Virginia Basketball vs. Clemson Game Preview, Score Prediction

After suffering back-to-back road losses at Boston College and North Carolina, Virginia will look to right the ship in the final week of the regular season when Clemson comes to Charlottesville on Tuesday night. It's crunch time for both the Cavaliers and the Tigers, who enter this matchup in a tie for third place in the ACC standings with two games left to play.

Read on for a full preview of Virginia vs. Clemson, including details on the game, an opponent scouting report, game notes, and a score prediction.

Game Details

Who: Virginia Cavaliers (21-6, 13-5 ACC) vs. Clemson Tigers (21-8, 13-5 ACC)

When: Tuesday, February 28th at 7pm ET

Where: John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia

How to watch: ACC Network

How to stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)

How to listen: SiriusXM 84, SXM App 84 | Virginia Sports Radio Network - click here for affiliates

All-time series: Virginia leads 80-53

Last meeting: Virginia defeated Clemson 75-65 on January 10th, 2022 at Clemson.

Opponent Scouting Report: Clemson

2022-2023: 21-8, 13-5 ACC
Notable results: at South Carolina 60-58 L, Iowa 74-71 L, Wake Forest 77-57 W, NC State 78-64 W, at Virginia Tech 68-65 W, at Pitt 75-74 W, Duke 72-64 W, at Wake Forest 87-77 L, Virginia Tech 51-50 W, Miami 78-74 L, at UNC 91-71 L, at Louisville 83-73 L, Syracuse 91-73 W, at NC State 96-71 W

The 2022-2023 edition of the Clemson Tigers is a tough one to figure out and predict. Brad Brownell's squad is clearly capable of beating any team on any given night, as evidenced by Clemson's impressive wins at Pitt, against Duke, and a series sweep against NC State, completed with a dominant 96-71 smackdown over the Wolfpack on Saturday. Yet, the Tigers also seem quite vulnerable at times, as shown in bad losses to South Carolina, Loyola Chicago, Boston College, and most recently in a 20-point blowout at North Carolina and a 10-point loss at Louisville this month.

Still, Clemson is a very talented team and one that has itself "in position to be in position" for the NCAA Tournament. Joe Lunardi has the Tigers as the third team in his "First Four Out", sitting just outside his projected field of 68 for March Madness. As was the case for North Carolina on Saturday, a win over Virginia could do wonders for Clemson's chances of going dancing.

The Tigers are led by perhaps the most versatile and talented front court in the ACC. 6'8" graduate forward Hunter Tyson is Clemson's leading scorer and rebounder at 15.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Tyson is a great three-point shooter at 42.5% on 5.6 attempts per game. He also shoots 49.3% from the floor. Tyson had 29 points in Clemson's win over Syracuse last week and has scored in double figures in 10 of the last 11 games.

Joining Tyson up front is PJ Hall. The 6'10" junior center is averaging 15.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game and, although he doesn't shoot the three nearly as well or as much as Tyson, Hall is still capable of making opposing defenses pay for leaving him open beyond the arc, shooting 39.7% from three on just under three attempts per game. Hall is shooting 53.8% from the floor, had 20 points in Clemson's win over NC State on Saturday, and is averaging 21 points per game over the last four contests.

The front court of Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall is a scary sight for the Cavaliers, whose front court has frequently been the weakness for UVA this season. Virginia can't seem to figure out how to balance offensive and defensive efficiency at its center position, and Ben Vander Plas has done very little over the last several games on either end of the floor yet he continues to be the starting center in Virginia's small-ball lineups. If UVA is to contain Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall, the Cavaliers will need much more solid play from Vander Plas, Kadin Shedrick, or even Francisco Caffaro at the center spot and a good showing from Jayden Gardner and Ryan Dunn at the four-spot.

6'3" junior guard Chase Hunter is Clemson's third-leading scorer at 14.3 points per game and is also the team's leading assist man at 4.5 assists per game. Hunter is a 36.6% three-point shooter for the season, but is shooting 47.4% from downtown over his last four games. Joining Hunter in the back court is 6'3" graduate guard Brevin Galloway, a Boston College transfer who spent the first four years of his career at Charleston and who is in his sixth season of college basketball. Galloway is averaging 11.6 points per game, is a 33.3% three-point shooter, and scored a career-high 28 points in Clemson's blowout win over NC State on Saturday.

