Preview: Boston College Men’s Basketball vs Clemson
On Tuesday night, Boston College men’s basketball hosts the Clemson Tigers in Chestnut Hill as the teams begin to near the end of the regular season.
When: Tuesday January 31st at 7pm ET
Where: Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA
How to Watch: The game will be broadcasted live on ACC Network
Boston College enters this game shortly after a very rough loss to #7 Virginia in which the Eagles could only muster 57 points. BC has been taking care of business recently against bottom-tier ACC teams like Notre Dame and Louisville, but otherwise has not been able to put together any wins since their upset of Virginia Tech back in December. With just 9 games remaining in the regular season, Boston College is staring at a possible bottom-5 finish in the ACC for the 11th-straight season.
The return of Quinten Post has been a boon for BC and Makai Ashton-Langford can typically be trusted for a decent game each night, but otherwise they have not shown much life against stronger competition. Jaeden Zackery has finally started to look better after a very rough first half of the season, but even he is still inconsistent after putting up just 6 combined points in 65 minutes against Virginia and Notre Dame. The same can be said for DeMarr Langford Jr.’s hot-and-mostly-cold play. Until a third player can start to consistently show up for the Eagles, they will have a difficult time winning games against even mid-tier ACC teams.
Clemson is a tough match-up and could send BC on yet another losing streak. The Tigers sit atop the ACC standings right now at 10-1 in conference and ranked #24 nationally. The pride of this Clemson team is their frontcourt, led by forwards Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall. The duo combines for 30+ points per game and Tyson almost averages a double-double with 9.8 rebounds per game.
The forwards are also both two-way players and give teams fits in the paint defensively, making Clemson the 19th best defense inside the arc in the NCAA. This is a terrible match-up for a Boston College team that ranks near the bottom in 3pt shooting. Clemson can crowd the paint, lock down Quinten Post, and dominate inside all game without much fear that BC will punish them beyond the arc. Unless the Eagles start hitting their stroke from three, this one could get ugly.
Prediction: Clemson 76 Boston College 62
