Clemson Men's Basketball will be challenged by Boston College

Clemson Men’s Basketball will open play in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament tonight at 9:30 PM against the Boston College Eagles.

The Tigers’ opening opponent was decided Tuesday evening when the Eagles defeated the Miami Hurricanes 81-65 in Washington, DC. BC’s Quinten Post scored 30 points and snagged 13 rebounds as the Eagles dominated the Canes for most of the evening.

Post did not play for Boston College when they were defeated by Clemson 89-78 in Littlejohn Coliseum on January 13th. This adds a bit of mystery to this rematch.

Post is a 7’-0” 5th-year player from The Netherlands. BC’s next tallest primary contributor is 6’-7”, so outside of Post, the Eagles are primarily a guard-oriented team.

PJ Hall did have a great game for Clemson in January’s victory when Post did not play – he had 26 points and 11 rebounds – but that point total was also matched by Joe Girard. Contributions from Girard could be the key to tonight’s contest as well.

While both teams will likely try to establish dominance in the paint and get their opponent’s primary player into foul trouble, the key to the contest will likely come down to Girard’s ability, and Chase Hunter's to an extent as well, to score from outside.

Tonight’s game will be broadcast on ESPNU. ESPN’s matchup predictor gives Clemson a 77.6% of winning tonight. FanDuel lists Clemson as a 6.5-point favorite and has set the over/under at 148.5. The winner of tonight’s game will face Virginia in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 9:30 PM.

Clemson appears to be built to excel in tournament situations like this. They are experienced, and experience tends to shine in March. However, they have also proven to be inconsistent. While they won several games in the last few weeks of the regular season, they also dropped contests to teams like Notre Dame and NC State, two other teams that played on the first day of the tournament (and won to advance).

I have felt for most of this season that Girard is the catalyst for success. Even if Hall and Ian Schieffelin had great games, it was rare for Clemson to be successful if Girard wasn’t in the zone.

I am going to give Girard the benefit of the doubt that he will find the zone over the next few weeks. He tended to do exactly that when he played for Syracuse, and he was a big reason the Orange tended to go on winning streaks in March.

I am taking Clemson to win, the Eagles to cover, and the under on points.