Clemson vs. Illinois in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge

Tomorrow marks the return of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge for the Tigers. They will be playing at Illinois. Watch the videos below to see OP and Trevor Booker discuss the upcoming game- both from the Greenville News.

The game will be nationally broadcast on ESPN2.
Follow the Game Stats here, complete with charts, graphs, etc.
You can listen to the Clemson radio broadcast on WCCP-FM.

And from the land of the Big Ten, here are four reasons the Illini will supposedly win the game. This is from an Illini fan website.

1. Clemson's lack of size: Booker is their biggest guy at 240, but he's not terribly tall at 6-7. Sykes, their center, is only 6-9 220. If we have two of Tisdale, Semrau, and Keller in the game, we have a considerable size advantage. Their guards, who shoot well, aren't particularly big. The only interesting match up is Rivers, who has length and is willing to shoot from outside. I could see either Brock matching up nicely against him.
They clearly underestimate Booker's size, ability, and drive this year. It is easy to average so many assists when you run three guards and two forwards.

2. Clemson has not played particularly well on the road or at neutral cites: two non-home games this year have been narrow wins against average (at best) opponents. They were able to hold off Temple for a 76-72 victory after Temple was down but climbed back to within 2 in the last couple minutes of the game. In their only game outside their home state, Clemson beat Charlotte by 1 point (71-70). Again, Clemson was up but saw the lead dwindle as the home team made a run. These two games were Clemson's lowest two point totals, leading me to believe that their shooting numbers drop away from home. Assembly Hall will certainly be the toughest environment they've played in this year.
I concede. This will be a difficult away game. I guess the best they can do is pretend the Orange is Clemson Orange.

3. They are 241st in the country in turn-overs: They avg. 14.1A and 16.4 TO per contest, compared to our 19.2A and 13.2TO. It's tough to win on the road when you don't protect the ball well.
I think our athleticism will match up with theirs nicely.What about rebounds, ppg, etc, etc.

4. Defense: Clemson lost their two best defensive players last year in Cliff Hammands [sic] and James Mayes [sic]. They use a full press defensive scheme, but it's tough to do that well when you lose your two best defenders. If Temple and Charlotte can drop 70+ on them, I feel we can too.
Yes, but we will drop 80+ on you. If Rivers is on tomorrow and Oglesby brings the outside game. Things won't be so easy for the Illini.

You can follow the Illini sentiments on the following sites:
InsideIllini.com- use your scout.com id here.
or
Illinilloyalty





Go Tigers!