For the first time since the 1970 ACC Tournament, a Clemson-South Carolina basketball game will not be played in Clemson or Columbia. Instead, the Tigers and Gamecocks will meet up at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville tonight at 7 p.m.

The game was originally scheduled to be played at Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum this year, but with Littlejohn being remodel, gutted and striped this season, the Tigers home away from home is at The Well, where they are off to a 6-1 start in the nearly 15,000 seat arena.

“I think we have all settle into going up to Greenville and playing in that arena. We seem to really like it so I think we will be fine,” Clemson guard Jordan Roper said.

How fine the Tigers (7-3) will be tonight will depend on how they play against No. 25 South Carolina. Last year, the Gamecocks physically wore down Clemson in 68-45 win.

“This year’s team is a lot different than last year’s team and our mentality is going to be a lot different going into this game,” Clemson forward Jaron Blossomgame said. “We did lose by a lot last year and there is still a bitter taste in our mouth, but we will do whatever we have to do to win this year without having to out physical them.”

USC (9-0) dominated the glass, particularly on the offensive end. Clemson center Landry Nnoko got in foul trouble early and ultimately fouled out of the game, while the Gamecocks’ physicality forced turnovers and blocked shots, which turned into a lot of easy transition points.

Things have not changed much for USC this year. It still wants to dominate the paint, it still is aggressive on the defensive end of the court and it uses its defense to create for its offense.

“They are an outstanding rebounding team and are big and strong at the guard positions,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “They do an excellent job of posting and power posting you with their interior initially and then playing off of that with some penetration kick.

“They are also an improved three-point shooting team and I think that is one of the things that really helped them score.”

The one advantage Clemson has in its favor is the fact it is a little more battled tested than the Gamecocks. The Tigers lost to UMass in the Las Vegas Tournament last month, lost a tight game at Minnesota in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge and then lost a heartbreaker at home to Alabama last Sunday.

Though Clemson lost all three games, it knows what it is like to play in highly contested, physical games with teams that are equal to or perhaps a shade better than it is.

In case you are wondering, South Carolina’s toughest game to this point was an 83-75 win over Tulsa in the Paradise Jam Tournament in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. But that means little to Clemson. The Tigers respect how talented the Gamecocks are and how physical they can be.

“Coach has really emphasized being tough and hitting your guy first because they are going to be doing it all night,” Blossomgame said. “They are plus eight or plus nine in offensive rebounds so we are going to have to hit our guy. We have to be physical all night. We have to set the tone from the beginning.”

PROJECTED CLEMSON STARTERS

G 12 Avry Holmes 6-2, 195 *Jr. 10.5 ppg 3.6 apg

G 20 Jordan Roper 6-0, 165 Sr. 8.7 ppg 4.0 apg

F 15 Donte Grantham 6-8, 210 So. 10.5 ppg 4.4 rpg

F 5 Jaron Blossomgame 6-7, 220 *Jr. 16.3 ppg 6.7 rpg

C 50 Sidy Djitte 6-10, 240 Jr. 4.9 ppg 6.8 rpg

PROJECTED SOUTH CAROLINA STARTERS

G 15 PJ Dozier 6-6, 200 Fr. 8.1 ppg 3.9 rpg

G 0 Sindarius Thornwell 6-5, 215 Jr. 11.7 ppg 4.0 apg

F 24 Michael Carrera 6-5, 214 Sr. 12.2 ppg 5.3 rpg

F 25 Mindaugas Kacinas 6-7, 229 Sr. 13.3 ppg 6.3 rpg

C 14 Laimonas Chatkevicius 6-11, 245 Sr. 13.0 ppg 4.3 rpg

Notes:

• This is the first time the Tigers have faced a ranked South Carolina team since Dec. 17, 1997, when Clemson upset the sixth-ranked Gamecocks at home despite playing without injured point guard Terrell McIntyre.
• Rebounding will play a critical factor in deciding Friday’s game. The Gamecocks are +10.3 per game on the boards, while the Tigers are 7-0 when out-rebounding the opposition this season. Clemson is coming off its biggest advantage of the season, +21 over Presbyterian.
• Senior guard Jordan Roper earned his undergraduate degree Thursday in Bon Secours Wellness Arena, the site of Friday’s game. Roper graduated in three and a half years and will be the first Clemson player to compete with a degree in hand since both Bryan Narcisse and Tanner Smith did it in 2011-12.
• Sidy Djitte, who has started the past two games at center for Clemson, is coming off his second double-double of the season. He posted a career-high 13 rebounds in the win over Presbyterian on Tuesday.