After a slow start to conference play, the Louisville Cardinals have bounced back to get into the thick of the standings. They don’t have much room for error in such a competitive ACC, and needs to take care of business at home against the Clemson Tigers.
Clemson played well in the non-conference and has hung tough against a number of ranked opponents in the ACC, but has not come out on the victorious end in many games. However, another performance like that would be beneficial for those who choose the Tigers against the spread.
At 9 p.m. ET, tune into ESPN for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Thursday, January 19, 2017, at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Odds at BookMaker.eu
Louisville is 15-3 straight up and 11-5 against the spread. The Cardinals have been very impressive at home, covering in eight of their 10 attempts. Louisville has been the favorite in 13 of its games and has covered in nine of those.
Clemson is 11-6 straight up and 7-8 against the spread. The Tigers have played in five true road games and have fared well, covering in three of them. Clemson has covered 60 percent of the time as the favorite but has been much worse as the underdog, covering just once in five attempts.
Key Stat
4. That’s the number of losses in a row Clemson has suffered. The Tigers have played some tough competition and have been unable to come away with a win.
They were knocked off by No. 14 North Carolina by three points, by No. 23 Notre Dame by five points, to Georgia Tech by 12 points and, most recently, by four points to No. 19 Virginia. This is yet another ranked foe as it has been a tough stretch of late.
Clemson entered this bump in the road winners of nine straight games, including a defeat of Wake Forest to begin ACC play. However, the four losses have dropped the Tigers near the bottom of the conference standings and now they must play well the rest of the way to make it to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Letdown Situation
Louisville has also been in the midst of a tough schedule but has fared better. The Cardinals have lost to ranked foes Virginia and Notre Dame in recent games but have also picked up wins over Kentucky, Notre Dame and Duke, proving they have the ability to hang tough against the nation’s best teams.
The Cardinals will face off against No. 10 Florida State on the road after this one, so it’s natural that they may be looking forward to that matchup while also trying to remain mentally sharp after the big win over Duke.
While Louisville is the more talented team, there’s concern because this could be a letdown game. The Cardinals have had a ton of big matchups thus far, and since Clemson is near the bottom of the standings, they are easy to overlook.
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Louisville has a solid defense and a balanced offense. The team’s leading scorer is Donovan Mitchell, who averages 13.6 points along with 5.1 rebounds per game. Quentin Snider adds 12.6 points per contest while Deng Adel is the other player averaging in double figures, putting up 10.4 points per game.
Clemson hopes to get a big game from Jaron Blossomgame, who is averaging 18.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He will likely get a lot of attention from Louisville, which wants to force other players on the Tigers to beat them.
While Clemson may be better than its recent losing streak would suggest, Louisville is a superior team playing at home and shouldn’t have much trouble picking up this victory.
College Basketball Odds: Louisville 72, Clemson 61
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