Big Red Louie
Fansided

Louisville basketball aims to declaw upset-minded Clemson

By Presley Meyer

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - JANUARY 04: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals dribbles the ball against the Florida State Seminoles at KFC YUM! Center on January 04, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - JANUARY 04: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals dribbles the ball against the Florida State Seminoles at KFC YUM! Center on January 04, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 24: Members of the Clemson Tigers celebrate their 62-60 overtime victory over the TCU Horned Frogs during the MGM Resorts Main Event basketball tournament at T-Mobile Arena on November 24, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 24: Members of the Clemson Tigers celebrate their 62-60 overtime victory over the TCU Horned Frogs during the MGM Resorts Main Event basketball tournament at T-Mobile Arena on November 24, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

Key storylines

Clemson basketball

The Tigers sit at 10-8 overall with a pretty impressive 4-4 record in ACC in a year where many believed they were likely to finish at the bottom of conference standings. Brad Brownell’s Clemson squad has bounced back from a fairly uninspiring non-conference schedule with upsets against North Carolina, a team they were 0-59 against on the road, as well as taking down Duke just a few days later.

The Tigers have played five games in a row against teams hailing from the state of North Carolina, going 4-1 in the process, and have looked like a team capable of making a run to the NCAA tournament. Wins against Duke and North Carolina State have already helped Clemson’s resume but a win against a Louisville team coming off of a fairly forgettable win over Georgia Tech would take it to the next level.

Last season Louisville welcomed the Tigers into town following back-to-back games where they allowed leads to be blown (FSU & Duke) and ultimately they almost choked another game away. Thankfully a block by Jordan Nwora saved the Cards from a bad loss, but it showed Clemson that they can beat Louisville.

That’s the storyline, Clemson is hot and they think they can win. How will Louisville respond?

Louisville basketball

Wins in the ACC don’t come easy, regardless of how “down” the conference may be. But the way Louisville won against Georgia Tech wasn’t a great sign in my opinion.

Sure it showed that when a team mostly full of upperclassmen want to turn it on and take their games to the next level, they can do that. However, it also showed that Louisville still doesn’t have the ability to play with the same intensity for 40 minutes.

So how does Louisville respond to the Georgia Tech game? That’s what I’ll be looking for, for the 15th game in a row it seems like. We can only continue to question the Cardinals mentality for so much longer before we have to rule out the chances of any long postseason run.

Teams who win championships get their minds right way before the tournament, and so far outside of Duke, we haven’t seen that.

Home/Louisville Basketball