Louisville at Clemson preview – Yahoo Sports

About Clemson:

After shedding his prime six scorers from a season in the past and nonetheless having Clemson at 20-4 total and 10-1 in league play, Brad Brownell appeared to be at or close to the highest of the listing for ACC Coach of the Year honors. Now, all of the sudden, the Tigers have misplaced 4 straight, and a crew that was projected to be a 4 or a 5 seed within the NCAA Tournament is now simply determined to style a win once more.

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While Clemson’s power all season lengthy has been its protection, the Tigers middling offense has struggled much more than normal in its current losses to Virginia Tech, Duke, Wake Forest and Florida State. The Tigers are taking pictures below 40 % from the sector over these 4 losses and have scored greater than 66 factors as soon as.

What Clemson does have going for it’s the identical defensive identification that has been the spine of essentially the most profitable run within the historical past of this system.

Brownell’s crew enters the weekend ranked 18th within the nation in adjusted defensive effectivity. Their 65.6 factors allowed per sport is sweet for seventeenth within the nation. They are robust, they’re bodily, they defend the perimeter extraordinarily nicely, and so they pressure their opponents to make use of extra of the shot clock than all however 4 of the 365 groups in Division-I.

Offensively, Clemson depends on a measured and balanced assault. How balanced? Neither one of many crew’s solely double determine scorers — forwards RJ Godfrey (11.5 ppg) and Carter Welling (10.3 ppg) — have scored 20 factors in a sport up to now this season. No Tiger averages greater than 27.1 minutes of courtroom time per sport, however 9 are enjoying at least 18.2 minutes. Brownell will run our bodies at Louisville within the hopes of beating the Cards up and having them run down by the sport’s last minutes.

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Clemson performed at a snail’s tempo final season, and so they’re even slower this 12 months — 337th within the nation. All too usually in current weeks, Louisville has let its opponent impose their will on the Cards. It can be good to see U of L get forward early, keep forward, and pressure the Tigers to return out of their consolation zone and choose up the tempo as the sport goes on.

Jestin Porter and Dillon Hunter are guards who can actually defend, and can probably be the pair tasked with slowing down Mikel Brown Jr. and Ryan Conwell. While each are very stable, I don’t assume both possesses the lateral quickness essential to constantly hold Brown out of the lane if Brownell instructs them to run the Cardinal guards off the three-level line.

In the second half in opposition to North Carolina, the Tar Heel guards constantly took the three away and funneled Brown and firm into 7-footer Henri Veesar. Time after time, Louisville’s guards appeared to make the improper resolution when gaining that benefit and getting a head of steam into the lane. With the Tigers not possessing an elite rim protector, this ought to be a greater alternative for U of L’s playmakers to point out that they’ve taken a step ahead by both ending at the time, drawing fouls, or precisely dropping the ball off to an open teammate.

If Clemson doesn’t run Louisville off the three-level line, nicely … you gotta make photographs.

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Notable:

—Since Louisville joined the ACC in 2014-15, the house crew has received each common season sport on this sequence.

—Clemson is the one ACC opponent that Louisville has did not defeat on the street (exterior of newcomer Stanford) since becoming a member of the league in 2014-15.

—Louisville is 1-6 all-time in street video games in opposition to Clemson and 0-6 all-time inside Littlejohn Coliseum.

—Clemson’s present 4-sport shedding streak is the longest skid for this system since 2022.

—Both Louisville and Clemson set program data for convention wins final season with 18.

—Clemson is 1-5 this season when permitting its opponent to make 10 or extra three-pointers.

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—Louisville averages 11.9 made three-pointers per sport, essentially the most within the ACC and tied for the third-most nationally.

—Clemson head coach Brad Brownell is 6-8 all-time in video games in opposition to Louisville.

—Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 3-0 all-time in video games in opposition to Clemson, together with a 2-0 mark in opposition to the Tigers at U of L. Kelsey’s Winthrop crew received at Clemson (77-74) in 2014.

—Louisville is 0-7 this season in Quadrant I-A video games. Saturday’s sport at Clemson shall be U of L’s Q1A alternative of the season.

—Louisville is 1-11 in Quadrant I-A video games below the path of head coach Pat Kelsey, with their lone win coming over Clemson in final 12 months’s ACC Tournament.

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—Louisville averages 86.4 factors per sport, essentially the most in ACC and the sixteenth-most nationally.

—Louisville is simply 3-6 in true street video games up to now this season. The Cardinals are averaging 76.6 factors over these 9 street contests.

—Clemson is 53-22 total within the ACC during the last 4 seasons, the second-most wins within the ACC over that point interval behind Duke.

—Clemson’s 94-38 document for the final 4 years is essentially the most wins in Clemson historical past over a 4-12 months interval. The earlier mark was a 93-41 mark between 2006-07 and 2009-10.

—Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 176-69 (.718) all-time convention video games as a head coach; he holds an 81-41 (.664) document in league street video games.

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—Louisville is an ideal 11-0 on Saturday this season, and simply 9-8 in video games performed on every other day of the week.

—Louisville is considered one of three DI groups with at least six victories of 40 factors or extra this season, becoming a member of Michigan (7) and High Point (6). The six 40+ level wins are essentially the most UofL has ever had in a single season.

—Louisville has hit the 100-level mark six instances in a season for the primary time ever.

—Louisville is considered one of 4 packages that has logged at least three video games of 18+ made 3’s, becoming a member of Cornell (4), Charleston Southern (3) and VMI (3).

—Louisville is 47-0 below head coach Pat Kelsey when main with 5 minutes to play. The Cardinals are additionally 0-15 below Kelsey when trailing with 5 minutes to play.

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—Louisville is 0-9 below head coach Pat Kelsey when trailing by 5 factors or extra at halftime.

—Louisville is 14-0 over the previous 11 seasons when limiting opponents to no multiple three-level discipline objective.

—Louisville is 122-0 all-time when scoring 100 or extra factors in non-extra time video games.

—Louisville has received 167 consecutive video games when holding an opponent below 50 factors.

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 74, Clemson 72