Clemson vs. Virginia prediction and odds for Tuesday, February 28 (Bet the underdog)

The ACC has been a confounding conference all season and with the Virginia Cavaliers losing two straight games to Boston College and North Carolina, it isn’t going to start making sense anytime soon. UVA has dropped to No. 13 in the country with a 21-6 (13-5) record. Those five conference losses have them even with Miami for second in the loss column and a full game behind conference leader, Pitt.

Clemson is right at the top of the conference as well. The Tigers are 21-8 and 13-5 in the ACC, good for fourth. They’re looking to hand the Cavaliers their third straight loss heading into the ACC tournament. Let’s get into the odds.

Clemson vs. Virginia odds, spread and total

Clemson vs. Virginia prediction and pick

Virginia has looked very bad lately and part of that is their defense which allowed 71 points to UNC, but they struggled badly on offense against BC. UVA is 0-4 against the spread in their last four games overall. They are 71st in offensive efficiency at 1.058, but in their last three games that’s fallen off a cliff to 0.887. On top of that, they actually aren’t the dominant defense that we’re used to ranking 44th in defensive efficiency. They also play at a snail’s pace which doesn’t help them to score if they’re having a bad night shooting, they only get a limited number of possessions.

Clemson is third in the ACC in three-point shooting percentage, 36.7% which is a big problem for Tony Bennett’s team. The Cavaliers allow their opponents to shoot 34.7% from beyond the arc, which ranks 248th nationally and most recently let UNC hit 10/22 from deep. I could easily see Clemson doing the same thing with Hunter Tyson and Chase Hunter getting hot. I’ll take the Tigers and the points on the road.