Clemson Basketball Brings 10-1 ACC Record to Boston College

Jan 30, 2023 - 7:05 PM

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Clemson at Boston College

When: Tuesday, January 31st - 7pm
Where: Conte Forum - Chestnut Hill, MA
TV: ACC Network

The Cardiac Cats earned their third one-point ACC win on Saturday when Chase Hunter sped down the court, made a contested lay-up, and drew a foul in the final seconds. His made free throw pushed the Tigers ahead of Florida State and after a defensive stand, pushed them to an incredible 10-1 in the ACC. Here’s how the ACC standings look following the win:

The Tigers now travel North to Chestnut Hill to face Boston College. The Boston College Eagles are 10-12 (4-7) and just got completely obliterated by Clemson’s prime competition for the ACC Crown — Virginia. Boston College’s only win over a KenPom top 100 opponent came over Virginia Tech.

Much like Georgia Tech, the recipe to beating Boston College is to force them to shoot 3-pointers. They are shooting an abysmal 29.6% from deep. Their strength is on the inside where seven-footer Quinten Post is on the block (a perfect name for a great post player!). He missed all of Boston College’s non-conference play and their first two ACC games, but has returned and is averaging 16.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game in nine ACC contests. He has scored 22+ in each of his last three contests including 29 against Notre Dame and 24 against Virginia’s always-stingy defense.

It’ll be strength vs. strength as Clemson boasts one of the best front courts in the conference with PJ Hall and Hunter Tyson leading the charge and Ian Shieffelin, Ben Middlebrooks, Chauncey Wiggins, and RJ Godfrey all proving to be valuable contributors. All six of those players stand 6-foot-7 or taller.

This is another must-win game as a loss would be a big blow for Clemson’s NET ranking which dropped three spots after a too-close-for-their-liking-win over Florida State (see my video on why the NET hates Clemson here). A loss would be an anchor around their neck in those rankings. It would also drop Clemson into a tie in the loss column with Virginia. The Tigers really need to be two-games up on Virginia before they travel to Charlottesville so that road game isn’t a winner-take all matchup for the regular season conference title.

While the NET and KenPom have been down on Clemson all year, they’re far more negative about Boston College. KenPom gives Clemson a 70% chance win to pick-up the road win. With two tough games against Miami and North Carolina up next, this is a key game the Tigers have to have. They’ll likely be without Alex Hemenway and Brevin Galloway, but with Chase Hunter back, I like the Tigers’ chances. Hopefully the other two guards can return for the Saturday, February 4th home game against Miami.