Cardinals' Men's Basketball Plays Fifth ACC Road Game at Clemson Wednesday

Game Information
Site: Littlejohn Coliseum (9,000), Clemson, S.C.
Television: Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports South in Louisville) - Tom Werme, play-by-play; Dan Bonner, analyst. A list of regional networks that will carry the game is located here
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (XM channel 389, Internet 979)
Series History: UofL leads 7-3 (3-0 in Louisville, 2-2 at Clemson, 2-1 neutral)
Last Meeting: Clemson 77, UofL 62 (Feb. 15, 2020 at Clemson, S.C.)
UofL National Ranking: No. 23 USA Today, No. 25 Associated Press
Next UofL Game: Feb. 1 vs. Georgia Tech, KFC Yum! Center, 2 p.m. ET (ACCN)

Louisville (10-3, 5-2 ACC), ranked No. 23 by USA Today and No. 25 in the Associated Press polls, will play its fifth ACC road game of the season as the Cardinals visit the Clemson Tigers in Clemson, S.C. on Wednesday. The game was originally scheduled for March 3, but was moved to Wednesday when Clemson's game against Boston College was postponed.

Louisville won for the sixth time in its last eight games as the Cardinals beat Duke 70-65 in the KFC Yum! Center last Saturday as UofL held a 34-26 rebounding advantage. Carlik Jones led the Cards with 24 points (19 in the second half), five assists and two steals, and scored Louisville's final nine points of the game.

After winning four straight and nine of its first 10 games of the season, Clemson (9-4, 3-4 ACC) has dropped its last three games after coming off of a pause. The Tigers fell 81-60 at Florida State on Jan. 23 as Clemson shot 30.4 percent from the floor (17-of-56) and had guard John Newman III as its lone double figure scorer with 12 points.

Clemson, which was among the AP Top 25 for the last three weeks before falling out, is led in scoring and rebounding by senior forward Aamir Simms (11.7 ppg, 5.6 rpg), a Karl Malone watch list member (nation's top power forward). Clemson is No. 11 in the RPI, No. 52 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 53 in the NET rankings, No. 54 in ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI) and No. 53 by Ken Pomeroy through Jan. 24.

Louisville leads 7-3 in its series against Clemson. The teams split last year's two meetings: UofL won 80-62 in the KFC Yum! Center as Darius Perry scored a career-high 19 points (5-of-6 three-pointers) and Samuell Williamson added 14 points off the bench (1-25-20); while Clemson prevailed 77-62 in a game where the Cardinals shot just 15.6 percent from the field and fell behind 31-14 at the half (2-15-20). Dwayne Sutton led UofL with 18 points and added seven rebounds at Clemson.

Louisville is among the top defensive teams in the ACC, ranking third in the ACC in scoring defense (65.5 ppg), third in three-point field goal defense (.322) and fifth in field goal percentage defense (.412). UofL held Duke to its season-low scoring total in the last game (65 points).

Carlik Jones ranks third in the ACC in scoring (18.4 ppg) and assists (4.8 apg). Jones has 95 career double-figure scoring efforts, including the last 35 consecutive games (all 12 this year). His 24 points, five assists and two steals against Duke last Saturday marked the 30th game of his collegiate career with 20 or more points (four of the last six). He needs 27 points for 1,800 in his career. Jones has collected 13 steals in the last five games. In the last four games, he has averaged 22.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists.

David Johnson is the only player in the ACC among the top 20 in both rebounding (6.0, 19th in ACC) and assists (3.9, eighth in the ACC), adding 13.0 points per game. He has made 16-of-33 three-pointers in his last seven games (.484) and has made a team-leading 23-of-54 threes on the season (.426). He made just five threes as a freshman.

Jae'Lyn Withers has made 71.8 percent of his shots over his last six games (28-of-39). He has produced double-doubles in two of his last five games. He is the Cardinals' rebounding leader and ranks second among ACC freshman (7.3 rpg, eighth in the ACC), averaging 10.7 points while shooting a team-best 63.6 percent from the field.

Notes

Louisville's 31 ACC road wins in its seventh year in the league is the fourth-most in the ACC in that period. Louisville and Virginia are the only teams with three ACC road wins this season.
Louisville and Clemson met in the second round of the 2006 postseason NIT when UofL won 74-68 in Louisville's Freedom Hall as Taquan Dean led the Cardinals with 20 points (3-20-06).
UofL Coach Chris Mack has a 3-1 record vs. Clemson, including when his Xavier team beat the Tigers 83-77 in the Tire Pros Invitational in Orlando, Fla. (11-18-16).
UofL has started with a 10-3 record or better for each of the last 11 years. The Cards have opened with a 5-2 or better conference record for the ninth time in the last 11 years, with the two exceptions being its 2012 Final Four (3-4) and 2013 National Championship (4-3) seasons (later vacated).
Carlik Jones needs 27 points for 1,800 in his career. He is ninth among active career scorers with 1,773 points (221 at UofL, 1,552 at Radford).
David Johnson has cut his turnovers recently, with 22 assists and just 11 turnover in the last six games after totaling 29 assists and 29 turnovers in his first seven games.
Louisville had four players finish in double figures in scoring for the sixth time this season against Duke, led by Carlik Jones' 24 points. Jones has scored at least 15 points in all but one game this season (11 at Pitt after being out with virus issues).
Carlik Jones' 37.3 minutes played per game leads the ACC and ranks 13th in the nation. He has played a full 40 minutes three times this season and has seven games of 38 or more minutes.
Wednesday's game at Clemson will be Louisville's fifth ACC road contest in eight conference games this season due to two home postponements to date.
Louisville has a 45-15 record during the month of January over the last five years (.764) entering Wednesday's game at Clemson, its final game of the month. Louisville and Virginia are the only teams with three ACC road wins this season.
Louisville is No. 16 in the RPI, No. 29 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 37 by KenPom, No. 42 in the NCAA NET and No. 51 in ESPN's College BPI through Jan. 24.

Cardinals' Men's Basketball Plays Fifth ACC Road Game at Clemson Wednesday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

David Johnson

Carlik Jones

Darius Perry

Dwayne Sutton

Samuell Williamson

Jae'Lyn Withers

University of Louisville Athletics