By Josie Simpson
The No. 25 Louisville Cardinals look to bounce back after a loss when the Clemson Tigers come to town.
Thursday’s game against Clemson will be senior night for the Cards.
Striking thrice
The Tigers offense is not an impressive one, only netting 66.1 point a game. They get there on 42.9% shooting from the field and 34.8% from three-point range. Their points and field goal shooting are outside the top 100 nationally, but their three-point shooting actually ranks 46th.
Clemson’s slow offense leans on its 5-foot-8 guard, Loyal McQueen, the team’s top scorer at 13.4 points per game. She’s a quick guard that can get anywhere on the court and is a sniper from outside. She completely embodies this Tigers offense, shooting 41.2% from deep.
McQueen is also a good facilitator, averaging five assists a game. Her five assists not only dwarf the next closest passer, but they make up a third of Clemson’s team total.
Mia Moore adds 10.2 points and two assists, both marks are second on the team and make her the clear Robin to McQueen’s Batman.
While McQueen is the workhorse of the team, both her and Moore can initiate the offense. Simply trying to drive into McQueen each possession and get her into foul trouble will not work.
The clear focus is McQueen then Moore, in that order, but the rest of the Clemson shooters cannot be ignored. They may not have a good offense, but threes are the main ingredient in an upset. The Cards have been defending the arc much better as of late, but a regression could spell serious trouble for Louisville.
Probably the biggest reason for their efforts in outside shooting, aside from their ability at it, is their complete lack of success inside.
The Tigers aren’t great at getting to the line with only 350 attempts on the season, and they’ve had a whopping 96 shots blocked.
To top it all off, Clemson is not the best rebounding team with only 35.8 boards a game.
Louisville probably doesn’t need to do too much inside, just play their game. The focus will clearly be on the perimeter.
Not much to say
Clemson’s defense is not too great.
The Tigers give up 63.4 points per game on 41.3% from the field and 31.4% from three, all marks outside the top 150 nationally. And these mediocre numbers are with Clemson playing a very intentionally slow pace.
The Tigers aren’t a very aggressive defense at all, opting to try and stay in front of defenders rather than pick their pockets. Clemson only gets 5.8 steals on 12.9 turnovers forced per game. Even with a slow pace, those are really bad numbers.
Clemson blocks 2.9 shots a game, which is bad but still better than their other numbers on defense.
Clemson can be dangerous when their three is on, but Louisville’s defensive pressure, rebounding advantage and inside scoring should give them control.
Louisville assistant coach Amanda Butler will be coaching against her former team for the first time, so the Cards may be a bit more motivated to get the win for her.
A win would keep Louisville on pace to receive a double-bye in the ACC tournament.
Tip-off is set for Thursday at 6 p.m. at the KFC Yum! Center.
Photo Courtesy // Mallory Peak, Louisville Athletics
