In 2014, Clemson was making its first post-season tournament appearance in three years. At the time, Brad Brownell had a young team, which was led by junior standout K.J. McDaniels.

Clemson surprised a lot of people that year with a sixth-place finish in the ACC, which included a 10-8 record in league play. The Tigers even went on to win an ACC Tournament game and lost by a point to Duke in the quarterfinals.

With a 20-win season in toe, plus their 10 wins in the ACC, most figured the Tigers were in the NCAA Tournament. However, that was not the case.

Clemson was left out of the NCAA Tournament and instead accepted a bid as a No. 2 seed in the NIT.

Sound familiar?

But the Tigers made the most of it in 2014. They continued their good play down the stretch by beating Georgia State, Illinois and Belmont to advance to the NIT Final Four in New York.

“It was kind of a unique time for us,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “It was a young team with K.J. that had not been to the post-season, so they were extremely excited about going and obviously the fan base got excited with us as we started to win games and play well.

“We had some unbelievable atmospheres in Littlejohn against both Illinois and Belmont to go to New York. You have to build momentum in the tournament.”

The Tigers (19-12) are hoping to do the same today when it plays in the first-round of the NIT tonight (7 p.m.) against Wright State. Like in 2014, Clemson was snubbed by the NCAA Tournament despite finishing with a 9-9 record in ACC play.

However, that is where the similarities end. This Clemson team is a veteran squad that returned four seniors from last year’s Sweet 16 team. Expectations were NCAA Tournament or bust and Brownell admits they were disappointed they did not make in to the Big Dance.

“There is no question that it is challenging. This is not the tournament we wanted to be playing in right now,” he said. “We wanted to be in the NCAA Tournament. I am disappointed I could not help my guys win one or two more close games or we would be in the big tournament, but it did not work out.”

Clemson is trying to make the best of its bid to the NIT.

“Again, you have to have a good season to be in this tournament, too. You have to have won a lot of games. You have to have done a lot of things right,” Brownell said. “So, we are trying to look at the positives from that standpoint. It’s another opportunity for guys to play. You have an opportunity to win a significant championship if you can get to playing well.

“But this is one of those tournaments where you kind of have to build momentum. You have to create some excitement.”

The last time the Tigers were in the NIT, they did not build any excitement and subsequently had no momentum. Clemson built a 20-point first-half lead on Oakland in its first-round game two years ago in the tournament, but Oakland went on big-run to open the second half and then stunned the home-standing Tigers, 74-69.

Brownell mentioned the 2017 loss to Oakland to his team before they practiced on Monday. Three of this year’s seniors played in that game—Shelton Mitchell, Marcquise Reed and Elijah Thomas—while David Skara was sitting on the bench as a redshirt.

“Every team is different. Every team is in a different place,” Brownell said. “It is a hard thing. You hope guys are not that way. You get a chance to play. We are keeping score. You need to try to win, but the reality is that is not always the case.

“It is a different atmosphere and so guys are going to have to approach it from a mature standpoint. I hope our guys are ready to do that. We are certainly preparing that it is just as important as any game that we play.”

It is going to be important to Clemson’s opponent. Unlike Clemson, Wright State is excited to play in the NIT and will love nothing more than to come into Littlejohn Coliseum and beat an ACC school like Clemson.

Wright State comes in with a 21-13 record, including a 13-5 mark in the Horizon League.

“The mid-major teams, I was at that level. It is really a nice segue for them if you don’t win your tournament when you are the one seed,” Brownell said. “You get into the NIT and they don’t get to play high majors as much, so I think there is a lot of excitement and energy from their guys. Our guys have to be mature and approach it the same way.”

If they don’t, the Tigers season will be over.