Clemson Defeats Virginia 67-50 for First Win at UVA Since 2008
It is difficult to pinpoint just one area to explain Virginia’s lopsided loss to Clemson on Wednesday night, as the Tigers completely outplayed the Cavaliers in several aspects of the game en route to a 67-50 victory, which snapped an 11-game winning streak for UVA in the series.
With the exception of a very brief 8-0 run for Virginia early in the second half, the entire game was an utterly dominant performance by Clemson.
The Tigers led for all but four minutes of the game and Clemson took the lead for good midway through the first half. Hunter Tyson led Clemson with 17 points on 6/10 shooting and three three-pointers. Tyson was a matchup nightmare for UVA all night, as he sprang free for open perimeter shots and pushed around smaller players in the post for easy buckets in the paint.
David Collins recorded an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double and PJ Hall chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds. Eight different Tigers scored in the game.
Virginia has been searching for a secondary scoring option to step up and support Jayden Gardner, who leads the team in scoring. Against Clemson, it was not Gardner, but Reece Beekman who was the primary scoring option for the Cavaliers. Beekman, who came into the game averaging just over six points per game, recorded a career-high 20 points on 7/10 shooting from the floor and 3/5 shooting from three-point range.
Unfortunately, Beekman was essentially the only Cavalier to show up on the offensive end. Armaan Franklin scored 13 points, but he continued his cold stretch of perimeter shooting, making just one three-pointer on seven attempts.
Much has been made of Tony Bennett’s willingness to give young players like Igor Milicic Jr., Taine Murray, and Carson McCorkle extended opportunities to see the floor to give UVA an offensive boost. On Wednesday night, Bennett gave a total of 31 minutes of playing time to a combined six players off the bench. The results were disappointing to say the least.
UVA’s bench accounted for 0 points and went a combined 0/4 from the floor. Clemson’s bench outscored the Virginia bench 17-0. Beekman and Franklin combined to score 33 of UVA’s 50 points in the game.
Virginia trailed by eight points at the half, 35-27. After a hook shot by PJ Hall, Virginia went on an 8-0 run, which included three-pointers by Armaan Franklin and Kihei Clark and a dunk off of a steal by Reece Beekman. The crowd at John Paul Jones Arena came alive and Virginia seized all momentum as Clemson head coach Brad Brownell was forced to call a timeout after seeing his team’s lead decreased to just two points.
In a sequence that UVA basketball fans have become much too familiar with, Virginia would not make another field goal for over 11 minutes. During that stretch, the game went from a 37-35 Clemson lead to a 56-40 Clemson lead with just seven minutes remaining in the game.
Virginia shot 15/41 (36.6%) from the field in the game, but the bigger issue was that the Cavaliers had too many possessions which did not even end in a shot attempt. The Hoos turned the ball over 14 times and Clemson scored 14 points off of those turnovers. The Tigers turned the ball over only 7 times. Clemson attempted 18 more shots than Virginia and converted them at a 47.5% clip.
The combination of Virginia’s issues with ball security and Clemson’s efficiency in exploiting matchups with their bigs, especially Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall, directly led to Clemson’s convincing victory.
Clemson won at Virginia for the first time since 2008 and handed the Cavaliers their first ACC loss of the season.
With the loss, UVA falls to 7-5 on the season and 1-1 in ACC play.
Up next, Virginia gets another extended break before hitting the road for three-straight away games, beginning with a trip to the Carrier Dome to face Syracuse on January 1st.
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