LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The largest crowd this season came to the KFC Yum! Center Saturday night to celebrate the 2013 Louisville men’s basketball team, the one that won 35 games and the national championship.

They left celebrating the 2023 Louisville team, the one that has now won four games, toppling Clemson, 83-73. Players from that championship team, led by Montrezl Harrell, were the first ones in the locker room to celebrate with Kenny Payne’s players.

“People need to keep supporting these guys,” said Peyton Siva, the leader of the 2013 team. “They’re working hard. They’re getting better. You saw what they were doing tonight.”

What Louisville did was deliver its most dynamic and determined effort of the season, while winning for the fourth time in 27 games and the second time in 16 Atlantic Coast Conference games, pulling even with Notre Dame. 

UL CLEMSON El Ellis dunk

Louisville’s El Ellis dunks at the end of a win over Clemson.

They guarded. They attacked. They responded. They persevered.

Then they celebrated with unbridled joy with the largest — and loudest — crowd of the season, 15,517. That included players from the 2013 team, including Siva, Harrell, Luke Hancock, Wayne Blackshear, Tim Henderson and even Russ Smith's father, Big Russ.

I asked Harrell, who chose to spend his NBA all-star break in town, if the 2013 players spread some of their magic to this struggling group, which has showed more sizzle in February while winning twice and losing two other games by only 3 points.

"Definitely," Harrell said. "Definitely."

“It was amazing,” U of L guard Mike James said. “It was like a different type of energy. I don’t even have words for it.”

“It was a big game for me because all those guys were guys I grew up watching,” said U of L forward J.J. Traynor. “It was a dream come true.”

“I’m proud of the guys,” Payne said. “It’s more about them than anything else. They couldn’t have picked a better night. The fan support was unbelievable … just unbelievable energy in the building.”

There were two moments in the game when this team did not do what it did in too many losses this season — lose its poise and focus. 

They survived a stretch in the first half when Clemson scored 6 points in 39 seconds. There have been games when those 6 points runs became 15 point runs and ball game over.

Then they watched the Tigers knock nine consecutive points off Louisville’s 66-52 lead. Along press row, several of us noted fans getting up and leaving.

Better to beat the traffic than risk watching another late meltdown?

This time Louisville did not falter. James drove the ball, got fouled and made two free throws. Jae’Lyn Withers hit a difficult 12-foot jumper. James beat his man, got to the rim and scored.

“We took a big step today,” James said.

 Brandon Huntley-Hatfield powered into the lane and dunked a rebound for the two most important points he has scored this season.

Close but beaten by Syracuse, close but beaten by Florida State, close but beaten by Miami and close but beaten by Virginia, Louisville refused to surrender the lead Saturday night.

“If you watch the film, the last couple games, they’ve played the best teams in the league down to the wire,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “They look more connected.”

They earned a rousing game-ending ovation that was even more spirited than the roars that surrounded the 2013 team. They were honored at halftime on a night when a banner recognizing that team's No. 1 ranking in the final coaches' poll was raised in the north end of the arena. That championship is vacated in the NCAA record book because of a scandal that included NCAA violations that involved strippers and prostitutes in the players' dorm.

But nobody from the Infractions Committee was in the building. There is not a rule  against a group of guys reminiscing about what they achieved in Atlanta against Wichita State and Michigan.

"It happened," Harrell said. "Just like accidents happen. You can't say something didn't happen when everybody saw it happen."

What everybody saw Saturday night was Louisville was the better team — against a Clemson team (19-8) that started the night in fourth place in Atlantic Coast Conference. Some bracketologists had the Tigers in the field for the NCAA Tournament. Now, well that was the definition of the dreaded Quad 4 loss for the Tigers.

For the first time this season, Louisville has climbed in Ken Pomeroy's analytics rankings for three consecutive games, moving from No. 305 to No. 295 to No. 286 to No. 277, their best ranking since Jan. 14.

As usual, El Ellis drove the action for Kenny Payne’s team, scoring 28 points while making three shots from distance.  Ellis added a splash of seasoning to the victory, soaring for 360-dunk in the final two seconds. The Clemson players were not fans of the winning team dunking the ball with an 8-point lead and 2 seconds to play, but the Clemson players have not watched what this U of L team has endured.

“There’s just more confidence in the group,” Ellis said. “We’re just going out there and playing without thinking too much.”

But nobody on this Louisville team celebrated the 2013 championship with more gusto than J.J. Traynor. Louisville basketball percolates in his DNA. When fans started yelling the names of the 2013 players as video highlights played on the scoreboard, Traynor mentioned to his teammates this would be a special night.

His father, Jason Osborne, played for the Cardinals. And Traynor said that he remembered his mother, Toya Goodwin, running out of the house into the street outside the family home in Bardstown after U of L defeated Michigan in the title game.

Traynor delivered his best performance as a Cardinal, scoring a career high 16 with 9 rebounds. He made shots. He drove the ball and dunked it. He competed for rebounds. He played 34 difficult minutes without fouling, while blocking four shots.

“I’ve just had a different mindset,” Traynor said. “Earlier in the year, I kind of fell in love with the three-point shot.”

It’s on to Duke for the Cardinals. They will visit Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C. Monday night before playing at Georgia Tech next Saturday.

The Yellow Jackets are the other ACC team Louisville has beaten. Duke just won by 22 at Syracuse and figures to be favored by 20 against the Cards.

The game will be a homecoming for U of L assistant coach Nolan Smith, who played on Duke's 2010 NCAA title team and coached on Mike Krzyzewski's final staff last season with new Duke coach Jon Scheyer.

Ellis and James said they did not give Payne a water bottle bath after the Clemson win.

"But if we get a road win at Duke, he's going to get a bath," James said.

"We're going to drown him," said Ellis.

It was than kind of night at Second and Main streets.

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