One of those unexpected losses for a Louisville basketball team that appeared to be getting better every game, the Cardinals arriving in Clemson with their B game, expecting that to be good enough to continue the momentum.
Getting off to a quick 8-0 lead, a spurt that included three surprising jumpers from Chinanu Onuaku, making it look easy. Unbelievable the progress he was making, this was going to be fun. Not much of a lead, but contributing to a sense of overconfidence, a drop in intensity. Only when the game was almost out of reach did UofL exhibit anywhere near the same level of resolve.
Clemson unaffected, drawing on its underdog mentality, playing at home, turning the game into a physical encounter. Non-plussed by the Onuaku phenomenon, the Tigers were going maintain their focus on slowing down Damion Lee and Trey Lewis.
Clemson would overtake UofL 16-14 at the seven minute mark and never look back in a 66-62 win over UofL before a crowd of 9,562 at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville. Louisville’s first loss in Atlantic Coast Conference play after three games.
Coach Rick Pitino not surprised, his team allowing its lack of success on the offensive end of the court to affect its focus on the defensive end. “This basketball team has relied on their offense to win, and there’s going to be nights when the other team slows down play and you don’t get any shots and you don’t get any breaks and you’ve got to rely on your defense,” he said afterwards.
Cases in point, Lewis and Lee managing only 14 and 10 points, respectively, making good only five of 31 shots, each of them with three fouls. A parade to the foul line for Clemson, making good on 19 of 29 attempts, compared to 11 of 16 for Louisville. Onuaku, with his third straight double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) but disqualified with five fouls, as was Anas Mahmoud.
Avry Holmes was one of the beneficiaries of all UofL’s defensive deficiencies, making 11 of 14 free throw attempts and a total of 16 points for Clemson.
“Our team needed to get knocked down a few pegs, to get realistic about their abilities, and they did tonight,” said Pitino.
All a part of the maturation process for a team that is not nearly as far along as it thought it was. No choice but to heed the message and expect to catch hell in practice. Overconfidence doesn’t get a team very far in ACC competition.