Two of the ACC’s hottest teams are set to square off this weekend. The Clemson Tigers host the Miami Hurricanes Saturday to close out the third week of conference play at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Clemson (15-3 overall, 5-0 conference) is ranked No. 21 in this week’s USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and No. 22 in the AP Top 25 poll. The Tigers have won eight straight games. Miami (15-2, 4-0) is unranked, but the Hurricanes have won 10 straight contests and received 14 votes for top 25 consideration.
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The Tigers are coming off a dominant 74-50 win over Boston College on Tuesday night. Senior Nick Davidson, a transfer from Nevada, scored 25 points that included a stretch of 21 straight points. Fellow big men RJ Godfrey and Carter Welling added 10 points and eight rebounds apiece.
Miami is coming off an 81-69 victory over Notre Dame in South Bend on Tuesday behind a game-high 23 points from Tre Donaldson, who also had five assists. Malik Reneau added 17 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double while Shelton Henderson scored 17. Reneau leads Miami in scoring with 20.4 points per game.
Will Clemson beat Miami? 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 a 72% chance to win and Miami a 28% chance.
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The Tigers are 24th nationally in ESPN’s latest BPI ratings, up two spots from last week. Clemson has a 15.8 overall rating. The metrics give the Tigers an 6.7 rating on offense that ranks 47th nationally, and a 9.1 rating on defense that’s 16th nationally.
Miami is 39th nationally in BPI. The Hurricanes have a 7.6 rating on offense that ranks 36th nationally and a 5.8 rating on defense that’s 48th.
ESPN projects Clemson basketball final record, odds of winning ACC
Rounded up, ESPN’s BPI ratings give Clemson an overall final record projection of 24-7, up from 23-8 last week. That includes a 14-4 mark in ACC play (up from 13-5). The Tigers’ remaining strength of schedule rates 74th nationally.
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Clemson is currently given a 15% chance of winning the ACC title, which is up from 10% before the Tigers’ wins over Notre Dame and Boston College.
The Duke Blue Devils lead ESPN’s BPI with a 23.6 rating (12.0 offense, 11.5 defense). Among ACC teams, Clemson is ranked fourth in BPI.
ACC basketball teams ranked by ESPN BPI
Here’s a full look at all 18 teams ranked by ESPN’s basketball power index.
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18. Boston College Eagles (-0.4 BPI)
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17. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2.7 BPI)
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15. California Golden Bears (6.9 BPI)
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14. Stanford Cardinal (7.4 BPI)
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13. Virginia Tech Hokies (7.8 BPI)
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12. Pittsburgh Panthers (8.3 BPI)
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10. Syracuse Orange (9.9 BPI)
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9. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (10.3 BPI)
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8. SMU Mustangs (12.9 BPI)
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7. Miami Hurricanes (13.4 BPI)
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5. NC State Wolfpack (15.5 BPI)
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3. Virginia Cavaliers (16.2 BPI)
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2. Louisville Cardinals (19.6 BPI)
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1. Duke Blue Devils (23.6 BPI)
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, 2:15 p.m., The CW
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Jan. 20: vs. NC State, 7 p.m., The CW
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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, TBD
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Feb. 28: vs. Louisville, TBD
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March 3: at North Carolina, 7 p.m., 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 Miami in top ACC showdown, per ESPN
