The 6th ranked Louisville Cardinals are at home on Saturday against Clemson. The Cards are winners of five straight overall after a four point win over Georgia Tech on Wednesday. Louisville enters the game at 16-3 overall and 7-1 in the ACC. Clemson comes in at 10-8 and 4-4. The Tigers have won four of its past five after starting out 0-3 in the league.
Louisville leads the all time series 6-2. The Cards won 56-55 last season at the KFC Yum! Center.
Clemson comes in having lost only once in the New Year. Their current stretch includes wins over Duke, UNC and NC State. 6-8 forward Aamir Simms leads the team in scoring (14.4), rebounding (7.7), steals (1.2) and three point percentage (39.7 percent). Tevin Mack is averaging 11.9 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest.
Tigers at Cards. 2pm at the Yum.
Let’s get it #CardNation!! 🔥🔥🔥#GameDayGIF pic.twitter.com/WdYLUo1tYZ— Chris Mack (@CoachChrisMack) January 25, 2020
(If you can’t find the game on tv, download the fox sports go app on your phone or smart TV)
The Tigers are impressive defensively; they’re a long team that rebounds at a high rate and can force turnovers. Clemson will match up well with Louisville, specifically in the backcourt. 6-2 freshman Al-Amir Dawes is the only player under 6-4 in the rotation. Louisville has struggled against teams with big guards. The emergence of David Johnson helps with that, but it will be imperative that Louisville establishes an ability to get the ball inside on Saturday. Sounds simple, but just getting the ball into the paint has been difficult at times for this team.
Clemson has been playing well the past three weeks, but this is still pretty clearly a middle to lower end ACC team. If you exclude the season opener at Miami, Louisville has not had a totally comfortable win over an ACC team all season. The Georgia Tech performance was a surprise coming off of the Duke win. Now a week removed from that huge road win, the Cards have an opportunity to win big over an inferior opponent.
Gameday threads 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/FWNkR7Jnh7
— Louisville Basketball (@LouisvilleMBB) January 25, 2020
Louisville will be wearing some throwback uniforms on Saturday as they honor the 1975 Final Four team.
The game tips at 2:00 p.m. ET. It will be televised regionally and on Fox Sports South in Louisville.
Prediction:
Louisville 72 Clemson 61
