Clemson Men’s Basketball: Tigers take on Broncos in battle of undefeateds

When Clemson Men’s Basketball endeavored to upgrade their non-conference schedule after much criticism in previous seasons,  many who looked at the schedule saw names like Alabama, TCU and Memphis and likely thought the upgrades ended there.

The Boise State Broncos were probably not on many lists as tough opponents in the preseason, and it’s true they’re not as highly ranked as any of the three teams mentioned above.

Still, the Broncos offer up a top 60 caliber opponent and potentially an opportunity for a quad 2 win for Clemson when the two teams meet Sunday at 1 p.m. in Littlejohn Coliseum on the Clemson campus.

Boise will enter the game at 2-0 with wins over something called Vanguard and a top 100 San Francisco team and are rated No. 59 in the latest KenPom.com rankings.

The Mountain West team will profile differently than Clemson, albeit over a small sample size, as they shoot fewer threes, play at a slower pace and aren’t as deep as the Tigers, but they will have the size to compete with the Tigers on the boards.

That size is a concern as my biggest criticism of this Clemson team early has been the lack of production on the offensive boards and the advanced numbers confirm that to be true, showing the Tigers with an offensive rebounding rate of 22.2%, good only for the 11th percentile in college basketball.

The offensive rebounding rate drops to 19.2% and the 8th percentile when P.J. Hall is not on the floor.

That stat leads Clemson to be one of the worst teams in the nation at 2nd chance points at 6.3 per game (9th percentile).

The caveat is that it’s early and while I agree that’s the case, it should be noted that the schedule Clemson has played to date is rated No. 157 and it will get much tougher after Thanksgiving.

Shooting is obviously important, but without better offensive rebounding and 2nd chance points, Clemson is more reliant on shooting than better offensive rebounding teams.

Ian Schieffelin (2.0) and P.J. Hall (2.7) are the only two Tigers that are higher than average in offensive rebound percentage.

One other early note: A Clemson team that was in the top 10 in free throw shooting in the nation last season is hitting only 68.1% (No. 217) this season.  Just something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

Clemson Men’s Basketball is a 6.5-point favorite over Boise State

I haven’t been very good at picking Clemson games against the spread (0-3), but there’s plenty of basketball to play.

The Tigers would seem to have a couple of off-court factors in their favor, namely this game tips off at 11 a.m. Boise time almost 2,300 miles from the Broncos’ home in Littlejohn Coliseum.

This will be the toughest test of the first four games for Clemson and while the home-court advantage should lead to a Clemson outright win, I think the spread is a basket too much.

Clemson wins and Boise covers the spread.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change