Louisville Takes Down Clemson to Set Date With Duke Tomorrow Night

The Clemson Tigers faced off against the Louisville Cardinals in the Semifinal of the ACC Tournament. Louisville escaped against Clemson, winning 76-73, to set a date with the Duke Blue Devils tomorrow night in the Final. J’Vonne Hadley was the x-factor for the Cardinals, tallying 20 points and 9 rebounds on 6/9 shooting from the field and 6/7 from the free throw line. Clemson has been knocked out of the ACC Tournament and will now look forward to the NCAA Tournament, hoping to be a 4-seed. 

Strong Start for Clemson

Chase Hunter started the game off perfectly with a steal and a dunk to put the Clemson Tigers on the board first. That steal from Hunter kickstarted the Tigers, as a Viktor Lakhin three-pointer would give Clemson a 9-4 lead heading into the first media timeout. Through the first four minutes of the game, the Cardinals had already committed three turnovers as the Clemson defense was suffocating Louisville out of the gates. Out of the timeout, Ian Schieffelin continued his dominance, scoring six straight points for the Tigers and giving Clemson a 15-8 lead to force Pat Kelsey into calling a timeout. 

Louisville Fights Back

Out of the timeout, Louisville turned it on, with a couple of quick buckets to cut into the Clemson lead. With 8:05 to go, the Cardinals would take their first lead of the game on a Terrence Edwards Jr. layup, which would give them a one-point lead. Heading into the under-8 timeout, Chucky Hepburn would add to that lead with a corner three to put the Cardinals up 21-19 with 6:58 to go. Viktor Lakhin would put Clemson in front once again with back-to-back layups to get the Tigers offense back on track. The ‘Lakhin-ness monster” continued to wreak havoc on the Louisville defense as his put back layup gave Clemson a three-point lead. That lead would evaporate quickly as Terrance Edwards Jr.’s deep ball put Louisville up by three with a minute to go in the first half. After a 15-8 start to the half for Clemson, they somehow trailed 33-28 at the half as their poor shooting in the ACC Tournament continued. 

Back and Forth Start to the Second Half

Both teams got off to a hot start on the offensive side of the ball as Jaeden Zackery and Noah Waterman traded deep balls early in the second period. After Chase Hunter picked up his third foul of the game and had to sit on the bench, the Cardinals extended their lead to nine with J’Vonne Hadley scoring six straight points heading into the under-16 timeout. Out of the timeout, the offensive struggles continued for Clemson as the Tigers went scoreless for over six minutes until the under-12 media timeout. Clemson has gone through long scoring droughts like this all season long and the Louisville Cardinals made them pay as Terrance Edwards Jr. put his team up by 13 with 11:50 to go. Clemson was finally able to end their scoring drought with an Ian Schieffelin layup out of the timeout.

Louisville Continues Strong Half, Clemson Fights Hard in Final Minutes

The Louisville Cardinals continued to dominate the Tigers in the second half as Noah Waterman’s three-pointer crushed Clemson’s momentum and put the Cardinals back up by 13 points. Both teams would continue to trade baskets heading into the under-8 timeout as the Cardinals held an 11-point lead. J’Vonne Hadley seemingly put the icing on the cake for Louisville as his deep ball put the Cardinals up by 15 with just under four minutes to play. But a Chase Hunter three-pointer cut the Cardinals lead down to six to give the Tigers some life with 1:17 to play. After Zackery hit a pair of free throws and Chase Hunter knocked down a layup, Clemson cut the Louisville lead down to just two. With just seconds to play, Hunter drove to the lane and was clearly fouled, but the referees swallowed their whistles, allowing the Cardinals to escape with a 76-73 win.