Louisville Cardinals at Clemson Tigers

Clemson upsets cold-shooting No. 16 Louisville 66-62

But Clemson used its defense and got a little help from foul trouble to beat the Cardinals (13-3, 2-1).

Louisville's leading scorer, Damion Lee, had six points on 2-of-12 shooting, well below his average of 17 points, which ranks fourth in the ACC. Trey Lewis scored 10 points but missed 16 of his 19 shots. Chinanu Onuaku, the Cardinals' best inside player, led his team with 14 points but was out much of the second half with foul trouble.

The Cardinals tried to make up for it with outside shooting. But they missed their first 15 3-point attempts and finished the game shooting 3 of 23 behind the arc, their worst performance by far this season.

"I knew this type of game was going to happen sooner or later. I've been trying to warn our guys about it," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "You've got to have your defense every night and we haven't. We got burned because of it."

Clemson led for the entire second half but had to hang on late. The Tigers were up by 11 with 3:34 to go before Lewis hit Louisville's first 3 of the game.

The Cardinals kept whittling the deficit down, and with Clemson up 64-58, Sidy Djitte fouled Louisville's Jaylen Johnson on a dunk. Johnson missed the free throw, but Quniton Snider got the rebound and the Cardinals made two more free throws to trail 64-62 with 5.5 seconds to go.

Holmes was fouled and sank both foul shots to seal the win.

It doesn't get any easier for Clemson. No. 14 Duke comes to Greenville on Wednesday, the second of five straight games against ranked ACC teams.

Blossomgame hopes Tigers fans out in Arizona check out his team too.

"Hopefully we can carry over after football wins the national championship," he said.

TIP-INS

Louisville: The Cardinals turned the ball over 17 times. ... Louisville shot 35 percent, while holding Clemson to 33 percent shooting.

Clemson: The Tigers' last win over a ranked team came in a 68-65 victory over No. 18 Arkansas on Dec. 7, 2014 ... Coach Brad Brownell won his 100th game with the Tigers. The only other Clemson coaches to win 100 games at the school are Cliff Ellis (177), Bill Foster (156), Oliver Purnell (138) and Joe Davis (101).

TIGERS TURNAROUND

It is quite a turnaround for a Clemson team that lost by 23 to Georgia and went 0-3 against Southeastern Conference teams in December.

"We're playing much better. I don't know if I know all of the reasons why," Brownell said.

Brownell did say his players are more confident and are trusting that ball movement can lead to good shots instead of taking the first thing they see. Holmes said a players-only meeting after the Georgia loss helped too.

FREE THROW DISPARITY

Clemson went 32 of 44 from the foul line, while Louisville was 11 of 16. Much of the disparity happened late, as the Cardinals began fouling Clemson with three minutes to go. But Pitino couldn't help making a dig both at the referees and the sparse crowd at the Bon Secours Wellness Center in Greenville, where Clemson is playing while its on campus arena is renovated.

"I thought they fouled us a few of times but we didn't get it. I guess this raucous crowd that was here," Pitino said, his voice trailing off.

UP NEXT

Louisville hosts No. 24 Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Clemson hosts No. 14 Duke on Wednesday

How can I watch Louisville vs. Clemson?

• TV Channel: Louisville at Clemson 2021 College Basketball, week 9, is broadcasted on ESPN3.
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