Clemson Tigers Suffer First Conference Loss to Louisville Cardinals

The Clemson Tigers suffered their first conference loss of the season against the Louisville Cardinals in ACC action.

Jan 7, 2025; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Clemson Tigers center Viktor Lakhin (0) drives to the basket against Louisville Cardinals guard J'Vonne Hadley (1) during the first half at KFC Yum! Center. / Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

After three straight games at home to start the new year, the Clemson Tigers were on the road against the Louisville Cardinals on Tuesday night.

So far in 2025, things had been going quite well for the Tigers, as they had won every ACC game at home and entered the matchup with the Cardinals on a hot streak. But, Louisville (11-5, 4-1 in ACC) cooled off the Tigers (12-4, 4-1), 74-64.

Louisville is rebuilding this season under first-year coach Pat Kelsey, who has the Cardinals pointed in a direction they're used to and they took a seven-point lead at halftime at the KFC Yum Center and never looked back.

In the first half, it was a see-saw battle for the most part. However, Louisville was able to find some momentum late in the half and took the lead into halftime, 42-35.

The 3-point line has been crucial to Clemson's formula to win this season. After trailing by seven at halftime, It was the Cardinals that were hitting more 3-pointers than Clemson while the Tigers gave up more turnovers.

J'Vonne Hadley of Louisville set the tone in the first half with 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field to lead the way in the first 20 minutes.

While Clemson's shooting from deep improved a bit in the second half, the Tigers sent the Cardinals to the free-throw line way too much the entire contest. Louisville doubled up the Tigers at the foul line in this one.

Hadley dominated in the first half and Tigers didn’t have an answer for him in the second half either, as he finished the game with 32 points. James Scott added 10 points and both of them finished with double-doubles with 10 rebounds each.

For Clemson, it was a disappointing game overall on the offensive end. As a team, they shot 33% from 3-point range but were under 40 percent overall from the field.

Also, if not for 10 points from Jake Heidbreder off the bench, the unit would have had just one basket.

Chase Hunter led the Tigers with 15 points, while Jaeden Zackery had 12 points and Ian Schieffelin added 10 points.

The loss probably compromises the Tigers' chances of getting into the AP Top 25 next week.

Next up for the Tigers will be the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday afternoon at 2 pm. EST on the ACC Network.