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March Madness continues with some Sweet 16 action between the Clemson Tigers and the Arizona Wildcats. Both teams are coming off of dominant victories in the second round of the tournament and are going to battle it out for a spot in the Elite 8 in this Thursday showdown in Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena. We take a look at this marquee matchup to make a Clemson-Arizona prediction and pick.
Clemson (23-11) has defied the odds in back-to-back tournament games as the betting underdog. They came in as a 4.5-point underdog to the Baylor Bears who was knocked out before making the Sweet 16 yet again.
The Tigers were led by Chase Hunter who had himself a game with 20 points to go along with 6 assists on the night.
Also, the Tigers defense held Baylor to just 39% from the floor and 25% from 3-point range. Clemson's momentum and recent play will be key when they head to Los Angeles in hopes of three straight underdog victories to advance to the Elite 8.
Arizona (27-8) has run through the competition during the first two rounds of the tournament. They dominated Long Beach beating them by 20 points in the first round and then just took out Dayton by 10 points and going 1-0-1 ATS in those two games.
Arizona's Caleb Love will need to replicate the same success he had against Dayton where he scored 19 points with five assists if they want to get through this surging Clemson Tigers and advance to the Elite 8.
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The Clemson Tigers are one of those gritty teams that you can't overlook. Many overlooked them in games against both New Mexico and Baylor and they came away with dominant victories in each of those matchups.
It's been their star guard Chase Hunter who's been coming on strong since the start of the tournament. During the tournament, he is averaging 20.5 points and 6 assists in their two wins. He has taken over the offense ever since the start of the tournament and has been the leader of this team.
However, the Tigers still have been playing great basketball collectively as a team with four players scoring double digits in their victory against Baylor while scoring over 70 points in both outings.
Also, the Tigers have been stifling on defense limiting both New Mexico and Baylor with neither team hitting more than 39% from the floor and 25% from 3-point range. Against a team like the Arizona Wildcats, that defense is going to be crucial to their success in getting past this No. 2 seed and to the Elite 8 for the first time since 1980.
The No. 2-seeded Arizona Wildcats are playing exactly how many expected them to play as they head into this year's tournament. They dominated both Long Beach and Dayton to advance to the Sweet 16.
Arizona is one of the top teams in the league in scoring averaging 89.5 points per game which was third in the nation during the regular season with a point differential of +16.3 per game.
Their star guard Caleb Love has been doing the heavy lifting during their run in the tournament averaging 18.5 points to go along with 5 assists and 7 rebounds.
However, it hasn't been just a one-man show for the Wildcats as they have been a cohesive unit with players like Oumar Bello, Keshad Johnson, and Pelle Larsson making their presence known on both sides of the ball. It's up to this Wildcats offense to put this Clemson defense on the heels if they want to advance to the Elite 8 and make a run at a National Title.
This game should be a good one from start to finish. Seeing as how the Clemson Tigers have been playing with some tenacity and grit it's hard to not take them with the points here. They have not only covered in back-to-back games as the betting underdog but also won outright.
It will not be a shock if we see Clemson go out there and put it on the Arizona Wildcats getting out to a big lead and holding onto it as they cover this spread and advance to the Elite 8.
FINAL CLEMSON-ARIZONA PICK & PREDICTION: CLEMSON TIGERS +7.5 (-115)
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