After losing on the road to Georgia Tech earlier this week, Virginia Tech will be back at home today to face the Clemson Tigers, who have won four straight games and are 8-1 in ACC play. While they are not currently in the bottom three, the Hokies don’t want to risk falling further and playing themselves out of an ACC Tournament appearance. An upset win today would be huge for Mike Young’s team.

Virginia Tech is going to be a sizeable underdog in today’s game according to ESPN’s BPI (Basketball Power Index). BPI is giving Clemson an 84% chance to win this game and keep their winning streak alive.

But what is BPI? Here is how ESPN describes it:

“The Basketball Power Index (BPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward. BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Strength of Record (SOR) is a measure of team accomplishment based on how difficult a team’s W-L record is to achieve. Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day’s rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections. Numbers update daily.”

The Hokies have a 24-19 advantage in the all-time series with Clemson after blitzing the 15th-ranked Tigers in Blacksburg a year ago. Sean Pedulla dialed up a game-high 32 points on 9 of 16 shooting to propel Tech to the home victory. Prior to that VT win, Clemson had won two in a row in the series for the first time since 2014-15. Eleven of the last 13 meetings have been decided by single digits, including the epic showdown in the second round of the 2022 ACC Tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y., where Darius Maddox drilled a 3-pointer as time expired in overtime to propel the Hokies to the
76-75 win.

Over the last 13 games in the Clemson series, Tech has posted a 9-4 record. Tech is 15-7 as the home team in the series. Saturday will mark the first time since Jan. 4, 2023 that the Hokies will face an unranked Clemson squad. The previous two meetings featured the Tigers ranked in the AP Top 25. Mike Young earned his 300th career win as a head coach on Nov. 5, 2019 – a 67-60 victory at Clemson. Young is 5-5 vs. Brownell.

Tobi Lawal has three double-doubles on the season, which are the most by a VT player since Lynn Kidd’s five from last season. Lawal had four double-doubles a year ago at VCU. Lawal became the first Hokie to record back-to-back double-doubles since Justyn Mutts did so in November 2022. The London, England native is one of four players to rank in the top 20 in both scoring and rebounding in ACC-only games.

Here is how you can watch and listen to the game this afternoon.

Saturday, January 25, 2025 | 5 p.m. EST | Blacksburgh, VA. | Cassell Coliseum

Television: ACC Network (Announcers: Anish Shroff and Michael Carter-Williams)

Radio, VT Sports Network: Zach Mackey, PxP, Mike Burnop, Analyst

VIDEO STREAM: ESPN.com and ESPN app

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