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WATCH: Louisville forward JJ Traynor splits two Clemson defenders for an emphatic jam

Wade-Peeryby:Wade Peery•02/18/23
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(Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

J.J. Traynor was fired up on Saturday night and he carried the Louisville Cardinals on his back against the Clemson Tigers. He was doing a little bit of everything against Clemson, and the forward poured in 16 points–his career high. Traynor put a couple Clemson defenders on a poster in the second half, when he drove the ball to the hoop, and dunked on Ben Middlebrooks, who was trying to block the shot.

Check it out below.

Traynor also grabbed nine rebounds and swatted four blocks, including a critical block down the stretch in the second half. El Ellis had a spectacular performance for Louisville, stuffing the stat sheet with 28 points, five rebounds, and one assist.

Louisville honored their 2013 National Championship team at halftime of Saturday night’s game. The Cardinals’ lead ballooned to 14 points late in the second half with 7:26 remaining. They played some very impressive basketball on Saturday night. Louisville has been playing some high-quality basketball their past few games, they’ve just had some victories slip through their hands.

All of that changed on Saturday night, after they beat Clemson, 83-73. The win was Louisville’s first victory as a double-digit underdog since winning 83-62 at North Carolina as an 11.5-point underdog on Jan. 12, 2019.

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The loss was devastating to the Tigers’ NCAA Tournament hopes, as Clemson is currently on the NCAA Tournament bubble, after starting out the 2022-2023 season 7-0 in the ACC. ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi currently has the Tigers listed as one of the First Four Out in the latest version of his Bracketology rankings.

Louisville did an incredible job from the free throw line against Clemson, connecting on 26 of 28 of their free throws (92.9%). The win moves the Cardinals to 4-23 overall this year and 2-14 in the ACC. Clemson dropped to 19-8 overall and 11-5 in the ACC.