Rounding out the starting five is 6'7" sophomore forward Ian Schieffelin, who doesn't exactly stuff the stat sheet (4.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game), but he does a little bit of everything for the Tigers. Schieffelin entered the starting lineup in mid-December following an injury to Alex Hemenway, a 6'4" senior guard who started the first 12 games of the season before suffering a foot injury that held him off the floor for a month a half. Hemenway returned at the end of January, but hasn't quite been able to find a rhythm, scoring just 2.3 points per game since his return in very limited action. He didn't play at all in Clemson's win over NC State on Saturday.

That's quite alright for Brad Brownell, who has a plethora of young talent at his disposal off the bench. Clemson has five underclassmen players who are averaging at least nine minutes played per game and who can provide meaningful contributions in any given game: 6'10" sophomore forward Ben Middlebrooks, 6'7" freshman forward RJ Godfrey, 6'10" freshman forward Chauncey Wiggins, 6'3" redshirt freshman guard Josh Beadle, and 6'3" freshman guard Dillon Hunter.

Clemson is currently ranked 60th in the NET rankings with a 4-2 record vs. Quad 1 and a 3-2 record vs. Quad 2, but the Tigers also have a few big blemishes on their resume with two losses in Quad 3 and two losses in Quad 4. Clemson is the best three-point shooting team in the ACC at 37.4% and is 2nd in the conference in overall field goal percentage at 47.5%. Clemson has the third-best scoring defense (68.1 ppg allowed), trailing No. 1 Virginia, but the Tigers are the best defense in the ACC in terms of opponent FG percentage, holding their opponents to 41.9% shooting from the floor. Clemson appears to have the advantage in terms of three-point shooting and team defense, especially the way Virginia has been playing lately.

Game Notes

Virginia holds an 80-53 advantage over Clemson in the all-time series that dates back to the 1935-1936 season.
UVA is 46-17 all-time against Clemson in games played in Charlottesville.
Virginia had won 11-straight against Clemson in Charlottesville until the Tigers defeated the Cavaliers 67-50 at John Paul Jones Arena last season.
Virginia defeated Clemson 75-65 at Clemson last season to split the season series.
Virginia has won 12 of the last 13 meetings with Clemson and 14 of the last 17.
Tony Bennett is 14-4 against Clemson as a head coach.
Virginia and Clemson are tied for third place in the ACC standings at 13-5.

What's at Stake

Virginia and Clemson enter this matchup tied for third place in the ACC standings at 13-5. The winner of this game will clinch a top 4 seed and the coveted double-bye in the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament next week in Greensboro. The winner will also stay alive for a potential share of the ACC regular season title, but will still need some help from Pittsburgh.

Virginia can clinch a share of the ACC regular season title by winning its last two games against Clemson and Louisville and with a loss by Pittsburgh in one of its final two games at Notre Dame or at Miami. The best seed UVA can get in the ACC Tournament is a No. 2 seed, as the winner of the Miami/Pitt game next Saturday will, at worst, have an ACC record of 15-5 to match Virginia's best possible record and that team will also own the head-to-head tiebreaker with UVA. On the flip side, Virginia could finish as low as the No. 5 seed in the ACC Tournament by losing the final two games of the season.

Prediction

Tony Bennett remains hopeful that the Cavaliers will break out of their recent shooting slump. That will likely need to happen in order for UVA to beat a Clemson team that boasts the ACC's best three-point shooting offense and best field goal defense. Virginia comes into this game having delivered four-consecutive subpar performances, while Clemson comes in having just beaten NC State 96-71 on the road. That should tell you plenty about who has the momentum in this matchup.

If the Cavaliers continue to play like they did against Notre Dame, Louisville, Boston College, and North Carolina, it's possible that they'll get run off their home floor just like the Wolfpack did on Saturday. But, this is still the same UVA team that looked like a favorite to go to the Final Four in wins over Baylor and Illinois early in the season and against NC State and Duke just a few short weeks ago. What better time for the Hoos to show that they're still capable of those heights than on the final day of February? It's now or never for Virginia to get out of the slump and pick up a key win entering the month of March.

Score prediction: Clemson 65, Virginia 67

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