Something has to give this Wednesday night at 7:00 when Duke travels to Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina to take on the Clemson Tigers.  Both teams come in on three game ACC winning streaks making this an important game in conference standings.

The Tigers are traditionally tough at home and they are one of the better defensive teams in the league.  In their last outing they held Louisville to 62 points in their win.  And the Cards came into the game as one of the better scoring teams in the ACC.  The Tigers have also defeated Florida State and Syracuse in the Carrier Dome after losing their opening ACC game to North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Jarron Blossomgame leads the Tigers in scoring and rebounding and he will surely draw a lot of attention from Blue Devil defenders.  But the Tigers have five players that are double figure scorers or close to being so.  If you concentrate  heavily on Blossomgame, the rest of the Tigers cast can knock down the three-point shot.

Meanwhile, Duke has put together a streak of their own by winning their first three ACC games.  The Blue Devils are playing solid basketball of late where the team has defined their roles with greater success.

For Duke it all starts with Grayson Allen and Brandon Ingram who have become the teams two best players.  Ingram is a match up nightmare and he will be tested against one of the more aggressive defensive teams he will face.  Allen is the most improved player in the league boosting his scoring average more than any other ACC player from a season ago.

But Duke is more than those two.  Marshall Plumlee is playing his best basketball of late.  He will be just as vital an option as the two aforementioned players in this game.  Duke has also benefitted of late from the offensive prowess of Luke Kennard who has seen his scoring average rise dramatically since the injury that sidelined Amile Jefferson.

The X-Factor in this game could be Matt Jones,   The junior is averaging 13,9 ppg, but he's been in a bit of a slump in recent games.  With the absence of a senior captain Amile Jefferson, his leadership will be needed in an always tough ACC road game.

Clemson has a way of taking teams out of their game plan where they make opponents uncomfortable in a grinding style of game.  If Duke gets off to a good start offensively, it could thwart their schemes.

Look for the Blue Devils to try to push the Tigers off the three-point stripe which would limit their offensive output.  The Duke staff knows that all games are critical and they will not allow their youthful, depth shy team to overlook Clemson in what could be a trap game.

There will be few easy shots in this game and a lot of fouls are likely to be called.  But when the dust clears, I think we'll see the Blue Devils push their record to 4-0 in conference and keep their current win streak alive.