CLEMSON — Brad Brownell knows. Oh, he knows.

When you spend 12 years in the state of North Carolina, you find it difficult to avoid.

Clemson. North Carolina. And that oh-so-pesky streak.

“Every time you turn on a Carolina-Clemson game, that’s the first thing they open with,” Clemson’s second-year head coach said Friday. “Spending time in North Carolina, watching games, you can’t help but hear about it.”

55 times, Clemson has traveled to Chapel Hill for a men’s basketball game against North Carolina. 55 times, the Tigers have slunk back to South Carolina with a loss – a NCAA record for home-court domination of one team over another.

Saturday, the Tigers get another chance to end the streak and the questions forever. Clemson (13-12, 5-6 ACC) travels to No.8 North Carolina (22-4, 9-2) for a 4 p.m. game at the Dean E. Smith Center, televised nationally by ESPN.

While Clemson is well aware of the streak, its players try their best to keep their focus on the present, rather than the past.

“As an individual I’m 0-2 (at Carolina),” senior guard Andre Young said. “It’s just another game on our schedule. It’s another game we want to win and go win in that environment. We’ll go in there with the mindset to win, try and get the job done. We say that for every game.”

Brownell’s mindset is forward-thinking, too.

“It’s not anything we talk about with our players,” he said of the streak. “We talk about the strengths and weaknesses of North Carolina, weaknesses and a lot of strengths. Our plan to win the game.”

Keeping the Tigers’ five scholarship freshmen from getting too wide-eyed will be a major priority.

Clemson is 3-6 on the road this season, including 1-4 in the ACC. However, the Tigers did break a major hex with their only win; last week’s 78-58 romp at Wake Forest was their first win in Winston-Salem since 1990.

Senior guard Tanner Smith says the Smith Center’s history can be intimidating.

“When you’re growing up, every kid wants to go there and watch games,” he said. “The first time, you look up and they’ve got, like, 400 jerseys hanging in the rafters. We’ve got four. It shows the history they have. You walk in that place and you get hit with it immediately. Their fans appreciate basketball.”

In recent years, the Heels’ home court has shed its image as a wine-and-cheese crowd, roaring with delight when Roy Williams’ team gets opponents on their heels.

“You get all those people going when they start getting on one of their runs… they’re an up-and-down team and the runs can happen quick, the place gets going in a hurry,” Smith said. “It’s full of history and full of people that enjoy basketball. It doesn’t help that they have a bunch of talent.”

North Carolina’s lineup is dotted with potential NBA lottery picks and first-round selections; sophomore forward Harrison Barnes (17.7 ppg), junior forward John Henson (14.0 ppg, 10.3 rpg), senior forward Tyler Zeller (15.7 ppg, 9.6 rpg) and sophomore guard Kendall Marshall (6.7 ppg, 9.6 apg).

Controlling the pace, Smith said, is crucial. Clemson would rather play a game in the 60s; the Heels’ pace favors a game in the 80s or 90s. The Tigers will run at times, but not nearly as frequently as Carolina would like.

“We’ve got to keep them out of transition. The thing is, even when you make a basket, you have Kendall Marshall and Zeller running the floor and you feel like you’re back in transition,” he said. “They push it at you. We have to do a good job talking. That’s a tough thing on the road, communicating and making sure we’re on the same page. We have to take away easy buckets, use a little bit of clock and get tougher shots.”

Brownell agreed.

“The way they play – as soon as you score, they’re immediately out. They don’t have to worry so much about defensive rebounds as some teams,” he said. “With Henson and Zeller so big and Barnes a big win, they start to cheat out a little bit on things. If you happen to score they have a head-start on you. Kendall Marshall is an incredible passer, throws those 40-50 foot advance passes up the court to the wings for shots or posts for dunks. With the pace they play, it makes it very difficult to stop them.”

Clemson has been competitive with the Tar Heels in recent years. In 2008, UNC erased an 11-point deficit with three minutes to play, rallying for a 103-93 double-overtime win. Last year, the Tigers stayed within 10 points in all three meetings, falling 75-65 in Chapel Hill, 64-62 in Clemson and dropping a 92-87 overtime decision in the ACC Tournament.

“We’ll go up there with the mindset to get a tough victory in a tough atmosphere,” Smith said. “I don’t think it’s coincidence we’ve played them pretty tough the last couple of years. We have a good game plan against them. It’s about execution, how we can execute each play, keep them out of those big-time runs that they have.”