Clemson Men’s Basketball: Shorthanded Tigers take on Georgia Tech

From the looks of it Clemson Men’s Basketball will once again be without guards Chase Hunter and Alex Hemenway as the 16-4 (8-1) Tigers take on 8-11 (1-8) Georgia Tech Tuesday night in Littlejohn Coliseum.

While Brad Brownell says both players are day-to-day, the words used with that phrase intimate that “it may be a while”.

The negatives of that are obvious, as the Tigers have struggled to score from the guard position without their two starters.

Assuming Clemson wins its next three games, this could be a good thing as Dillon Hunter and Josh Beadle are gaining valuable experience that could pay off come March.

Freshman inexperience could suddenly morph into a deep bench if all goes well.

I focused on the next three games, because there will be hell to pay in the NET Rankings if Clemson loses any of the three if past experience is any indication of the future.  The NET doesn’t care about injuries, apparently.

Clemson Men’s Basketball is a double-digit favorite over Georgia Tech

Clemson is favored by 10.5 tonight, with a total of 139.5, implying a Clemson win by a 75-64.5 Tigers win.

John Chancey (14-6, 10-10 ATS):

Every team must deal with injuries, but Chase Hunter’s injury seems to be particularly impactful. The Tigers can use Hall in the paint to an extent, but eventually they will need someone to be scorer. Dillon Hunter was clutch against Virginia Tech. Beadle and Godfrey are talented too. All three are also young. Can any of them score consistently? The line tells you what the oddsmakers think of Georgia Tech, but that’s a big number to me.

Marty Coleman (14-6, 9-11 ATS):

The issue for the Yellow Jackets will likely be scoring and that’s not a good problem to have against this Clemson team in Littlejohn.  I’m a tad concerned about Clemson’s scoring, too.  Dillon Hunter was clutch down the stretch with 6 points against Virginia Tech, but neither he nor Josh Beadle are outside threats and that means the offense is different than it would be if Hunter and/or Hemenway were healthy. Clemson will wear the Jackets down, but won’t cover double digits.

The game is scheduled to be televised on the ACC Network at 9 p.m. EST.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change