Clemson Basketball: Tigers vs. Bulldogs – Preview, Odds, totals, picks

Clemson basketball opens what could be a pivotal 2022-2023 season tonight against The Citadel at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson.

The game will be televised on the ACCNX.

For each Clemson game this season, John Chancey and I will go head to head and pick the games against the spread in a friendly wager – hey, we’re competitive like that.

Each team opens the season coming off of an exhibition wins, Clemson over Benedict and The Citadel over Mars Hill.

The Bulldogs are coming off a 13-18 season (6-12 in the Southern Conference) that included a 15-point win over Pittsburgh to open the campaign.

The Citadel plays a competitive non-conference schedule that includes Butler and North Carolina in addition to the Tigers.

Clemson is going to be without P.J. Hall for the first part of the season while he recovers from off-season surgery.

Theoretically, this could provide time for Ben Middlebrooks and Ian Schieffelin more time on the court to develop, but with the Tigers tough non-conference schedule, there could be growing pains early in the season.

The Tigers have an interesting blend of young, unproven talent and veterans on their roster, in addition to making an intentional change to a lineup that contains bigger guards than we’ve seen through most of the Brad Brownell era.

Clemson basketball opens the season by hosting The Citadel

When: Monday, November 7, 7:00 p.m. Where: Littlejohn Coliseum, Clemson TV: ACCNX or Fubo TV

Odds: Clemson -17.5 | Total: 140.5

John Chancey (0-0, 0-0 ATS):

The Citadel Bulldogs have never won the Southern Conference, nor have they ever participated in the NCAA tournament. They finished 8th in the SOCO last year. They were predicted 9th at SOCO media days.

I am not sure what to expect from Clemson because they had so much turnover. Early indications are that we might be pleasantly surprised with some of the younger players in the backcourt. I like Clemson minus the points.

Clemson 68, The Citadel 43

Marty Coleman (0-0, 0-0 ATS): 

Like Chancey, I have no idea of what to expect to start the season as the Tigers without P.J. Hall are even more of a mystery, especially as they change styles to a larger guard team.

The trip to France and the exhibition have yielded a ton of points, but those were against much lesser competition and while The Citadel isn’t ACC competition they are several notches above what the Tigers have seen in the preseason.

Clemson covers, but it’s closer than expected.

Clemson 77 The Citadel 58