Clemson vs Miami: College basketball game preview, TV schedule

The ACC continues to heat up as the Clemson Tigers welcome the Miami Hurricanes to town for a conference bout this afternoon.

TV Schedule: Saturday, January 13th, 3:00 p.m. ET, ESPNU

Arena: Littlejohn Coliseum, Clemson, SC.

Duke and Virginia are clearly the top teams in the conference as of now, but there are teams who could compete with them. Therefore, the ACC is relatively wide open outside of the Blue Devils and Cavaliers, waiting for a team to take command of that third spot. Two teams vying for that position will play as Miami travels to Clemson for an afternoon tilt.

Currently ranked 18th in the country, the Hurricanes have seemed poised to gain ground in the ACC, but have suffered setbacks. As they sat at the No. 15 spot in the national poll last week, they fell to a run-of-the-mill Georgia Tech team. In a relatively ugly offensive performance, Miami only scored 54 points in the game. This was due in large part to their 39% clip from the field and 21% from three. However, Georgia Tech did not shoot the ball well either, but the Yellow Jackets had one huge advantage. They were paced by Josh Okogie, as he scored 30 points in the win. The inability to limit Okogie ultimately led to Miami’s undoing.

Thankfully, the Hurricanes recovered and are coming into this game after an impressive win over No. 14 Florida State. Compared to their loss to Georgia Tech, Miami was far more efficient. They shot a glowing 51% from the field compared to the Seminoles’ 36%. As has been the case all year, the Hurricanes were paced by Dewan Huell as he turned in a 20-point, eight-rebound performance. In 2017-18, Huell is averaging roughly 14 points and seven rebounds a game while shooting 66% from the field. Granted, he gets plenty of his baskets around the rim, but 66% has to be commended.

Bruce Brown Jr. has also shown himself to be a valuable asset for Jim Larrañaga. The sophomore is averaging almost 12 points per game and eight rebounds. Not to mention the fact that Brown is shooting a solid 44% from the field this season. While Huell has gotten much of the attention, Brown has come on strong too.

What makes Miami dangerous is their stout defense, only allowing 59 points per game. That mark is good for fourth best in the country. That is sure to clash with Clemson, who pours in nearly 78 points per game as a team.

The No. 19 Tigers are also rather stifling defensively, as they give up 64 points per game, 29th in the country. So, going off opponent points per game alone, these are two of the 30 best defensive teams in the nation. We should not be expecting a shootout by any means come tip-off.

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Thursday evening saw Clemson drop their second game of the season in a loss to North Carolina State. The one-point loss has to sting even if it was to a good Wolfpack team. However, the Tigers shot 52% as a team, so it is surprising to see any team lose with that clip. In this case, it was NC State’s 47% mark from long range that outweighed the Tiger’s efficiency. On top of that, Clemson turned the ball over 17 times compared to the Wolfpack’s four. That stat alone is a formula for disaster, regardless of efficiency.

This game begins a stretch of daunting games for the Tigers. They play Miami tonight, North Carolina on Tuesday, Notre Dame on Saturday, and then Virginia on the 23rd. While Clemson is capable of winning all of those games, they could just as easily go 0-4 in this stretch. Ultimately, their season will be decided over the course of the next week and a half.

The Tigers feature five players averaging in double figures coming into today. They are led in part by junior Marcquise Reed, who averages almost 16 points on 47% shooting. Donte Grantham is another premier player, averaging 15 points and seven rebounds per game. The 6-foot-8 senior is also shooting 58 percent from the field and 38 percent from three.

Next: Duke Destroys Pitt in ACC Action

Without a doubt, the marquee match-up to watch will be Huell and Grantham. They should be matched up with one another, and it should be a physical tussle. However, if Grantham is able to pull Huell from the basket, he may hold the advantage. He has the ability to shoot, and Huell is not necessarily used to guarding those types of posts. It may come down to how efficient Grantham is shooting the basketball.

In my opinion, Clemson has a slight edge solely based on that. Where the Hurricanes win this game is on the defensive end. They are as capable as any at limiting high-powered offenses, and that should be their motivating factor. The old saying is the defensive wins basketball game, and Miami has the better defense. It will be a close game regardless, but I just do not know if Miami can make the stops on a consistent basis down the stretch.

Prediction: Clemson 68, Miami 65