Three Takeaways From Louisville's 80-75 Loss at Clemson

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program came up short yet again against a quality opponent, this time falling 80-75 at Clemson on Saturday. The Cardinals have lost three of their last four games, and move to 0-8 against Quad 1A opponents this so far this season (20-1 against all other teams).

Here are three takeaways from their showdown with the Tigers:

No. 1: Another slow start to begin the second half.

Despite playing an inconsistent first half of hoops, Louisville still very much was in the game at halftime, trailing just 38-35. But for the second game in a row, their energy and execution on either end of the floor simply was not there.

Clemson made five of their first eight shots of the period, while Louisville made just two of their first seven, helping the Tigers go off to a 10-4 run to begin the second half. This proved to be a theme consistent of the second half, with the Cardinals trailing by as much as 15 points with 4:53 left in the game.

It wasn't nearly as egregious as what UofL did in the previous game at North Carolina, when they missed their first 10 attempts of the second half, allowing the Tar Heels to explode for a 17-2 run right out of the locker room. But regardless, that's back-to-back games that Louisville has looked unprepared to start the latter half.

While head coach Pat Kelsey doesn't believe that Louisville let go of the rope per se, he's also not entirely sure why they have been prone to slow second half starts.

"We got figure that out," he said. "It's a great question, but I don't have a great answer for you right now. I wish I did, but you're right. ... I felt like the other day against Carolina, when things unraveled a little bit, or got away from us, I felt the lull. I felt it by looking into into the player's eyes and huddles, and then the flip switched. To be honest with you, I don't feel that way today."

No. 2: Interior defense continues to be a sore spot.

Arguably, the primary factor as to why Louisville lost to SMU and North Carolina was because of a porous defensive effort around the rim. Once again, that was also a consistent theme in the loss at Clemson.

The Tigers connected on 49.0 percent of their total field goal attempts, which is already not great considering they were shooting just 45.8 percent on the season up to this point. But the Cardinals also allowed them to go 16-of-28 on two-point tries. Far too often, CU was able to blow by UofL on drives to the rim, or just post them down.

Perhaps more egregiously, Louisville could not defend the paint without fouling. Clemson finished night going 24-of-34 from the free throw line, attempting the second-most free throw attempts by a Cardinals opponent this season (Arkansas - 35).

"We fouled a lot," Kelsey said. "Then had a couple little things add up to big things. We let No. 1 (Jestin Porter) get loose a couple times. He's kind of their shooter, their guy, the guy they run a lot of stuff for."

No. 3: Three-point shooting went ice cold after a hot start.

It's not exactly a secret that Louisville's offense puts a bunch of stock in the three-point shot. So long as they're making these shots, it can help play major role in winning.

Early on, the three-ball was working well for the Cardinals. They hit four of their first six tries, and there was no reason to believe they would slow down from deep. Except that's exactly what wound up happening.

Following that hot start on threes, Louisville then proceeded to connect on just six of their next 26 attempts from deep, including at one point missing 11 straight and then 10 straight. They went a perfect 4-for-4 in the final minutes, but still finished shooting just 10-of-36 for the game - or 28.0 percent.

Kelsey believes that part of the reason why Louisville's three-point shooting took a step back after a good start was because he had to start employing defense-heavy lineups after digging themselves into a hole. It also didn't help that Mikel Brown Jr. only played 21 total minutes and only had five points.

"I felt like we had good looks," Kelsey said. "Sometimes they don't go down, but you can withstand that if you're getting stops. We weren't doing that all time. I did feel like when we went to kind of a defense heavy lineup, is when we really start getting some stops. ... But then, that might not be our best offensive team."

No. 1: Another slow start to begin the second half.

No. 2: Interior defense continues to be a sore spot.

No. 3: Three-point shooting went ice cold after a hot start.

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