CLEMSON, S.C. (November 17, 2025) – The University of North Alabama men's basketball team faced perhaps the toughest opponent on the schedule Monday night inside Littlejohn Coliseum, falling 81-61 to the Clemson Tigers in South Carolina.
The Lions (2-3) swapped the lead a few times early on and outscored the Tigers in the second half, but Clemson (4-1) overpowered with stellar first half shooting and jumped to a sustainable lead by the intermission.
Clemson is the highest ranked team on UNA's schedule this season, finishing 25th in the NCAA NET Rankings last season and currently ranking 27th in the KenPom ratings.
Despite the loss, UNA won the second half advantage and gained valuable experience from its depth players. The Lions had 22 points off the bench, led by seven from sophomore
DarKaun King to match a career-high.
Another statistic for UNA to build on is turnovers. Entering tonight, Clemson averaged the fewest turnovers in the NCAA with just 6.0 per game. Tonight, UNA forced them to double that with 12 turnovers, including 10 steals. UNA had just eight turnovers. Junior transfer
Kedar Bodie grabbed a game-high four steals.
Sophomore guard
Kevin de Kovachich led the way with 12 points, going 3-6 behind the arc. Senior forward
Donte Bacchus added 10 points with 4-9 shooting from the field. Sixth year senior
Dallas Howell added eight points and a team-high five rebounds.
Redshirt senior
Corneilous Williams scored four points and had four rebounds before exiting in the first half. Clemson was led by RJ Godfrey with 16 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half: Kevin de Kovachich had the first points of the game after a steal by
Dallas Howell and a triple by the sophomore at the other end. He went on to score the first seven points for the Lions. After three quick lead changes, Clemson began to pull ahead with 50 percent shooting nearly the entire half, finishing 17-34 from the field. The Lions went 10-31 from the floor for 32.3 percent and went just 2-14 behind the arc. UNA only made one trip to the line on an and-one play by de Kovachich.
Second Half: The Lions did not hang their head after the tough start, but rather came out firing with five points in the first two minutes. With Williams out, senior center
Jamal Albritton stepped in and got a tip-in layup. After that, de Kovachich followed with a triple to force a Clemson timeout at the 18:19 mark. The Lions had the second half advantage the rest of the way and had 22 points from the bench. UNA had a 9-3 advantage in second half turnovers.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Today marks the most individual Lions to score in a game this season. All 11 players that played substantial minutes made a field goal, while five hit at least one three-pointer.
- UNA had 10 of 12 players with at least one rebound.
- Redshirt freshman King Walker made his first career appearance for the Lions.
- Dallas Howell appeared in his 103rd game for UNA, while Clemson's Dillon Hunter played in his 104th game. Both players are among the top 25 in the NCAA for most career games at one school.
- Clemson has not lost to an ASUN school since 1975, improving to 14-2 against the conference. UNA is now 0-4 against the ACC. This was the first all-time meeting between the two schools.
COMING UP NEXT
The Lions have a few days away from competition before heading to Chattanooga on Saturday for the second game of the ASUN/SoCon Schedule Alliance. Tipoff against the Mocs is set for 3:30 p.m. CT.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
