basketball

Jay Bilas makes prediction for Clemson vs Iowa in NCAA Tournament

•Yahoo Sports

Jay Bilas makes a prediction on how long Clemson's NCAA Tournament stay will be, including the Tigers' first-round matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Tipoff for the Clemson Tigers ' first-round NCAA Tournament matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes is rapidly approaching. The two teams will meet in the No. 8 vs.

9 seed game in the South Region Friday at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida. Clemson (24-10 overall), the No. 8 seed, won two games at the ACC Tournament in Charlotte last week by defeating Wake Forest, 71-62, and pulling an 80-79 upset of North Carolina to reach the semifinals round.

Iowa (21-12) defeated Maryland in its Big Ten tournament opener before falling to Ohio State , 72-69, last Thursday. Both the Tigers and Hawkeyes enter the game on a downward trend; Clemson has dropped six of its last 10 games while Iowa has lost seven of 10. Nevertheless, ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas has a feel for how Friday's game will go and recently made his prediction for Clemson-Iowa.

Bilas is taking the Hawkeyes to send the Tigers to their second straight first-round exit in March Madness. Bilas said: "The Tigers are big and well-coached, but the Hawkeyes have Bennett Stirtz, one of the best shotmakers in college basketball, who is averaging 20. 2 points, 3.