, while Ian Schieffelin (Loganville, Ga./Grayson) was named the ACC’s Most Improved Player. Schieffelin and Joseph Girard III (Glens Falls, N.Y./Glens Falls) earned All-ACC Honorable Mention.
The Tigers are led in scoring by Hall with an 18.8 average. Hall has posted 14 20-point games this season, including a career-best 31 points and 17 rebounds against Georgia Tech.
Hall has produced seven double-doubles this season and is one of just four players in the country averaging at least 18.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 blocks per game.
Three Tigers are averaging double-figures, including Hall (18.8), Girard III (15.7) and Chase Hunter (Atlanta, Ga./Westlake) (12.3). Girard is second on the team in scoring and is shooting career-bests from the field (43.8), three (42.5) and the free throw line (95.6).
Girard earned ACC Player of the Week honors this season, the first of his career, and has posted nine 20-point games and 27 with multiple 3-pointers, including 13 where he made four or more.
Clemson’s most successful NCAA run came in 1980, the first year Clemson was selected. The Tigers won three tournament games under head coach Bill Foster and reached the Elite Eight of the tournament before losing to UCLA. Clemson also made the Sweet 16 in 1990 under Cliff Ellis, 1997 under Rick Barnes and 2018 under Brad Brownell.
Coach Brownell has taken three different programs to the NCAA Tournament. He previously took UNC Wilmington in 2003 and 2006, Wright State in 2007 and Clemson in 2011, 2018 and 2021. He took each school to the tournament in his first year with the program.
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