Maryland Terrapins (16-8) +11 at No. 13 Clemson Tigers (20-4) -11
Little John Coliseum, Clemson, S.C., 7:30PM Eastern
By Jay Horne of Predictem.com
The Clemson Tigers will be one of three games to take place on Tuesday that have top 25 teams taking the floor. The No. 13 ranked Tigers will host one of the ACC foes in the Maryland Terrapins in Little John Coliseum. Clemson has been pretty solid this season and unpredictable at the same time. The Tigers have a season mark of 20-4, but they have lost 4 out of their last 8 games. Clemson has also dropped 2 of their last 3 to unranked opponents and they will attempt to come up with a more consistent effort to close out the season. Maryland on the other hand has won 2 straight games, but only stand at 5-5 in the ACC. The Terrapins are having a considerable down year compared to the normal Maryland prestigious status, but they still have a chance to close out the season strong starting with a big win on the road against Clemson.
Clemson sports a very talented offense that can score from the inside as
well as the out. The Tigers are averaging right at 79 points per game this
season which ranks inside the top 25 across the country and they have a
bunch of players that can breakout on any given night. Clemson also shoots
a pretty decent 47% as a team from the field to go along with their solid
scoring offense and they will need to keep things the same on Tuesday night.
The Tigers should have the edge against the boards with Trevor Booker and
company especially against a Maryland team that has allowed some high rebounding
totals to opponents this season.
The Maryland Terrapins must find a way to score some points in this game unless they play on shutting down the Clemson offense. The Terrapins are averaging 72 points per game this season. While that is not a considerable low total, it will not good enough to keep up with the high profile offenses of the ACC. Maryland main problem is the way they have shot the ball this season. The Terrapins rank towards the bottom of the nation in field goal percentage only hitting 41% from the field. Maryland will have to be better than that on Tuesday or they will not win the game plain and simple.
Most college basketball gambling sites have the opening lines favoring the No. 13 Clemson Tigers by 11 points over the Maryland Terrapins. Although, Betus.com has not released the initial total for the game some offshore lines have the total posted at 144 for the contest.
Unfortunately the Terrapins only have two players averaging double figures lead by the play of junior guard Greivis Vasquez. Vasquez is posting a sound 16 points per game on the season while also adding 5 and a half rebounds as well. Landon Milbourne is the other player in double figures with 13 points per contest. These two players will definitely need to step up big and maybe expose a Clemson team that has struggled defensively at time this season. Adrian Bowie and Eric Hayes both average a little over 9 points per game barely missing out on the double figure average and one of these players could be give the Terrapins a big boost if they could take some of the focus off Vasquez and Milbourne.
Clemson is led by junior Trevor Booker who is nearly averaging double-double type numbers with 15 points and 9 rebounds per game. Booker has been playing strong and could really give the Tigers the edge against the glass if he has a big night. K.C Rivers and Terrence Oglesby are outstanding guards that can knock down shots from anywhere on the court. Rivers has really come on strong in the latter part of the season posting 14 points per game while Oglesby is a shooter with a lot of range that will attempt a good quantity of shots behind the arc. If the Clemson guards starting shooting well, then it could be lights out. However, when they have not shot the ball well they have been very vulnerable to these types of teams.
Betting Trends
Maryland has won 4 of their last 5 games ATS and have reached the under in 6 of their last 9 games. Clemson has also won 4 of their last 5 games ATS while nearly splitting the season on the over/under total. Clemson is also 4-2 SU in their last 6 games against Maryland.
Jays Pick: Clemson -11.