Over the past two seasons, arguably no team in ACC basketball has proven more difficult for the Clemson Tigers to beat than Georgia Tech.
The Yellow Jackets have beaten the Tigers each of the past two years. Both games were played at Clemson‘s Littlejohn Coliseum, and they each resulted in Yellow Jacket wins in overtime.
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The good news, if you believe in trends, is that Saturday’s game will be at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, where Clemson has won each of its past three games by double digits. The Tigers beat Georgia Tech there last season, 70-59, after posting a 24-point win in Atlanta in 2024.
Saturday’s game is scheduled for Noon ET. Georgia Tech officials announced late Thursday that the game’s start time would not be altered due to impending winter weather.
Clemson (16-4 overall, 6-1 conference) is ranked No. 18 in this week’s USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 poll; Georgia Tech (11-8, 2-4) is unranked in the polls and received no votes for top 25 consideration.
But it’s the Yellow Jackets who come into Saturday’s game having won their last contest: a 78-74 upset win over NC State in Raleigh last week. Georgia Tech’s Kowacie Reeves Jr. scored 21 points and Lamar Washington added 18 in the Yellow Jackets’ first true road win of the 2025-26 season.
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Clemson, of course, is coming off its first conference loss of the season to Will Wade’s NC State team. After a 6-0 start in the ACC play, the Tigers fell to the Wolfpack, 80-76, in overtime Tuesday night in Littlejohn. RJ Godfrey led the Tigers with 16 points. It was his eight straight game with at least 10 points.
Will Clemson bounce back with a win at Georgia Tech Saturday?
Will Clemson basketball beat Georgia Tech? ESPN’s prediction
ESPN’s matchup predictor, which offers a prediction model based on its college basketball power index (BPI) and other variables, gives Clemson an 82.8% chance to win and Georgia Tech a 17.2% chance.
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The Tigers are 25th nationally in ESPN’s latest BPI ratings, down one spot after Tuesday’s loss to NC State. Clemson has a 15.6 overall BPI rating. The metrics give the Tigers a 6.4 rating on offense that ranks 50th nationally, and a 9.2 rating on defense that’s 16th nationally.
Georgia Tech is outside the top 100 in BPI at No. 116 nationally with an overall rating of 3.3. The Yellow Jackets have a negative-1.0 rating on offense and a 4.3 rating on defense.
ESPN projects Clemson’s final record, odds of winning ACC after first conference loss
ESPN’s BPI ratings give Clemson an overall final record projection of 23.4 wins and 7.6 losses, down from 24-7 earlier in the week. That includes a 13.4-4.6 mark in ACC play. The Tigers’ remaining strength of schedule rates 76th nationally.
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Clemson is currently given a 5.9% chance of winning the ACC title, which is down from 15% last week.
The Duke Blue Devils lead ESPN’s BPI with a 24.4 rating (12.4 offense, 12.0 defense). Among ACC teams, Clemson is ranked fourth in BPI, one spot behind Virginia.
ACC basketball teams ranked by ESPN BPI
Here’s a full look at all 18 ACC teams ranked by ESPN’s basketball power index.
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18. Boston College Eagles (0.5 BPI, 153rd nationally)
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17. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (3.3 BPI, 116th nationally)
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15. Pittsburgh Panthers (6.7 BPI, 88th nationally)
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14. Stanford Cardinal (6.9 BPI, 85th nationally)
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13. California Golden Bears (7.5 BPI, 81st nationally)
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11. Virginia Tech Hokies (8.4 BPI, 71st nationally)
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10. Syracuse Orange (9.2 BPI, 64th nationally)
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9. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (9.9 BPI, 59th nationally)
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8. Miami Hurricanes (12.7 BPI, 42nd nationally)
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7. SMU Mustangs (13.3 BPI, 39th nationally)
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5. NC State Wolfpack (15.2 BPI, 27th nationally)
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3. Virginia Cavaliers (16.6 BPI, 22nd nationally)
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2. Louisville Cardinals (20.5 BPI, 8th nationally)
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1. Duke Blue Devils (24.4 BPI, 1st nationally)
What is ESPN College Basketball Power Index (FPI)?
ESPN explains:
The College Basketball Power Index (BPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward. BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Strength of Record (SOR) is a measure of team accomplishment based on how difficult a team’s W-L record is to achieve. Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day’s rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections. Numbers update daily.”
Clemson basketball schedule 2026
Here’s a look at the Tigers’ full 2025-26 men’s basketball schedule.
All start times Eastern.
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Nov. 3: vs. New Hampshire (W, 88-38)
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Nov. 7: vs. Gardner-Webb (W, 97-59)
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Nov. 11: vs. Morehead State (W, 83-56)
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Nov. 15: at Georgetown (L, 79-74)
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Nov. 17: vs. North Alabama (W, 81-61)
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Nov. 21: vs. West Virginia (W, 70-67)
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Nov. 23: vs. Georgia (W, 97-94, OT)
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Nov. 28: vs. Alabama A&M (W, 92-56)
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Dec. 9 vs. BYU (L, 67-64)
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Dec. 13: vs. Mercer (W, 70-63)
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Dec. 16: vs. South Carolina (W, 68-61)
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Dec. 21: vs. Cincinnati (W, 68-65)
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Dec. 31: at Syracuse (W, 64-61)
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Jan. 3: at Pittsburgh (W, 73-680)
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Jan. 7: vs. SMU (W, 74-70)
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Jan. 10: at Notre Dame (W, 76-61)
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Jan. 13: vs. Boston College (W, 74-50)
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Jan. 17: vs. Miami (W, 69-59)
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Jan. 20: vs. NC State (L, 80-76, OT)
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Jan. 24: at Georgia Tech, Noon, The CW
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Jan. 31: vs. Pittsburgh, Noon, ACC Network
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Feb. 4: at Stanford, 10 p.m., ACC Network
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Feb. 7: at California, 8 p.m., ACC Network
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Feb. 11: vs. Virginia Tech, 7 p.m., ACC Network
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Feb. 14: at Duke, Noon, ESPN
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Feb. 18: at Wake Forest, 7 p.m., ACC Network
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Feb. 21: Florida State, Noon, The CW
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Feb. 28: vs. Louisville, TBD
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March 7: vs. Georgia Tech, Noon, ACC Network
Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.
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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Clemson basketball odds of beating Georgia Tech in Atlanta, per ESPN
