By Sam Draut–
Playing in its second of three games over a seven day span, Louisville dominated Clemson 75-33 for its 13th-consecutive win on Thursday.
Briahanna Jackson led the Cardinals with 13 points and Asia Durr added 12 points, five assists and four rebounds.
Yesterday, coach Jeff Walz said he wanted everyone on his roster to have the opportunity to play against the ACC’s last place team.
Clemson (4-16 overall, 0-7 in the ACC) couldn’t do much to challenge Walz’s want.
Leading 4-0, the five Louisville starters were replaced by five subs at the 8:03 mark in the first quarter and the five Cardinal bench players quickly extended the lead to 13 points in three minutes.
Jackson said the starters “didn’t start off with the energy coach wanted.”
The mass substitution was not planned, Walz said the five replacements were sent in for the starters based on poor performance.
“They did well,” Walz said. “They brought some energy.”
Sam Fuehring started in place of Myisha Hines-Allen, who wasn’t with the team due to personal matters with her family.
Replacing Louisville’s leading scorer, the freshman scored 12 points in Hines-Allen absence.
“I wasn’t expecting the start, but I was ready to come in and work,” Fuehring said.
Hines-Allen will return in time for Sunday’s game against Wake Forest, but Walz was pleased with Fuehring’s performance. He wants the 6-foot-3 forward to be able to give the team 10 to 12 minutes while Hines-Allen rests on the bench.
Louisville (16-5 overall, 8-0 in the ACC) held Clemson to 30-percent shooting from the field and forced 21 turnovers, scoring 22 points off the takeaways.
On Monday, Louisville had 23 assists on 27 made field goals, the Cardinals continued to share the ball well against Clemson. Durr had five of Louisville’s 20 assists coming off of 29 made field goals.
“We are doing a much better job of instead of taking a good shot, finding a teammate for a great shot,” Walz said.
The improved passing is a byproduct of an inexperienced roster playing together.
“We have gotten more comfortable with each other,” Jackson said.
Along with the high assist total, for the second consecutive game, the Cardinals reached the 20 turnover mark. Louisville had 28 turnovers against Syracuse and gave away the ball 20 times against Clemson.
The Tigers couldn’t capitalize off of the mistakes, scoring only five turnovers off their takeaways.
Walz would like his team to work down to 12 turnovers per game. Louisville is averaging 15.7 turnovers per game through 21 contests this season.
Infrequently used Brianna Jones set new career-highs in minutes played and points. The freshman scored six points in 17 minutes of play.
