Clemson travels up to Chestnut hill for a Saturday evening matchup with the Boston College Eagles at the Conte Forum. The game will be televised on the ACC Network at 6pm as the Tigers try to extend their winning streak.
Clemson is sitting at 13-12 overall and 7-8 in the ACC. After losing three straight to Wake Forest, UVA, and Notre Dame, the Tigers have now won 2 consecutive games over Pitt and Louisville, who was ranked fifth at the time.
The Tigers will try to extend that streak when they meet up with the Eagles who are 13-14 overall, and 7-9 in conference play. Meanwhile, BC is 2-2 in their last four games. They have wins over Virginia Tech and NC State and loses to Miami and Virginia.
Clemson’s three-game losing streak came with very poor production on the offensive end. The Tigers scored 57 points against the Irish and just 44 points in the games against Wake and UVA. Since those games, Clemson has scored a combined 149 points in the games with Pitt and Louisville, both double digit wins.
Aamir Simms’ 13.3 points and 2.7 assist a game lead the team. He also leads the Tigers with 7.1 rebounds a game. The Tigers have averaged 66.5 points a game, while the defense has allowed 63.5 points a game.
As for BC and their offense, the Eagles have been pretty choppy in the scoring department as of late. They have scored 65 or less in two of their last three games and averaged 64.9 points a game on the season. BC has also been giving up points at a pretty good rate as well (69.3 points a game).
Derryck Thornton has scored an average of 13.1 points and 3.6 assist a game. Rebounding for the Eagles has been handled by Steffon Mitchell with an average of 8.4 rebounds a game.
Projected Lineups:
Clemson:
#0 Clyde Trapp Junior Guard
#2 Al-Amir Dawes Freshman Guard
#15 John Newman, III Sophomore Guard
#13 Tevin Mack Graduate Student Forward
#25 Aamir Simms Junior Forward
Boston College:
#3 Jared Hamilton Senior Guard
#5 Jay Heath Freshman Guard
#1 Jairus Hamilton Sophomore Forward
#21 Nik Popovic Senior Forward
#41 Steffon Mitchell Junior Forward
The Tigers will need to take advantage of the low averages by the Eagles if they are to get a win on the road, where they are just 2-6 on the season. They also will need to cut down on the scoreless streaks that have plagued them throughout the season, particularly on the road.
Clemson will look for someone to step up like they’ve seen happen in the last few games. Maybe Simms, Tevin Mack, Al-Amir Dawes, John Newman or even Alex Hemenway.
For example, the career high 23 points from Newman in the Tigers dominant win over Louisviille. Or the 17 second-half points by Dawes against Pitt that helped the Tigers secure the victory.
Or it could be Hemenway, who had a season best 16 points in a home loss to Notre Dame two weeks ago. The freshman shooting guard has been the Tigers hottest shooter of late, and is one to keep a close eye on.
