Clemson @ Louisville preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 6, 2018 ) Louisville 69, Clemson 74

No. 20 Louisville must lick its wounds from two straight heart-wrenching defeats and try to get back into the win column Saturday afternoon when it hosts Clemson for an ACC contest. Louisville coughed up a double-digit second-half lead in an 80-75 overtime loss at 19th-ranked Florida State last Saturday before seeing a 23-point lead erased in a 71-69 setback against No. 2 Duke at home Tuesday.

“If we have the opportunity to learn from some tough times and tough moments, then that is exactly what we are going to aim to do,” Cardinals coach Chris Mack told the Louisville Courier Journal. “My belief in these guys is crazy strong and that’s not going to go away after a really tough loss.” The Cardinals have dropped three of four after a six-game winning streak and play four unranked squads in the final six of the regular season, including a Clemson team that is coming off a 65-64 loss at Miami (Fla.) on Wednesday. The Tigers had won four in a row before the setback, including a victory over No. 16 Virginia Tech, before rallying from 10 points down at Miami and then giving up Zach Johnson’s winning basket with under one second to go. “Just a disappointing loss by us,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell told reporters after his team went 3-of-19 from 3-point range while limiting the Hurricanes to 38.9 percent shooting overall.

TV: Noon ET, ESPN

ABOUT CLEMSON (15-9, 5-6 ACC): Senior guard Marcquise Reed leads the team in scoring (18.9), assists (3.1) and steals (2.0) while topping the ACC in free-throw percentage (83.1), draining his last 16 tries from the charity stripe. Senior forward Elijah Thomas (13.0 points) leads the Tigers in rebounding (7.8) and is third in the league in blocks per game (2.17) after swatting seven in two of the past four games. Senior guard Shelton Mitchell (11.8 points, 3.0 assists) scored 37 combined in the last two games to become the 41st player in team history to reach 1,000 in his career.

ABOUT LOUISVILLE (17-8, 8-4): Sophomore Jordan Nwora leads the team in scoring (17.8) along with rebounds (7.8) and helped the Cardinals take the big lead on Duke with his sixth double-double of the season (23 points, 12 boards) on Tuesday. Junior forward Dwayne Sutton is averaging 16.4 points over the last five games to push his season mark to 11.2, but senior guard Christen Cunningham (10.2 points) was shut out against Duke while dishing out 12 assists with six turnovers. Junior center Steven Enoch (9.4 points, 57.2 percent from the field) scored 14 against Duke.

TIP-INS

1. The Tigers won last season’s matchup 74-69 in overtime as Reed poured in 24 points, but the Cardinals are 4-0 in the all-time series at home.

2. Louisville junior G Ryan McMahon was 1-of-6 from the field against Duke after averaging 13 points the previous two games.

3. Clemson sophomore G Clyde Trapp was 4-of-4 from the field against Miami after going 1-of-5 the previous three contests.

PREDICTION: Louisville 76, Clemson 68