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Louisville basketball: 3 bold predictions vs. Clemson

By Jacob Lane

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 08: Lamarr Kimble #0, Malik Williams #5 and Dwayne Sutton #24 of the Louisville Cardinals huddle during the final seconds of the game against the Virginia Cavaliers at KFC YUM! Center on February 08, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 08: Lamarr Kimble #0, Malik Williams #5 and Dwayne Sutton #24 of the Louisville Cardinals huddle during the final seconds of the game against the Virginia Cavaliers at KFC YUM! Center on February 08, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images) /
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CHAPEL HILL, NC – JANUARY 11: Aamir Simms #25 of Clemson University shoots the game tying three pointer with four seconds left in regulation over Garrison Brooks #15 of the University of North Carolina during a game between Clemson and North Carolina at Dean E. Smith Center on January 11, 2020 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images).
CHAPEL HILL, NC – JANUARY 11: Aamir Simms #25 of Clemson University shoots the game tying three pointer with four seconds left in regulation over Garrison Brooks #15 of the University of North Carolina during a game between Clemson and North Carolina at Dean E. Smith Center on January 11, 2020 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images). /

Clemson becomes the next “bad shooting team” to have a big day from three (sigh)

Tell me if you’ve heard this before. Louisville will look to take advantage of a really bad three-point shooting Clemson team (ranked 263rd nationally) who has a tendency to take a lot of shots from behind the line. The Tigers have shot just a hair over 31 percent from three this season but still, rank 49th in the country in the total number of three-point field goals attempted, which is surprisingly more than the Cards have taken this season.

That fact alone would normally bode well for a team who has been average at stopping three-point shooting this season (don’t you dare bring up Virginia) except for it’s Louisville and bad three-point shooting teams love to play the Cards.

We’ve heard this narrative of a bad shooting being exposed by Louisville only to watch said team drain a record number of three’s. Clemson has been horrible from three, outside of a few games (we’ll get to that) and they’ve made that worse by taking more and more three’s.

You’d like to think that Clemson won’t shoot well, but considering the Tigers are coming off of a 20-point blowout win over Pittsburgh where they shot 59 percent from three, hitting 13 total on 22 attempts, I wouldn’t get your hopes up.

Louisville’s defense has struggled to deal with teams who excel in off-ball screening and player movement, which is something Brad Brownell’s offense does use in their Princeton-like style. Clemson has capable shooters led by big man Aamir Simms (37 percent) and Hunter Tyson (32 percent).

However, it’s players who have struggled to be consistent from deep that season that worries me for Clemson. Against Pittsburgh, guards Al-Amir Dawes and Tevin Mack (30 and 28 percent three-point shooters, respectively) combined to go 7/10 from deep ultimately leading the Tigers to a much-needed win.

If Louisville plays anywhere near the same effort and intensity level as what we saw during Wednesday night’s frustrating loss to Georgia Tech then don’t be shocked to see Dawes, Mack, and even Simms light Louisville up.

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