CBS crew rips officials for Viktor Lakhin technical, late foul in Clemson vs. McNeese
The Clemson Tigers came out and played embarrassingly bad for much of the game on Thursday in their first round NCAA Tournament matchup against McNeese State. And late in the second half, the Tigers weren’t helped at all when officials decided to call a pretty ridiculous technical foul on Clemson forward Viktor Lakhin. He stared down a McNeese State defender after a rejection and got up in their face and officials didn’t like it, sparking the technical.
The Tigers were trying to rally late, so the fifth and final foul on Lakhin certainly didn’t help things. The technical fouled him out of the game, leaving Clemson without one of their best front court players for the rest of the half. Before fouling out, he had six points and 10 rebounds.
Lakhin was one of the better big men in the ACC this season, averaging 11.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. He showed up in some massive games for the Tigers, including pouring in 22 points in their 77-71 win against the Duke Blue Devils.
Clemson managed to battle back late on Thursday, but came up just short. McNeese State knocked Clemson out 69-67. Jaeden Zackery finished with 24 points and five rebounds for the Tigers. It was simply too little, too late for the third-ranked team in the ACC. Clemson didn’t really show any signs of life until under seven minutes left in the second half. But when they did, they made a furious rally.
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McNeese State was up by 12 points with with 1:10 left, but the Tigers didn’t quit, hitting several buckets late to make it more than interesting. But in the end, it wasn’t enough and they came up just short. The ACC now only has two teams remaining in the tournament: Duke and North Carolina.
It’s the 56th time a No. 12 seed has knocked off a No. 5 seed since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. No. 12 seeds have won at least one first round game in 34 of the past 40 tournaments. The only times it didn’t happen: 1988, 2007, 2015, 2018, and 2023.