Viktor Lakhin declares Clemson a blue blood after beating Duke, North Carolina

In just over 48 hours, Clemson has taken down both Duke and North Carolina. Littlejohn Arena has been the place to be in college basketball as Brad Brownell‘s team continues to find success. You can even go back to the nonconference slate when Clemson beat Kentucky earlier in the season.

Stacking up that trio of victories is quite impressive. Now, Viktor Lakhin wants Clemson’s status in the college basketball world to be elevated. Lakhin jokingly suggested the Tigers are now a blue-blood program after beating Duke, UK, and UNC.

“We are blue bloods too now,” Lakhin said.

If Lakhin keeps playing the way he has, Clemson might be a blue blood before we know it. On Monday against North Carolina, he finished with 22 points on 9-16 shooting (4-5 from three) while snagging six rebounds and blocking five shots.

A great follow-up from the Duke performance where Lakhin also had 22 points but was a little more efficient from the field at 9-2. Given his size at 6’11 and ability to play anywhere on the court, the Tobacco Road teams have had a miserable time attempting to defend Lakhin.

It’s the former Cincinnati player’s first run against ACC teams, finding a ton of success. When talking about the wins, the same can be said of the man sitting next to Lakhin during the postgame press conference, Jaeden Zackery. He played at Boston College and earned plenty of wins along the win.

Two alluded him during his time with BC, though — Duke and North Carolina. Going from never beating them to taking both down in the span of two days is pretty special.

“At BC, I beat every team except Duke and North Carolina,” Zackery said. “And then in the last three days, I beat both of them. So, someone told me it’s kind of like Thanos, I got all the rings now. Finally beat everybody.”

As of now, there is not another scheduled game against Duke or North Carolina. Anything is possible in the ACC Tournament, potentially coming up against them in Charlotte. Clemson has not beaten Duke twice in the same season since 1994-1995 and North Carolina since 1989-1990.

For now, all focus for Clemson is on the remaining schedule. A nice break will take place before facing off against Florida State on Saturday. Just six more regular season games remain before hitting the postseason.