By Will Vandervort.

If Clemson was to have the same outcome on Wednesday at No. 5 Louisville that it did against No. 18 North Carolina at home on Saturday then the confidence of Brad Brownell’s Tigers might take another shot that maybe they cannot afford to take.

Clemson continues it murderous row against the Cardinals at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kent., — the second of five very difficult basketball games to open the ACC portion of the schedule. After Wednesday’s game, the Tigers have just 48 hours to get ready for another road game at Pitt on Saturday and then just 48 hours again to prepare for No. 3 Virginia on the road as well.

When they finally do return home, they get the pleasure of hosting traditional college basketball power Syracuse on Jan. 17.

“I’m not going to even worry about that. It is too early,” Brownell said. “We are just going to play each game and approach each week like we always do. We will worry about where we are mentally and physically later in the season.

“Certainly, it is a difficult start, but I just want us to play better. We need to play better right now.”

The Tigers (8-5, 0-1 ACC) were awful in the loss to North Carolina. They shot just 28.3 percent from the field overall, including 5 of 28 in the first half as the Tar Heels built a 22-point halftime lead. After the 12 minute mark of the opening 20 minutes, the game was not competitive again.

“Getting off to the poor start really made the North Carolina game a bad one,” Brownell said.

The poor start shook Clemson’s confidence and that is where Brownell’s concern for the Louisville game and for the season as a whole lies. Can the Tigers bounce back if they get off to a slow start against the Cardinals and will they be able to bounce back from a slow start in the conference once they get past the Syracuse game?

“Our team is not an overly confident group this year,” Brownell said. “I don’t understand why some of the guys are a little bit fragile as they seem to be, but they just are a little bit right now.  When you are playing these kinds of teams, a good start just gives you confidence. You need to see the ball go in. It changes the flow of the game, too, and much more than people understand.

“If you can hang for a while, at some point they can go through a cold spell, too or you can make a couple of good plays and get something turned around and get some momentum and you can have a shot at the end. We have to play are way into that and we are going to have to play a lot better than we played against North Carolina.”

And they are going to have to play with a lot more confidence.