WBB vs Clemson Preview -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hello and Happy Thursday to you all.


Its Daryl with the full coverage of WBB vs Clemson this week!

Photos: Jared Anderson

The Cardinals are off to a 4-0 start in ACC play and are the only team left in the conference to be undefeated through the first few weeks.



Kiki Jefferson leads the team in scoring with 12.2 points per game this year. She has scored in double figures in 11 of her last 12 games and continues to be one of the best free throw shooters in the country.    

Jefferson played only 16 minutes in the win over Wake Forest on Sunday where she finished 3-8 from the field for 10 points, 1 rebound and 3 assists. Her limited minutes could be contributed to the sizable Louisville lead as well as she may have landed incorrectly on a play under the basket and needed to gingerly walk off the court for a break. Either way, there has been no announcement of injury for Kiki and the Cardinal faithful should expect to see her inserted back into the starting lineup.


GAME DAY

Louisville at Clemson

Date: Thursday, January 18

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Available on ACCNX

Series History: Louisville leads 11-3 (4-1 home, 5-1 away, 2-1 neutral)

Series History w/Walz: Louisville leads 11-0 (home 4-0, away 5-0, neutral 2-0)

The last time these two teams met, the Cards won 81-69 back on 2/12/2023 at the KFC Yum! Center.

Photos: Jared Anderson

Clemson comes into Thursday's matchup with a 8-9 overall record and are 1-4 in ACC play this season. The Tigers also completed in the Van and Betty Chancellor Classic back in November down in Texas.   Clemson was on the Van Chancellor side of the tournament and finished 1-2 after a win over Arkansas Pine-Bluff (92-66) and dropped games against Mississippi State (78-81) and Tulsa (64-74). 

The Tigers have faced one common ACC opponent of the Cardinals so far this season. Clemson defeated Duke in their ACC opener back on Dec. 7 and the Cardinals defeated Duke 61-44 on Jan. 4 for the program's 1,000 all-time victory. Thursday's game will pair two of the better shooting teams in the ACC and the country. Louisville ranks 30th nationally and is shooting 45.9 percent from the floor. Clemson is 44th nationally and they shoot 45.4 percent on the year.

Amari Robinson leads the Tigers this season in scoring with 18.2 ppg and rebounding with 6.8 rpg. In her last two games, Robinson notched a double-double at Georgia Tech (19 points, 10 rebounds) and followed that up by scoring a career-high 37 points on 14-19 shooting in just 27 minutes.

Ruby Whitehorn is averaging 15.8 points per game, shooting 50% from the floor, 41% from beyond the arc, all while grabbing five rebounds and 1.8 steals per contest.

Dayshanette Harris, a fifth-year transfer from Pitt, is having a career year. Harris is scoring 11.1 points per game and is shooting at the best clip of her career. She’s shooting career highs of 46% from the floor and 37% from three-point land.

Thoughts?

Louisville will really have to turn up the defense and keep the Tigers from scoring easy buckets to avoid any missteps in the march to an ACC title.  Olivia Cochran will have to continue to show dominance under the basket.  I would like to see her grab a few more boards than she has grabbed only 3 and 4 in the last couple showings and will be going up against 6-3 Jr Makayla Elmore for Clemson in the paint.   

Keep Paul in your thoughts as he continues to recover at home.   We hope to see him back out on the sidelines again soon!! 

As Always 

Go Cards

~Daryl