Clemson Men’s Basketball travels to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech

A week off for exams appeared to do Clemson Men’s Basketball a world of good, as the Tigers came out firing on all cylinders and bludgeoned Atlantic 10 member Richmond 85-57 to move to 9-3 on the season.

I wasn’t confident headed into that contest and I’m not particularly confident in this one for a similar reason – it’s being played somewhere other than Littlejohn Coliseum.

As trite as it is to say, if the shots fall Clemson probably wins and if they don’t they won’t.

Brad Brownell made his name on defense – Clemson Grit – but this is an offensive-based team and they’re 29th in the nation in effective field goal percentage at 55.4% per KenPom.com.  While they are middle of the pack on the number of free throws attempted, the Tigers have a good assist-to-field goal rate and a low turnover rate.

On the screen Clemson matches up well with the Yellow Jackets, but with this game being in Atlanta, that provides the Jackets a 3.3-point home-court advantage (KenPom.com) and that very well could be the difference in this contest.

Like so many games ahead, this game could be determined by a shot or two.

The 7-4 Yellow Jackets are rated No. 104 in the KenPom.com ratings, with Clemson currently at No. 65, and ESPN favors the Tigers by a little more than 2 points.

Below are our analysis and picks for the game.

Clemson Men’s Basketball travels to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech in the first of 19 consecutive ACC Conference games

Spread & Total: Clemson -1.5 Total 141.5

The spread and total imply a 71.5-70 Clemson win.

John Chancey (9-3, 4-8 ATS):

At first glance, this seems straightforward: Tech is undefeated at home, and Clemson doesn’t play well on the road. However, the Yellow Jackets home victories are over Clayton, N. Illinois, N. Alabama, Northeastern, Georgia and Alabama State. Clemson is the best the am they have hosted this season. I’ll probably regret this tomorrow, but I’m taking Clemson to cover.

Clemson 74 Georgia Tech 72

Marty Coleman (9-3, 4-8 ATS):

I guessed wrong last time, figuring the Tigers wouldn’t shoot well away from Littlejohn Coliseum.  The key was the shooting of Hunter Chase and as he goes, so goes the Tiger fortunes in my opinion.  If Clemson can squeak out a road ACC win, it’ll be a big win for this team to move to 2-0 early in ACC play and nine days off till their next contest.  Tigers get it done – barely.

Clemson 72 Georgia Tech 69

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change