COLUMBIA, S.C. — Before anyone gets to the rivalry game they’re already imagining, Clemson has a problem to solve.
And Shawn Poppie knows it.
“I think a lot of people will jump to the second round and the rivalry with South Carolina and all of that, but we’re going to have our hands full in the opening round,” the Clemson coach said.
He’s right. Southern Cal enters the first round as the favorite to eliminate the Tigers before a Palmetto State showdown ever materializes. But the prospect of South Carolina and Clemson meeting in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in history is too compelling to ignore — because what the record books reveal about their postseason history is a story that firmly favors one side.
A Rivalry That Has Never Reached the National Stage — Until Now
For all the intensity that defines the South Carolina-Clemson rivalry across every sport, the two programs have somehow never shared an NCAA Tournament floor in men’s or women’s basketball. That fact alone makes this moment historically significant.
The closest they’ve come on the women’s side were three meetings in the AIAW Region 2 Tournament (1981) and the SCAIAW State tournaments (1979, 1980) — precursors to the modern NCAA structure. South Carolina won all three. On the men’s side, the programs met in the 1945 Southern Conference Tournament and twice in the ACC Tournament (1966, 1970). South Carolina won all three of those as well.
Six hardwood postseason meetings. Six South Carolina victories. A perfect record that has never been tested on the NCAA’s biggest stage — until potentially now.
The Broader Postseason Ledger
Basketball is only part of the story. Across all postseason meetings in every sport, South Carolina holds a commanding 16-5 advantage over Clemson — a margin that reflects not just individual upsets but a sustained pattern of Gamecock dominance when the stakes are highest.
The most vivid chapter of that history was written on the baseball diamond. The programs have met four times in the College World Series, and while Clemson took the first two games back in 1980, the ledger since then has belonged entirely to South Carolina.
The most iconic sequence came during South Carolina’s legendary 2010 national championship run. Coming out of the loser’s bracket, the Gamecocks faced back-to-back elimination games against Clemson — and won both, famously starting a first baseman on the mound in a moment that has since taken on mythological status in Columbia. South Carolina also defeated Clemson twice in the 2012 College World Series and advanced to a national runner-up finish in 2002 after winning consecutive games against the Tigers.
In women’s soccer, South Carolina holds the only postseason meeting between the programs. In men’s soccer, the series is knotted at three wins apiece — the one area where Clemson can claim anything approaching parity in postseason play.
What It Would Mean
If Clemson defeats Southern Cal and the rivalry game materializes, it would be the first NCAA Tournament meeting between these programs in any sport — not just basketball. That context transforms what might look like a routine second-round game into something genuinely historic for both fan bases.
For South Carolina, it would be an opportunity to extend an already dominant postseason record against an in-state rival. For Clemson, it would represent a chance to rewrite a postseason narrative that has, across six decades and multiple sports, trended decisively in the Gamecocks’ favor.
The Tigers would be entering that game as decided underdogs — not just on paper as a lower seed, but against the weight of history itself.
The Bottom Line
Poppie is correct to keep his team’s focus on the first round. Southern Cal is a real threat, and a young Clemson team with only three players who have tournament experience cannot afford to look past them. As the coach said himself, it’s USC one way or another — either Southern Cal or South Carolina waiting on the other side.
But if the Tigers do find a way through, they’ll walk into Colonial Life Arena facing a program that has never lost to them when it mattered most — across any sport, on any court, in any era.
South Carolina is 16-5 in the postseason against Clemson. On the hardwood, they’re 6-0.
History, like the bracket, favors the Gamecocks.
