Clemson's perfect conference record snapped on the road against Louisville |
Clemson’s trips to Louisville have been a historical house of horrors.
That nightmarish trend continued on Tuesday night, as Clemson’s (12-4, 4-1) perfect record was snapped, falling to the Cardinals, 74-64. Louisville made it five in a row with the victory, where a three-game win streak for the visiting Tigers was snapped. The Tigers entered the night hoping to add a quad-one win to their resume, but J’Vonne Hadley had different plans. Hadley posted a career night at home, dropping 32 points on Brad Brownell’s defense, and heating up the Louisville offense to keep Clemson at bay. The night's turning point came late into the first half, as the Tigers appeared to be settled into the matchup, holding a six-point lead with 3:32 left to play. Complete control turned into chaos. Louisville rallied on a 14-1 run, completely flipping the momentum inside the KFC Yum Center. Things continued to spiral as Chase Hunter looked to have a block to snuff out some of the Cardinals’ momentum, only for a common foul to be upgraded to a flagrant one-foul. Brownell said that run was a key turning point in the game and is curious to dive into the film to see what exactly went wrong. "It happened fast, and we didn't play very well," Brownell said. "We had a couple of turnovers. They made a couple of shots. I really have to watch it before I can speak to exactly the five or six, seven possessions in a row that went bad for us, but that was obviously a turning point." The Tigers rattled off small runs in the second half, cutting Louisville’s lead to two off of multiple Jake Heidbreder threes, but those spurts were not enough to secure the road victory. Clemson had kept it within single digits with enough to stay alive, but multiple offensive rebounds from Hadley and an extra effort below the glass sent the guard to the line, extending the lead to 10 with five minutes to go. The Tigers won the rebounding advantage on the glass, outworking Lousiville 15-9 for second-chance opportunities, but only could cash in nine points off of those moments. In a physical game on their home court, the Cardinals made frequent stops to the free throw line, making 16 of their 20 attempts. Conversely, Clemson made only five attempts at the line, making four. Brownell admitted Louisville's physicality and environment disputed the Tigers' rhythm, and believes his guys could've done a better job to match it. "I think the environment for whatever reason, bothered us a little bit," Brownell said. "We didn't have the kind of rhythm and flow, and I felt like we were searching; I was searching to try to help our guys. Our big guys did not do a good enough job of finishing around the basket. That was a problem for us, but it was a very physical game. Obviously, they got 20 free throws. We only got five. We needed to do a better job of drawing more fouls out of the paint, but obviously, that was a big difference in the game." Despite the Clemson loss, Heidbreder was a bright spot off the bench for the Tigers. In his Monday ACC call, Brownell expressed that he was looking for more out of the bench, and the former Air Force transfer delivered. The junior guard hit several timely threes and was the Tigers’ third-highest scorer on Tuesday evening. Hunter led the way with 13 points, with Jaeden Zackery adding 12 points and five rebounds. With the loss, the Tigers lost a two-way tie with Duke for first place in the ACC, as the Blue Devils moved to 5-0 with a win over Pittsburgh. Clemson returns home to face Florida State on Saturday at 2 p.m. on the ACC Network.
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