Louisville at Clemson preview | Card Chronicle

Louisville Cardinals (20-8, 9-6) at Clemson Tigers (20-8, 10-5)

Location: Littlejohn Coliseum: Clemson, S.C.

Announcers: Kevin Brown (play-by-play) and Randolph Childress (analysis)

Favorite: Louisville by 1.5

Series: Louisville leads, 11-6

Last Meeting: Louisville won 76-73 on March 14, 2025 in the ACC Tournament semifinals in Charlotte

Projected Starting Lineups:

Clemson’s Season to Date:

After losing his top six scorers from a season ago and still having Clemson at 20-4 overall and 10-1 in league play, Brad Brownell seemed to be at or near the top of the list for ACC Coach of the Year honors. Now, suddenly, the Tigers have lost four straight, and a team that was projected to be a four or a five seed in the NCAA Tournament is now just desperate to taste a win again.

While Clemson’s strength all season long has been its defense, the Tigers middling offense has struggled even more than usual in its recent losses to Virginia Tech, Duke, Wake Forest and Florida State. The Tigers are shooting under 40 percent from the field over those four losses and have scored more than 66 points once.

What Clemson does have going for it is the same defensive identity that has been the backbone of the most successful run in the history of the program.

Brownell’s team enters the weekend ranked 18th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency. Their 65.6 points allowed per game is good for 17th in the nation. They are tough, they are physical, they defend the perimeter extremely well, and they force their opponents to use more of the shot clock than all but four of the 365 teams in Division-I.

Offensively, Clemson relies on a measured and balanced attack. How balanced? Neither one of the team’s only double figure scorers — forwards RJ Godfrey (11.5 ppg) and Carter Welling (10.3 ppg) — have scored 20 points in a game so far this season. No Tiger averages more than 27.1 minutes of court time per game, but nine are playing at least 18.2 minutes. Brownell will run bodies at Louisville in the hopes of beating the Cards up and having them run down by the game’s final minutes.

Clemson played at a snail’s pace last season, and they’re even slower this year — 337th in the country. All too often in recent weeks, Louisville has let its opponent impose their will on the Cards. It would be nice to see U of L get ahead early, stay ahead, and force the Tigers to come out of their comfort zone and pick up the pace as the game goes on.

Jestin Porter and Dillon Hunter are guards who can really defend, and will likely be the pair tasked with slowing down Mikel Brown Jr. and Ryan Conwell. While both are very solid, I don’t think either possesses the lateral quickness necessary to consistently keep Brown out of the lane if Brownell instructs them to run the Cardinal guards off the three-point line.

In the second half against North Carolina, the Tar Heel guards consistently took the three away and funneled Brown and company into 7-footer Henri Veesar. Time after time, Louisville’s guards seemed to make the wrong decision when gaining that advantage and getting a head of steam into the lane. With the Tigers not possessing an elite rim protector, this should be a better opportunity for U of L’s playmakers to show that they’ve taken a step forward by either finishing at the time, drawing fouls, or accurately dropping the ball off to an open teammate.

If Clemson doesn’t run Louisville off the three-point line, well … you gotta make shots.

—Since Louisville joined the ACC in 2014-15, the home team has won every regular season game in this series.

—Clemson is the only ACC opponent that Louisville has failed to defeat on the road (outside of newcomer Stanford) since joining the league in 2014-15.

—Louisville is 1-6 all-time in road games against Clemson and 0-6 all-time inside Littlejohn Coliseum.

—Clemson’s current four-game losing streak is the longest skid for the program since 2022.

—Both Louisville and Clemson set program records for conference wins last season with 18.

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

—Louisville averages 11.9 made three-pointers per game, the most in the ACC and tied for the third-most nationally.

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

—Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 3-0 all-time in games against Clemson, including a 2-0 mark against the Tigers at U of L. Kelsey’s Winthrop team won at Clemson (77-74) in 2014.

—Louisville is 0-7 this season in Quadrant I-A games. Saturday’s game at Clemson will be U of L’s Q1A opportunity of the season.

—Louisville is 1-11 in Quadrant I-A games under the direction of head coach Pat Kelsey, with their lone win coming over Clemson in last year’s ACC Tournament.

—Louisville averages 86.4 points per game, the most in ACC and the 16th-most nationally.

—Louisville is just 3-6 in true road games so far this season. The Cardinals are averaging 76.6 points over those nine road contests.

—Clemson is 53-22 overall in the ACC over the last four seasons, the second-most wins in the ACC over that time period behind Duke.

—Clemson’s 94-38 record for the last four years is the most wins in Clemson history over a four-year period. The previous mark was a 93-41 mark between 2006-07 and 2009-10.

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

—Louisville is a perfect 11-0 on Saturday this season, and just 9-8 in games played on any other day of the week.

—Louisville is one of three DI teams with at least six victories of 40 points or more this season, joining Michigan (7) and High Point (6). The six 40+ point wins are the most UofL has ever had in a single season.

—Louisville has hit the 100-point mark six times in a season for the first time ever.

—Louisville is one of four programs that has logged at least three games of 18+ made 3’s, joining Cornell (4), Charleston Southern (3) and VMI (3).

—Louisville is 47-0 under head coach Pat Kelsey when leading with five minutes to play. The Cardinals are also 0-15 under Kelsey when trailing with five minutes to play.

—Louisville is 0-9 under head coach Pat Kelsey when trailing by 5 points or more at halftime.

—Louisville is 14-0 over the past 11 seasons when limiting opponents to no more than one three-point field goal.

—Louisville is 122-0 all-time when scoring 100 or more points in non-overtime games.

—Louisville has won 167 consecutive games when holding an opponent under 50 points.

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 74, Clemson 72