The Tigers (12-12, 6-8) look to get their tenth win at Littlejohn on Saturday when they take on #5 Louisville (21-4, 12-2). The game will be televised on the ACC Network at 4 pm.
The Tigers are looking to take down another top five team like they did back on January 14th, beating then #3 Duke. It was the Tiger’s first win against a top three team since 2001.
Clemson is coming off a 20-point victory at Pitt on Wednesday night. Louisville, the league-leader, suffered a six point loss at Georgia Tech, a team fighting to stay out of the ACC cellar. The 5th ranked Cardinals now hit the road again when they travel to Tigertown.
Clemson will need another outing like the one they had on Wednesday. They held Pitt to 31.3 percent shooting, while getting a career best game from Al-Amir Dawes, who had 18 points and 5 assists. Aamir Simms, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, also returned to the lineup after missing Sunday’s loss to Notre Dame with the flu and contributed 112 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists.
The Tigers will need to try and limit Louisville’s Jordan Nwora, the ACC’s leading scorer, who was held to a season low 2 points and missed all four of his 3-point shots Wednesday against Georgia Tech. Louisville can score in bunches, so limiting the scoreless droughts that have plagued them will be key.
Clemson:
#0 Clyde Trapp, Junior Guard
#2 Al-Amir Dawes, Freshman Guard
#15 John Newman, III Sophomore Guard
#13 Tevin Mack, Graduate Student Forward
#25 Aamir Simms, Junior Forward
Louisville:
#0 Fresh Kimble Graduate, Student Guard
#2 Darius Perry, Junior Guard
#24 Dwayne Sutton, Redshirt Senior Forward
#33 Jordan Nwora, Junior Forward
#23 Steven Enoch, Redshirt Senior Center
The real question at the end of the day is which Tiger team will show up? The giant killer capable taking down teams like Duke, or the one that looks lost against Wake? The Tigers have shown that they can play with the best in the ACC when they are on, but can’t stay with a cellar dweller when they aren’t.
