Clemson men's basketball is 17-8 overall and 7-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. There are six games remaining before the ACC Tournament begins in Washington, D.C.
They will play Pittsburgh and Wake Forest, two teams aiming to make the NCAA Tournament, but the toughest part of the conference schedule is behind them. That means now is the perfect time to start your winning streak.
The Tigers will try that tonight while visiting the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The game begins at 7 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion. It will be aired on the ACC Network.
Clemson lost to Tech in double overtime on January 16th at Littlejohn Coliseum, so the Tigers should never underestimate the Yellow Jackets. Myles Kelly leads Georgia Tech in scoring with 14.7 points per game. Baye Ndongo had eight rebounds per game and Knighton George had 4.8 assists per game.
However, Georgia Tech is 11-15 overall and 4-11 in the ACC. It is ranked 141st in the NET ranking. If Clemson is serious about the upcoming postseason, he needs to play his best basketball against a team like Tech and not lower the level of competition.
If they had played Tech, Virginia and NC State at home, Clemson could have been squarely in the top four of the ACC standings, currently 10-4. The Tigers lost by one point to the Cavaliers and Wolfpack on their home court.
There are reasons to be optimistic. The Tigers lost a game against North Carolina in Littlejohn, but avenged that loss a few weeks later in Chapel Hill. Clemson University will likely do the same with Georgia Tech tonight.
ESPN Analytics' matchup predictions give Clemson an 80.4% chance of winning tonight.
