Louisville Defeats Clemson, Punches Ticket to ACC Title Game

The Cardinals clinch their first conference championship game appearance since 2014.

Louisville guard Chucky Hepburn / the ACC

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Louisville men's basketball program is heading to the ACC Tournament Championship.

Making their first ever appearance in the semifinals of the league's tournament, the Cardinals were able to hold off a furious comeback attempt from Clemson, taking down the Tigers 76-73 on Friday at the Spectrum Center.

Despite leading by as much as 15 points with just under four minutes to go, Louisville saw their lead almost completely evaporate, holding just a two point advantage in the final minute.

Clemson had a chance to tie or take the lead on the final possession. However, Aboubacar Traore and James Scott combined to make a game-saving block on a driving Jake Heidbreder with just six seconds left, and Terrence Edwards Jr. grabbed the deflection.

The second-seeded and No. 13 AP-ranked Cardinals (27-6, 18-2 ACC) clinch a spot in the championship game of their conference tournament for the first time since winning the American Athletic Conference Tournament in 2014. Louisville will face Duke in the ACC title game on Saturday, Mar. 15 at 8:30 p.m. EST.

Additionally, Pat Kelsey breaks Denny Crum's program record for the most wins by a first-year head coach. Spanning back to his time at Charleston, Kelsey has won eight straight conference tournament games.

The victory in the top-15 matchup vs. the third-seeded and No. 10 AP-ranked Tigers (27-6, 18-2 ACC) extends Louisville's winning streak to 11 consecutive. It ties their longest since winning the first 11 games of the 2016-17 season, and the Cards have won 20 of their last 21 since starting the season at 6-5.

Despite turning it over 15 times and shooting just 6-of-22 on three-point attempts, Louisville made up for it by going 18-of-33 inside the arc (43.6 percent from the field overall) and 22-of-27 at the free throw line. Defensively, they held Clemson to just 39.1 percent shooting, 5-of-16 on threes and 14-of-17 at the line, while also winning the rebounding battle 38-to-37.

Edwards and J'Vonne Hadley were the catalysts behind the win, with the latter finishing with 20 points and nine rebounds, and the former tallying 21 points and eight boards. Chucky Hepburn logged 12 points with five assists, while Noah Waterman scored 10.

Like in the previous game vs. Stanford in the quarterfinals, Louisville had a slow start against Clemson in the semis. The Cardinals coughed the ball up three times in the first four minutes, missed their first eight three-point tries, and allowed Clemson to hit eight of their first 16 overall attempts. After the Tigers took an early 15-8 lead, UofL head coach Pat Kelsey burned a timeout at the 12:41 mark to rally his troops.

And rally they did. After the shaky defensive start, Louisville proceeded to hold Clemson to just a 5-of-16 mark throughout the rest of the half. On the other end, the Cardinals barely kept pace by making only nine of their first 27 shots, but then exploded in the final minutes of the half. They hit five of their last six attempts of the period, taking a 33-28 lead into the locker room.

On the other side of the break, Louisville leaned on their defensive to start building a cushion. After Clemson made two of their first three tries of the second half, they proceeded to miss eight in a row. This allowed the Cardinals to score 14 of the half's first 20 points - including a 9-0 run to go up 13 points with just over 12 minutes left.

The main reason that the Tigers were able to mount a come back at all were turnovers. While Louisville went 10-of-22 from the field and 20-of-25 at the free throw line after halftime, they also coughed it up 10 times in the second half alone - and made just two field goals in the final seven minutes.

(Photo of Chucky Hepburn via the ACC)

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