The Clemson Tigers begin a West Coast swing Wednesday night when they take on the Stanford Cardinal at Maples Pavilion. It will mark the official start to the second half of the ACC basketball regular-season schedule for both teams.
Clemson (18-4 overall, 8-1 conference) is off to a great start in the ACC and enters the week only one game behind first-place Duke in the league’s standings. The Tigers will face the Blue Devils a week from Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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In the meantime, Clemson hopes to avoid a trap game against a Stanford (14-8, 3-6) team that has dropped four straight entering the night. The last of those two losses on came cross-country trips to Miami and Florida State.
But the Cardinal have some quality wins under its belt this season — at least at home. In fact, they’ve already beaten two ranked teams in conference play within the first month of the ACC schedule: No. 14 North Carolina and then-No. 16 Louisville.
Freshman guard Ebuka Okorie is the ACC’s second-leading scorer at 21.8 points per night and had 26 points in Stanford’s 88-80 loss at Florida State on Saturday. Only Duke’s Cameron Boozer (23.3 PPG) is averaging more points per game than Okorie in the ACC.
Clemson, meanwhile, is coming off a 63-52 win over the Pitt Panthers on Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum. The Tigers picked up 12 points from big men Nick Davidson and Carter Welling. RJ Godfrey added 10 as Clemson won for the 11th time in 12 games. Godfrey leads the Tigers in scoring with 12 points per game.
Will Clemson avoid upset scare at Stanford? ESPN’s prediction
Ahead of Clemson-Stanford, ESPN’s matchup predictor, which offers a prediction model based on its college basketball power index (BPI) and other variables, weighed in with its odds. According to ESPN’s metrics, the Tigers have a 74.5% chance to win and the Cardinal a 25.5% chance.
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ESPN explains its basketball power index and score projections:
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.”
Where Clemson basketball lands in ESPN’s BPI metrics
Entering the week, Clemson is 26th nationally in ESPN’s latest BPI ratings, the same spot as last week. Clemson has a 15.7 overall BPI rating. The metrics give the Tigers a 6.3 rating on offense that’s 51st nationally, and a 9.4 rating on defense that’s 16th nationally.
Stanford is No. 93 overall in BPI with a combined rating of 2.8. The Cardinal have a 6.3 rating on offense and a 3.5 rating on defense.
ACC basketball teams ranked by ESPN BPI: Who’s behind Duke?
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 (1.0 BPI)
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17. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2.9 BPI)
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16. Florida State Seminoles (5.7 BPI)
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15. Stanford Cardinal (6.3 BPI)
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14. Pittsburgh Panthers (6.6 BPI)
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12. Virginia Tech Hokies (8.2 BPI)
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11. California Golden Bears (8.3 BPI)
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T-9. Syracuse Orange (9.1 BPI)
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T-9. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (9.1 BPI)
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8. Miami Hurricanes (12.8 BPI)
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7. SMU Mustangs (12.9 BPI)
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T-3. NC State Wolfpack (16.1 BPI)
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T-3. Virginia Cavaliers (16.1 BPI)
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2. Louisville Cardinals (19.8 BPI)
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, 73-68)
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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 (W, 77-63)
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Jan. 31: vs. Pittsburgh (W, 63-52)
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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, ESPN or ESPN2
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March 7: vs. Georgia Tech, Noon, ACC Network
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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Clemson basketball odds of beating Stanford, per ESPN
