One year removed from an NCAA Tournament appearance, Clemson's season continues to spin out of control after a 70-61 loss to Louisville on Saturday.
The Tigers fell to 12-15 overall and 4-12 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. It marks the first time in five years Clemson has suffered at least 12 losses in league play. Only Georgia Tech (3-11) has fewer conference wins this season.
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Louisville, who was led by Noah Locke's 15 points, improved to 12-14 and 6-10 in the ACC.
Clemson, who entered the game on a two-game winning streak in the series, fell behind early, down 11-4 following a Locke jumper with just over seven minutes expired. The Tigers would then score the next two baskets on an Al-Amir Dawes three-pointer and a Naz Bohannon jumper.
Louisville again advanced to a comfortable 19-11 lead before the Tigers would again mount another run, this time en route to its second lead of the game after another Dawes' jumper from long range gave his team a 22-21 edge with just under five minutes to go before intermission.
The two teams would trade leads multiple times before a Malik Williams free throw conversion would send the Cardinals into halftime up 28-27.
A David Collins basket and a Chase Hunter dunk quickly put Clemson up 31-28 to begin the second half, but the Cardinals would reel off 12 unanswered points to take a 40-31 lead highlighted by an El Ellis' conversion from long range.
Bohannon's basket with just over 10 minutes remaining would tie the game at 45 and with 7:34 left a Dawes three-pointer would give Clemson a 53-52 advantage. It would be the final time the Tigers would hold a lead, as the Cardinals would control the contest the rest of the way.
Dawes, who was 6-of-10 from long range, would drill another three with 0:54 remaining, followed by a Hunter dunk with 30 seconds left which would be the Tigers' final basket.
Williams (12) and Ellis (11) joined Locke in reaching double figures in scoring for the Cardinals, who shot 45.6-percent from the floor, but just 8-of-29 (27.6%) from long range.
Clemson was led by Dawes' game-high 18 points. Bohannon (11) and Hunter (10) also reached double figures in scoring while P.J. Hall exited the game within the first five minutes due to a foot injury and as a result added just two points. Hall had entered the contest having reached double figures in scoring for 25 consecutive games.
The Tigers shot 43.1% but connected on 9-of-23 (39.1%) from three-point range.
Collins added a team-high 10 rebounds for the Tigers.
Clemson, which fell to 0-7 all-time at Louisville, has now lost six consecutive games and 10 of its last 12.
Louisville travels to North Carolina on Monday while Clemson returns to Littlejohn Coliseum next Wednesday to host Wake Forest (21-7, 11-6). The game is set for a 7:00 p.m. tip and will be televised by the ACC Network.
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