Clemson Tigers guard Jestin Porter (1) defends Louisville Cardinals guard Ryan Cornwell (3) during an NCAA men’s basketball game at Little John Coliseum in Clemson, South Carolina, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. Led by Jestin Porter’s 16 points, Clemson rolled to an 80-75 victory over visiting Louisville in Atlantic Coast Conference play Saturday afternoon.
The win ended Clemson’s losing streak at four and gave the Tigers (21-8, 11-5 ACC) their second win over a ranked opponent this season.
Porter scored all of his points after halftime and hit four 3-pointers.
Ace Buckner collected a season-high eight rebounds off the Tigers bench. RJ Godfrey had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Tigers.
For the Cardinals (20-9, 9-7 ACC), Ryan Cornwell had 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, extending his double-digit scoring streak to 22 points.
Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville’s season leading scorer, came off the bench for the second time this season with a back injury. He had a season-low 5 points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field and a season-worst 0-for-6 on 3-pointers.
After a driving layup in the second half, Brown came onto the court with a frown on his face. He left the game at 16:12 and returned to action at 13:12. However, he played for only five more minutes and quit the game for good around 8:40.
Adrian Wooley started the game for Brown, scoring 17 points and hitting three 3-pointers for Louisville, tying a season high in conference play.
To start the second half, Clemson jumped out to a 10-4 lead, scoring nine points.
Louisville held Clemson scoreless for 2 1/2 minutes, but Porter’s layup and immediate steal ended the drought and increased Clemson’s lead to 11 points as Littlejohn Coliseum got on its feet.
Coming into the game, Louisville ranked second in the ACC in free throw percentage at 77.8%. They shot a season-low 58 percent from the foul line Saturday.
The Cardinals ranked fifth in 3-point percentage at 36.1% and first among 3-pointers per game entering Saturday’s game. They shot 10-for-36 from 3-point range, missing 24 of their last 28 3-point attempts after starting the game 4-for-6 from 3-point range.
In the final minutes of the game, Louisville went on a quick 16-4 run to cut Clemson’s lead to a game-high 15 points to four. Wooley scored 11 of his 17 points in the period.
But Buckner hit four free throws in the final 15 seconds to hold off Louisville until the clock hit zero.
–Field level media
