Spread: clemson by 3.5 (Spread has moved a point up from 2.5 — people are betting on clemson!)

For the second Thursday in a row the Hokies and c-l-e-m-s-ohhhhh-n will do battle, but this time with survival at stake.  If the Hokies lose, their season is over in all likelihood.  It is not believed that Tech will accept a bid to a tournament lower than the NIT, and VT would likely have to win 3 games in the Dirty, Dirty to have any shot at the NIT for a 5th year in a row.  The Hokies come in at 15-16 overall, so they must win at least 2 games to avoid finishing with a losing record.

But enough about anything other than Thursday.  The Hokies come into this game struggling, having lost 4 in a row, while the tigers have won 5 of 7, including that meeting last Thursday at clemson.  If the Hokies play like they did Sunday against nc state, you can go ahead and make a tee time for Friday, Tech will be done for the season.

These two teams are evenly matched.  In fact, each team won by exactly two points at home this year.  And in both games the road team had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with a couple of seconds left, and in both cases, missed both.

Note: Erick Green was named to the All-ACC Second Team and Dorian Finney-Smith was selected to the All Freshman Team for the ACC.

HISTORY IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT:

• Overall Record: 5-7
• Record in the First Round: 2-1 (beat georgia tech last year)
• First Meeting between VT and clemson in the ACC Tournament

SEASON SERIES VS clemson:

Feb. 4 at Virginia Tech – VT 67-65

• Recap
• Highlights

Mar. 1 at clemson – clemson 58-56

• Recap

Tech jumped out to big leads in both games.  In Blacksburg, VT led by as many as 17 in the 1st half and took a 42-28 lead to the break.  The Hokies led by 14 with 5:30 to go, but took a knee the rest of the game and needed K.J. McDaniels (14 points and 6 dunks) to miss 2 free throws with 3 seconds left, and Tanner Smith to miss a wide open 15-footer at the buzzer from the corner to secure the win.  The tigers snagged 22 offensive rebounds but where just 2/17 on 3-pointers.

At clemson, the Hokies jumped ahead 16-6 but went scoreless for more than 6-1/2 minutes and trailed at the break 33-31.  The tigers threatened to pull away in the 2nd half, leading by as many as 8, but VT tied it with 3 minutes to go.  Neither team scored in the final 2:45 and 2 missed free throws by Cadarian Raines that could have tied the game with 5 seconds left sent the Hokies to defeat (although Raines was the VT player of the game with 12 points and 8 rebounds).  clemson outscored VT on the fastbreak 13-0, but went 0/10 from behind the arc.

Jarell Eddie scored exactly 15 points in both meetings and is 5/12 from deep against the tigers.

clemson is 2/27 from 3-point range against VT this year.

SERIES:

• Overall: VT 13-12
• Overall in ACC Play: clemson 7-5

STARTERS:

STATS:

Note: these stats are for ACC games ONLY.

Let’s win the season series!  Let’s take the rubber match!