Clemson vs. Pitt Odds, Expert Pick – Sunday, Dec. 3

CLEMSON VS. PITT ODDS, EXPERT PICK – Red hot Clemson (6-0) travels to the Peterson Events Center to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers (5-2) in an early season ACC matchup.

Clemson is playing lights out basketball after their statement win in Tuscaloosa in a raucous upset of the Crimson Tide. PJ Hall & Co. will look to carry that momentum into a pivotal in-conference road game against a Panthers team looking for a marquee win.

This year, Pitt has been unstoppable against bad teams (5-0) and deflated against good teams (0-2). They lost to both Mizzou and Florida in November and neither game felt particularly close. For the Panthers to keep their tournament hopes alive, a big win against a hot team like Clemson would serve them well.

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Read below for Clemson vs. Pitt odds, expert pick. 

Odds

How to Watch

When: Sunday, December 3rd at 2:00 pm EST

Where: Peterson Events Center

TV: ACC Network

Clemson

Clemson’s key to their offense runs through senior center, PJ Hall. The six-foot-ten big man can move well in the paint and face up in the perimeter. He’s a big threat from the three-point range, where he’s shooting 40.7%. That’s right, Clemson’s center is shooting 40% from three-point.

Hall isn’t the only one who’s hot from beyond three. The Tigers as a team are shooting 41% from three this year and a big reason for that are guards, Chase Hunter and Jospeh Giard III, both of whom are shooting above 40%.

The threes have led to a very efficient offense thus far this season. According to KenPom, the Tigers rank 33rd in Adjusted Offensive Efficiency.

Hall poses such an issue for opposing defenses with his mobility and strength that teams are forced to help on the weak side when he has the ball. This opens up lanes for Giard III and Hunter to attack or leave them open from behind the arc to exploit their sharpshooting ability.

If you leave Hall with the one-on-one matchup, you basically have to pray he goes cold. It hasn’t really happened yet.

Defensively, Clemson struggles to create pressure and turnovers (10.7 per game), but this hasn’t seemed to hurt them much with efficiency. Clemson ranks 42nd in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency, according to KenPom. They play a man-to-man scheme that doesn’t falter and Hall is so quick down low that the Tigers can deny a bunch of shots in the paint.

Pitt

Pitt has been a frustrating team to watch this year. They’ve played a bunch of bad teams and have beaten up on them pretty well, but, when their strength of schedule increases, the team looks lost. Pitt might be 5-2, but KenPom ranks their strength of schedule at 310. As we saw with UConn on Friday night, strength of schedule matters in these early months.

Pitt’s length in the paint frustrates opposing offenses that like to run the offense through their bigs. The height of Blake Hinson and Zack Austin allow guards, Ishmael Legett and Carlton Carrington, to grab a bunch of defensive rebounds.

This length can cause an issue for Pitt’s backcourt, where both Leggett and Carrington both have trouble staying in front on the perimeter. It can open up lanes for quicker guards and create shots beyond the arc for a team that wants to bury threes.

On the offensive side of the ball, Hinson can be difficult matchup. The six-foot-eight forward has a lot of speed, can shoot over just about any defender, and stretches his range. He’s Pitt’s leading scorer and their most reliable offensive threat.

The offensive guard play of Legett and Carrington can be wizardly at times, but goes cold just s often. Chalk it up to youth, but I don’t think the Panthers have found their identity yet.

The Pick

The wrong side is favored here, because, I assume, there just aren’t enough believers in Clemson yet. Maybe the road win in T-Town can be written off as a lucky upset, but I don’t think enough cappers are taking the Tigers seriously.

Clemson’s hot shooting from three is a matchup issue for the Panthers, who would rather clog up the middle and rely on their length for defensive boards. If the Tigers can continue to shoot this well from beyond the arc, I don’t think the Panthers will be able to keep up.

As for the matchup issues that Hinson causes, PJ Hall has enough mobility to frustrate Hinson’s scoring prowess.

Clemson stays unbeaten. Catching points here is a gift.

Clemson +1.5 (play it down to PK)

PJ Hall OVER 1.5 Threes (+125)