Clemson Basketball Rallies to Take Down West Virginia in Charleston.

Tigers Show Their Grit in a March Type Game

If you haven’t been introduced to the 2025-2026 Clemson Men’s Basketball team, tonight was a good time to see what they are about. West Virginia had a large and loud contingent in the building and their athletic squad gave the Tigers fits for long stretches of the game, but Jestin Porter’s incredible steal and layup sparked a great final 6 minutes, punctuated by a Carter Welling takeover in the final 3 minutes to lead Clemson to a 70-67 victory.

Clemson’s most veteran program guys, Dillon Hunter and R.J. Godfrey, delivered time and time again. They combined for 27 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists to just 1 turnover. Godfrey also provided 3 blocks while Hunter’s deft handling of the high pick and pop actions fueled Welling’s explosion late. Clemson finished with five double figure scorers despite tough nights from Nick Davidson, Ace Buckner, and Zac Foster, which is a testament to the vastly improved depth this year’s team has compared to last year.

Things looked gloomy late in the first half when West Virginia mounted a 7 point lead, highlighted by a late steal and prayer 3 that was answered at the buzzer. They were certainly the more active and aggressive team in the first half and the Tigers struggled to adjust to their quickness. The Tigers would finish with a season high 12 turnovers, many of those coming in the first half. WVU guard Hunter Huff was making it rain from 3 and the Mountaineers converted several tightly contested shots late in the clock as well.

Clemson came out of the half with a different starting group, this time featuring Godfrey and Welling together, and quickly cut the lead to 2 on a Butta Johnson corner 3 from a feed from Dillon Hunter. However, WVU would answer that run with one of their own, eventually building a 10 point lead that appeared to signal doom for the Tigers. R.J. Godfrey stopped the bleeding with a massive hustle basket off his own miss, and that was followed up by Porter’s gritty steal and finish at the 5:17 mark to cut the lead to 57-61. Clemson’s defense was its best all game that last stretch, and WVU’s guards had a more difficult time knocking down shots having faced Clemson’s waves of on ball pressure all night long.

Welling scored 11 of his 13 points in the final 4 minutes of the contest, including back to back three’s off the pick and pop action to finally give Clemson its first lead since early in the first half. He followed those up with a strong finish in the paint from the high/low action. WVU would not go away and cut the lead to 2 before Welling was fouled. Welling would miss his second and the scrum for the rebound led to a run out by WVU, but Brenan Lorient forgot they were down three when he was left alone to dunk the ball with 1.6 seconds to go. Some credit there has to go to Godfrey who normally would have dropped to protect the rim in transition there but stayed up to help prevent a potential 3 point look in transition.

Clemson would have to burn a timeout against the denial pressure but ultimately found Welling again deep who was fouled on the catch. He buried his two free throws and the Tigers stole the ensuing desperation inbounds to secure the 3 point victory.

This game had a very March feel to it almost from the beginning. West Virginia had loud support but Clemson’s fans came alive in the second half and the atmosphere was pretty intense for a neutral site contest. Clemson will now await the winner of the Georgia/Xavier contest to see if it can take home a championship on Sunday.