Clemson vs California Prediction 1-4-25 College Basketball Picks

The California Golden Bears and the Clemson Tigers meet Saturday in college basketball action from Littlejohn Coliseum. Here’s a Clemson vs California prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Clemson vs California pick.

California Golden Bears Betting Preview

California opened up their season with a promising run over their first seven games. The only blemish in that time was an 85-69 loss to Vanderbilt on November 13. Otherwise, it was victories over Cal State Bakersfield, Cal Poly, USC, Air Force, Sacramento State, and Mercyhurst for a 6-1 start. Things haven’t gone quite so smoothly for the Golden Bears since then, however. They’re just 1-5 over the last six outings. The lone win in that time came versus Northwestern State in a blowout. Otherwise, it’s been losses to Missouri, Stanford, Cornell, San Diego State, and Pittsburgh for a 7-6 overall record thus far.

Matched up against Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day, the Golden Bears came out of halftime with a promising 42-38 edge. California was blitzed 48-32 the rest of the way, however, resulting in a loss 86-74. Leading the team in scoring during the futile effort was Jeremiah Wilkinson with 24 points, six boards and two assists off the bench. Andrej Stojakovic was the leading contributor among the starters with 19 topics, two rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Both Rytis Petraitis (four rebounds) and DJ Campbell (three assists) contributed 11 points apiece as well.

Clemson Tigers Betting Preview

Over on the Clemson side, they got off to a nice opening run overall as well—but maintained theirs quite a ways longer. The Tigers’ lone loss in their first 10 games came versus Boise State on November 17. Otherwise, it was wins over Charleston Southern, St. Francis PA, Eastern Kentucky, Radford, San Francisco, Penn State, Florida A&M, Kentucky, and Miami. Consecutive losses versus Memphis and South Carolina (both in overtime) followed, then came consecutive wins over Wake Forest and Stanford to get the Tigers back on track.

Matched up against the Cardinal on Wednesday, the Tigers came out of halftime looking at a 43-41 edge on the scoreboard. Clemson pulled away in the second half on a 42-30 run and took the eventual victory 85-71 in the end. Leading the team in scoring was Chase Hunter with 22 points, two rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Clemson’s Chauncey Wiggins added 17 points with five rebounds and a block, while Jaeden Zackery had 16 points with five boards, six assists, and four steals. Myles Foster and Dillon Hunter each had six points off the bench.

Why the Clemson Tigers will win

• Clemson has won each of its last nine night games at Littlejohn Coliseum.
• California has lost each of its last seven games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• Clemson has won the first half in each of its last seven night games at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Why the California Golden Bears will win

• Clemson has lost three of its last four night games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• California has won the first half in six of its last eight games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Clemson vs California Prediction

I’ll stick with Clemson here. The Tigers took a while to get going against a pretty decent Stanford team in their last outing, but eventually notched 48.3 percent shooting from the field and 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from outside. Clemson’s only real blemish there was a 36-32 rebounding deficit.

This year the Tigers are scoring very well. They’ve hit 70 or more points in all but one game (65 in a win over Miami). Clemson’s last two losses—versus Memphis and South Carolina—have both come in overtime as well. Needless to say, the Tigers have been quite competitive against all comers so far this season.

As for California, they conversely started strong against Pittsburgh in their last game but faded in the second half. The Golden Bears ended up shooting just 40 percent in that one while allowing 50 percent on the other side. Otherwise, Cal was pretty competitive; the only real discrepancy was the 3-point shooting. The Bears had 28.6 percent while the Panthers surged on 44.4 percent (8-of-18) from outside.

The Golden Bears are still scoring pretty well, even through this current 1-5 stretch. In that time California has hit 74 or more points in all but one game (50 versus San Diego State). That said, the Bears are also giving up a truckload of points on the other side. Clemson’s offense is good enough that they’ll be able to take advantage of the generosity on Saturday and I think the Tigers will turn that into a cover.