After two impressive wins over No. 11 seed New Mexico and No. 3 Baylor to begin the 2024 NCAA Tournament, the sixth-seeded Clemson men’s basketball team is set to make its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2018.

Clemson (23-11) will face off Thursday against No. 2 Arizona (27-8), which took care of business in the first two rounds with a 85-65 rout of No. 15 Long Beach State and then a 78-68 victory over No. 7 Dayton.

Ahead of the West Regional matchup between the Tigers and Wildcats, a few ESPN college basketball experts predicted the outcome of the contest (subscription required).

Jeff Borzello, John Gasaway and Myron Medcalf all picked Arizona to beat Clemson, with Gasaway and Medcalf predicting the Wildcats to win by a seven-point margin (86-79) and eight-point margin (85-77), respectively.

Arizona is currently a 7.5-point favorite.

“Arizona was typical Arizona for the first 18 minutes against Dayton, and then the Wildcats became erratic,” Gasaway wrote. “That’s worrisome for Tommy Lloyd (and he looked it Saturday), because his team has had turnover issues now in four of its past five outings. Then again, takeaways aren’t Clemson’s thing at all. This is a good draw for Arizona.”

Added Medcalf: “Clemson overcame adversity in multiple games. It finished 7-for-21 from beyond the arc against New Mexico but still put together a dominant win. It nearly lost a double-digit lead against Baylor but held on to win. But Arizona is playing like one of the most complete teams in the field. The Wildcats are on a different level with their guard play and tempo.”

Borzello, meanwhile, sees the Wildcats winning by double digits (82-70).

“Clemson was fantastic defensively in its first two games of the tournament, slowing down two explosive offenses in New Mexico and Baylor,” Borzello wrote. “Arizona is a different test. The Wildcats showed real mettle in the win over Dayton, getting big baskets and stops down the stretch. Caleb Love, Keshad Johnson and Jaden Bradley give Arizona a different dimension than the last two tournaments.”

The Tigers will make their fifth NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in program history when they tip off against the Wildcats at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Thursday. The game will be televised at 7:09 p.m. ET on CBS.