Clemson Men's Basketball: Tigers take on Memphis

Clemson Men's Basketball (9-0) travels to Memphis to take on the Memphis Tigers (7-2) Saturday in the final game of a five-game stretch that has seen the Tigers win in Tuscaloosa and Pittsburgh, beat South Carolina in Littlejohn Coliseum and TCU in Toronto.

It's been quite the month for Brad Brownell's squad and they have the opportunity to complete this stretch in a fashion few, if any, expected - undefeated.

Memphis is no slouch and comes in at No. 32 in the latest KenPom.com rankings and having played a schedule that has been more difficult than Clemson's.

Seven of the Memphis' nine games have been top 100 opponents, including Michigan, Arkansas, Villanova and Texas A&M.

Memphis' two losses were 79-63 to Villanova on a neutral court and 81-75 to Texas A&M on the road.

The Tigers from Tennessee are led by 6'6 senior forward David Jones' 20.1 points and 6.6 rebounds a game along with 40% shooting from three point range.

The only other double-figure scorer for Memphis is guard Jahvon Quinerly, who averages 13.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists per contest.

Despite Jones' accuracy from deep, Memphis profiles as less of a three-point shooting team, getting 31% of their points from outside the arch.

This is another team that will want to speed up Clemson and get to the free-throw line, similar to Alabama.

Clemson has improved their offensive rebounding in recent games and that again will be a factor. Memphis is not elite at offensive rebounding, but they are better at it than Clemson, despite the improvement Brad Brownell's team has shown.

Clemson is led by P.J. Hall's 20.1 points per game, followed by Joe Girard's 15.1 and Chase Hunter's 10.4 points per contest.

Forward Ian Schieffelin has dominated the boards, averaging 9.6 rebounds per game, including 30 offensive rebounds, far and away leading the team in that category.

Clemson has shown remarkable resilience and maturity through the early part of the season, overcoming foul trouble (mostly Hall), injuries (Alex Hemenway, Jack Clark) and travels (at Alabama, TCU in Canada).

Saturday may be the toughest environment to date for Clemson as the game is scheduled to be played at the 18.400-seat FedEx Forum the 11th largest venue in D-1 and KenPom assigns Memphis a 4.0 point home court advantage the 12th best in D-1.

Clemson Men's Basketball is an underdog at Memphis

Outside of Alabama, Memphis will be the toughest test of the season for Clemson to date and in the toughest environment and that's reflected in the odds with the Tigers from Tennessee being a 2 point favorite.

Brad Brownell's veteran squad showed poise and maturity in that contest in Tuscaloosa and more of the same will be needed in Memphis as Penny Hardaway's squad looks to play an up tempo style.

This game could be within an old fashioned bucket either way and I'm going with Memphis to win and cover on their home court.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.