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A Top 25 defensive showdown is primed to take place in the ACC on Saturday as the No. 18 Virginia Cavaliers will travel down to Littlejohn Coliseum to meet the No. 12 Clemson Tigers.
The Cavs (8-2, 4-0 ACC) remained undefeated in conference play on Wednesday when dispatching of Notre Dame for an 80-68 home win. Senior Jay Huff stepped up with 18 points while fellow senior Sam Hauser nearly secured a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds.
To the surprise of no one, defense has been the dominating factor for a Tony Bennett UVA team as they’ve held conference opponents to a league best 58.8 points per game on just 41 percent shooting and 20 shot attempts per contest.
Cut from the same cloth is Clemson (9-1, 3-1), who has also stifled opponents so far this season by limiting foes to just 57.6 points per game through all 10 of their contests for the 2020-21 season. The Tigers showed some resiliency the last time they were in action, rallying from a nine-point second-half deficit to upend NC State 74-70 in overtime last Tuesday.
Senior Aamir Simms, who has scored the go-ahead basket in both of Clemson’s previous two victories, leads the team with 12.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
Virginia and Clemson have the two highest average scoring margins in the league with the Cavs at 12.1 points per game and the Tigers at 10.7.
Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming
You can watch Virginia vs. Clemson on Saturday, January 16th at 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPN, or you can stream it via the ESPN app with a cable or streaming service login that has the channel.
If you don’t have a cable login to access the ESPN app, you can get a free trial from YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, AT&T TV Now, FuboTV, or Sling TV to stream it.
Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends
Point spread: Pick ‘em
Point Total: 117.5
Money line: N/A
The Best Bet
Defense has been the calling card for both of these programs but both have displayed an ability to consistently put up 65+ points in most of their ballgames.
117.5 is too low even for a pair of teams that will try to stifle each other on the offensive end, so take the over here.
Pick: Over 117.5
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