Louisville Players Who Can Give Clemson Fits in Pivotal ACC Contest

Clemson basketball’s biggest home game of the season will tip off on Saturday afternoon, facing the No. 24 Louisville Cardinals. Head coach Brad Brownell will look to get his first win against new opposing head coach Pat Kelsey, who beat him twice last season.

As the Tigers’ four-game losing streak continues, each game gets more important. Clemson is still looking for a signature win, but it will have to get it against a Louisville team that has the best offense in the ACC at 86.4 points per game.

Mikel Brown Jr.

Saturday’s contest will circle around how Clemson is able to defend freshman standout Mikel Brown Jr. In his first season in college basketball, the Louisville standout is averaging 18.9 points per game and 4.8 assists, being sixth in the conference in scoring.

The Cardinals had some suspect losses in ACC play, but all of them came without Brown in the lineup, who was out for a chunk of December and January with a back injury. The Orlando native has six games of 20 points or more in 10 of his conference games played this season.

Some of those games he wins by himself. In Louisville’s win over NC State, Brown scored 45 points and hit 10 threes, the most by an ACC freshman in conference history. He has the capability to do that in any game if he’s feeling himself, and the Tigers have to guard him closely.

Ryan Conwell

Conwell is eighth in the conference in scoring (18.5 ppg), meaning if Brown isn’t on it on Saturday, the ball will go to the Xavier transfer.

Similarly to his backcourt teammate, Conwell uses his scoring to help Louisville shoot opponents out of the gym. He only has one contest under double-digits in scoring and has scored 20 points five times in ACC play. That includes the Cardinals’ last game, a loss to No. 18 North Carolina, when he finished with 23 points.

“Conwell has bounced around,” Brownell said on Tiger Hour earlier this week. “He’s really done some good things. He was at Indiana State, went to Xavier and then now is at Louisville. He’s a really good player, good guard, he will be an all-conference player.”

Aly Khalifa

A BYU transfer, Khalifa sat out last season due to a season-ending injury. However, he’s received credit as one of the best passing centers in the country, and leads Louisville in assists.

Averaging only 12 minutes per game, but dishing out 2.8 assists per contest, the Egyptian stretches the floor and gives out dimes to all of the Louisville guards that can score effortlessly. He can also pull it from deep, making the Tigers have to guard one through five fully. The Cardinals can score in many different ways, but Khalifa brings a new type of offense to the floor when he’s there.

7'0" Aly Khalifa can't miss 🤯

The @LouisvilleMBB bench is lovin' it! pic.twitter.com/qJg8JpEn71
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) January 7, 2026

Isaac McKneely and J’Vonne Hadley

This guard duo is ACC guards that Clemson has seen already. Hadley scored 20 or more points in both wins over the Tigers last season and brings a 6-foot-7 frame to the backcourt, while McKneely has hit multiple threes in nearly every game that he’s played while he was at Virginia over the last three seasons.

When Brown and Conwell are sitting, this duo runs the floor, being threatening from deep as well, while playing tight defense the other way. Both average over double-digits per contest, while both shoot over 39% from three.

It’s safe to say that Brownell will have his hands full on Saturday, and the guards will have to defend well if Clemson wants its best ACC victory, and home victory, of the season.