2018 Sweet 16: Kansas vs. Clemson NCAA Basketball Lines & Pick

The Clemson Tigers brought the Auburn meltdown to an end in the round of 32, delivering an 84-53 haymaker to the tournament chances of a team that many thought would win the SEC outright earlier in the season. The Kansas Jayhawks barely survived their tangle with the Seton Hall Pirates last weekend, and now the two programs square off in the Sweet 16, playing for the first time in the programs’ histories. Check out our NCAA Basketball lines preview for this regional semifinal from the nation’s heartland.

2018 Sweet 16: Kansas vs. Clemson NCAA Basketball Lines & Pick

Next stop ➡️ OMAHA! More from round ✌️ of @marchmadness: https://t.co/RQl6B2913H #KUbball pic.twitter.com/q4xwh6Obs4

— Kansas Basketball (@KUHoops) March 18, 2018

When: Friday, March 23, 2018, 7:07pm ET Where: CenturyLink Center, Omaha, NE TV: CBS Radio: None Live Stream: March Madness Live NCAA Basketball Lines: Kansas -4, O/U 143

Why should you bet on the Jayhawks?

Kansas has done just enough to get this far in the tournament, knocking off 16-seed Penn by 16 points and then eking out a four-point win over Seton Hall. Kansas held their lead against the Pirates by converting their free throws down the stretch, and it also helped that they made half of their shots on the game — including an eye-popping 43 percent from downtown. Clemson’s defense is much more stifling than that of Seton Hall, though. Will Malik Newman be able to put up 28 more points against the Clemson Tigers? Will the Jayhawks have four scorers in double figures again? That will be a tall order against Clemson. The Kansas defense allowed Seton Hall to make 45 percent of their shots from the floor (including 41 percent from downtown). So Clemson will get their looks. Kansas went through their regular season winning at least once against the likes of Texas Tech, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Kansas State — some stiff competition — and rolled to regular-season and tournament titles. Clemson has shown that they can clamp down on defense, but their offense has hit some rough patches in ACC play. If you like Kansas, then you see that consistency holding serve — and the Tigers heading home.

Why should you put your money on the Tigers?

In Clemson’s romp over Auburn, the real story was the defense that they played, simply shutting down an Auburn attack that had been almost unstoppable for the first two-thirds of the season. Clemson has relied on their defense all year long — and it shut down the top-ranked SEC attack. Auburn only managed 19 points before the intermission, shooting just over 25% for the game. Now Clemson has the same task against a Kansas offense that has quick guard play and big men who can crash the boards and score with their backs to the basket. The Clemson offense has emerged during the tournament, scoring 84 against Auburn and 79 against New Mexico State. Against Auburn, they shot almost 48 percent form the floor and 38.5% from downtown. On the season, they have scored 73.8 points per game while permitting just 65.5 — and they’ll need to be just as good on defense this time to send Kansas home. Clemson has covered the spread in each of their last seven games outside the ACC, and in seven of their last eight games coming after a straight-up victory. The question is whether Clemson can put the clamps on a Kansas team that shrugged off a tough Big 12 slate and rolled to their 14th consecutive regular season championship. Kansas’ defense will give up some buckets, so if Clemson can be opportunistic, they have a chance to leave the tournament with just one 1-seed standing going into the Elite Eight.

Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction

People have been expecting Kansas to go away easily for much of the season, and the Jayhawks have simply kept on winning. A lot of the prognosticators see Clemson’s defense doing a number on Kansas, but the Jayhawks have dealt with a lot of different defensive schemes on the season and solved the vast majority of them. I predict a final score of Kansas 72, Clemson 66.