Sweet 16: Clemson and Kansas Kick-off Friday Action

Clemson Heads Into Sweet 16 as a Unknown

Sweet 16 action kicks off on Friday Night with the Clemson Tigers and the Kansas Jayhawks battling. CenturyLink Center-NE will host the action and CBS will televise the game nationally. Oddsmakers opened the Jayhawks as -4-point favorites versus the Tigers, while the game’s total opened at 143. The line is now Kansas -5 and the total is up to 144.5. The basketball coach at Clemson is trying to makea name for himself. His name is not recognized like his three counterparts at the Midwest Regional. Mike Krzyzewski has led Duke to five NCAA titles and 12 Final Four appearances. Bill Self has one national title and two Final Fours with Kansas. Jim Boeheim has one title and five Final Fours with Syracuse. Brad Brownell has Clemson in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1997. He previously coached Wright State and UNC-Wilmington to tournament appearances. Clemson advanced by playing great defense. They limited Auburn to 25.8 percent shooting. Auburn only scored points on just 22 of 70 possessions in an 84-53 second-round matchup. Clemson ranks 18th nationally defending shots. The Tigers are allowing only 40.4 percent on average per game. Three over-sized guards lead the way. All of them stand 6’3″ and cause matchup problems. Marcquise Reed, Gabe DeVoe and Shelton Mitchell, lead the Tigers in scoring with averages of 15.9, 13.7 and 12.3 points, respectively.

Sweet 16 Again for Kansas in a “Down” Year

Self and the Jayhawks’ Big 12 dominance is reflected in 14 consecutive league championships. However, the Big 12 advanced four teams to the Sweet 16 this year. Kansas outlasted Penn and Seton Hall in the first two rounds. Center Udoka Azubuike is back. The 7-foot sophomore missed the Jayhawks’ championship run in the Big 12 Tournament. He was out with an MCL strain. He played 22 minutes against Seton Hall and chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds. Azubuike leads the nation in field goal percentage. He is making 77.5 percent of his attempts. A whole flock of Kansas shooters have combined to average 10 3-point makes per game. They are shooting 40.3 percent from behind the arc. The Jayhawk that has been the hottest during the five-game winning streak has been sophomore guard Malik Newman. He is averaging 22 points during that run and is hitting 59 percent from downtown.  

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Power Stats

Clemson Tigers

Kansas Jayhawks

Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	73.76	136	70.86	110
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	81.39	25	65.50	23

Head To Head Summary

Head To Head Detail

Sweet 16 Betting Trends

Clemson Tigers
Clemson is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games
Clemson is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games

Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
Kansas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Kansas’s last 9 games

Clemson Tigers

Kansas Jayhawks

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