Clemson Tigers (10-1) vs Radford Highlanders (10-4)
2023-12-29 19:00:00 EDT
The Line: Betting Odds: Clemson Tigers -15.5 -- Over/Under:
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The Radford Highlanders and the Clemson Tigers meet Friday in college basketball action from Littlejohn Coliseum. Radford is currently riding a five-game win streak at 10-4 overall. The Highlanders beat West Virginia in their last matchup. As for Clemson, they’re 10-1 on the season and fresh off a win over Queens. Let’s get into our Radford vs. Clemson prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Radford Highlanders
The Highlanders started out a little shaky at 5-4 through their first nine games this year. Radford lost to North Carolina, VCU, James Madison and Old Dominion in that time. The last five games have all been wins over Elon, NC Central, VMI, Bucknell and West Virginia, however.
In their latest matchup versus West Virginia, the Highlanders had a close outcome. After going into the break with a slim 29-28 edge, Radford was able to keep the pace with 37 more points in a 66-65 thriller victory. Leading the team was DaQuan Smith with 18 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Clemson Tigers
Over on the Tigers’ side, they stormed out to a 9-0 record to kick off the year, beating Winthrop, UAB, Davidson, Boise State, Alcorn State, Alabama, Pittsburgh, South Carolina and TCU in that stretch. Clemson took their first loss of the year versus Memphis 79-77, but rebounded with a win over Queens last Friday.
In the Queens game, Clemson had a pretty smooth outing. After drilling the Royals 69-36 in the first half, the Tigers cruised on another 40 points from there in a 109-79 blowout win. PJ Hall led the way on 27 points and four blocks, while RJ Godfrey came off the bench to contribute 19 points and four rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE RADFORD VS CLEMSON PREDICTION
I’ll take a stab on Radford. The Highlanders are on a nice run right now and coming off a gritty win over West Virginia. In that one Radford shot just 37.3 percent from the field and 24.1 percent from 3-point range (7-of-29) but also controlled the boards with a 46-38 rebounding advantage (12-6 offensive). The Highlanders had 70 or more points in four straight games prior to that, which is a good thing because they won’t be able to push Clemson around under the basket quite so well.
Speaking of Clemson, they’ve hit 72 or more points in 10 of 11 games this year and should post a pretty healthy total here as well. I think the Highlanders can follow along well enough to cover, but Radford’s got to get their offense going early.
