The Queens Royals and the Clemson Tigers meet Friday in college basketball action from Littlejohn Coliseum. Queens is currently 6-7 on the season and coming off a loss to Mercer on Tuesday. As for Clemson, they’re sitting at 9-1 this year after taking their first loss to Memphis over the weekend. Let’s get into our Queens vs. Clemson prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Queens Royals 

Queens managed to stay above .500 through their first 11 games at 6-5. The wins in that time came versus High Point, Fairfield, Fairleigh Dickinson, Gardner-Webb, Carolina Christian and Carolina University. Since then it’s been a rough 1-3 run with losses to Winthrop, Appalachian State and Mercer, however. 

In the Mercer matchup on Tuesday, the Royals were drilled 42-26 in the first half alone. Queens didn’t make up any ground in the second and ended up losing 84-65. Leading scorer Deyton Albury came off the bench to post 17 points, and AJ McKee chipped in 16 points in 30 minutes of work. 

Clemson Tigers 

Over on the Tigers’ side, they got off to a great start. Clemson was undefeated through nine games, beating Winthrop, UAB, Davidson, Boise State, Alcorn State, Alabama, Pittsburgh, South Carolina and TCU in succession during that time. Game 10 on Saturday was a loss however, as the Tigers fell to Memphis. 

In that Memphis game, Clemson held a 39-32 edge by the break. The Tigers faded in the second however, and were outscored 47-38 from there in a 79-77 defeat. Chauncey Wiggins was the team’s top scorer in the losing effort with 19 points, seven rebounds and two assists. 

ANDREW’S FREE QUEENS VS CLEMSON PREDICTION 

I’ll probably just stay with Clemson. The Tigers didn’t play terribly in their loss to Memphis, shooting 49.2 percent from the field with a 37-35 rebounding edge. The free throw shooting (10-of-15) could have been better though, and Clemson managed 15 turnovers as well. The Tigers have scored 72 or more points in every game so far and we’re probably in for a big bounce-back effort on Friday. 

As for Queens, they’ve hit 81 or more points in five of their last six games so they can score when the matchup is right. I don’t see Clemson letting up on the gas pedal in this one, though.