Kansas coach: "It has been the healthiest we have been" |
No. 5 Clemson (25-9) will face No. 1 seed Kansas (29-7) in the NCAA Tournament on Friday at 7:07 p.m. EST in the regional semifinals against Kansas. The game will be televised nationally on CBS.
The winner of the matchup will play Sunday in the 'Elite 8' but the tipoff time has not yet been announced. Kansas coach Bill Self spoke to the media on Wednesday night and was very complimentary of the Tigers and shared that his basketball team is the healthiest it has been all season. "It's the healthiest, knock on wood, that we have been in a long time," Self said. His star 7-foot center Udoka Azubuike sprained his MCL in his left knee on March 6 but appears ready for significant minutes. "Now, his timing may not be great," he said about Azubuike. "But his health is good. If we take him out it’ll probably be because he picks up two silly fouls early, not because of any type of problems." The Kansas coach was impressed by what he saw out of the Clemson guards this season. "How sound they are defensive and how good their guards are," he said. "They've got three guards that are probably as good or better than any three guards we've gone against all year long on the same team and then they've got a big guy they can play around."
This will be the first time that Clemson has played Kansas in Men's Basketball and Bill Self is 12-2 against the ACC.
Last week's Clemson 31-point second-round win over Auburn is the largest win margin for the Tigers in NCAA Tournament play (previous 13 vs. St. Mary's 1989) and the largest victory so far in this year's NCAA Tournament. The 25 wins by the Tigers this season is tied for a school record.
Clemson took the floor for practice in Omaha on Thursday.
#Clemson on the court in #Omaha! @ClemsonMBB @wyffnews4 pic.twitter.com/BfT3imJRlk
— Codie Sloan (@CSloanWYFF) March 22, 2018
Only saw a few minutes of practice, but Marcquise Reed was on. Very on. #clemson #clemsonbasketball pic.twitter.com/gzIw8JQAEh
— Julia Morris (@JMorrisWYFF4) March 22, 2018
Clemson head coach Brad Brownell spoke to the media on Thursday afternoon.
"I thought we were Sweet 16 good. I really did. I believed in this team from the start. When we went to Spain on a foreign tour, I just left feeling unbelievably confident about our group because I loved our leadership. I loved the synergy and spirit of our team."#ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/mPORMSlTVW
— Clemson Men's Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) March 22, 2018
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