The ACC Plus/Minus: Virginia Woman’s Basketball Crashes out of ACC Tournament

Minus

All of Virginia’s bad habits came home to roost today: Kymora Johnson’s slow starts, poor three-point shooting, poor free throw shooting, over-reliance on the starters and a bench that doesn’t know their roles. Clemson looked they could have played another 10 minutes while Virginia looked worn down and beaten.

Minus

Kymora Johnson was just named first team All-ACC and was third in voting behind Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and Duke’s Toby Fournier. She’s the engine that makes Virginia hum, and yet her slow starts are becoming a problem. At the break, she had only one point in the loss to Virginia Tech over the weekend, and in this game she had just three points going into halftime. Over the past six games, four of which were losses, she has averaged just 4.5 points in the first 20 minutes. It’s burying Virginia in too big a hole. Clemson’s Mia Moore and Demeara Hinds, saddled with first half foul trouble, played a combined 11 minutes in the first half, and yet Virginia went into the locker room down 28 – 26. If Clemson head coach Shawn Poppie is going to be stupid enough to foul out his best two players in the first half, Virginia has to take advantage of that. And the Cavaliers didn’t.

Minus

Virginia shot 4/19 from deep while Clemson went off at a 50% clip, connecting on ten of twenty. While Johnson’s 2/11 stat line is certainly eye-popping (for all the wrong reasons) the bigger issue is that Virginia, knowing that Clemson is the best three-point shooting team in the ACC, simply could not defend the three-point line. On multiple occasions, the Hoos were content to just get near the shooter (and maybe try to get a hand in their face,) and they paid the price.

THREE-A MOORE! 🔥

That's triple number 7⃣ for the Tigers today.

📺 ACCN pic.twitter.com/Ulwca4EsMK
— Clemson Women's Basketball (@ClemsonWBB) March 5, 2026

Defending the three like this will get you beat. (And I could have picked half a dozen threes to illustrate this point.)

Minus

Once upon a time, coach Agugua-Hamilton was comfortable playing nine and even ten deep into her bench. Those days are long gone. For the last month only six players have been getting regular rotation minutes and the load on Johnson and Paris Clark has been unreal. Over the last 10 games, Johnson is averaging 39 minutes per game while Clark has been averaging 36 minutes over the past seven games. No wonder Clark is not closing down in the above clip. No wonder Johnson has had 2/11, 3/9, 2/6, 3/8 and 0/5 performances over the last six games.

Minus

And role players not knowing their roles… For Adeang Ring, just as ACC play was starting, it looked she had finally settled into her role as a pick-and-pop stretch 4 who could shoot the three. Against SMU, Clemson and Florida State (all wins) Ring shot a combined 5/10 from deep. And then her minutes cratered and she’s been reduced to someone who just takes up space on the floor. Today coach Mox ran her out in one lineup where she was the only big on the floor. She got the ball and tried to post up some player on the block, which might be the first time I have seen her try to back down a player. Needless to say, it didn’t go well.

Plus

Virginia is still, even when the team is playing as poorly as they did today, a very good offensive rebounding team, and the Hoos had an 11 – 3 in offensive boards. This led to the only statistical advantage Virginia had, registering 14 second-chance points to Clemson’s zero.

Minus

Neither team covered themselves in glory at the charity stripe as Clemson shot 11/19 while Virginia went 6/13. Interestingly, Clemson out-fouled Virginia 17 – 14, yet because the Tigers were more aggressive going to the rim, they got almost 50% more free throws. And because they had worn out Virginia completely, Clemson got 13 of those free throws in the fourth quarter.

Plus

Announcer Debbie Antonelli as well as the Nothing But Net TV crew were unanimous in predicting that regardless of this loss, Virginia was still an NCAA tournament team. Given that it has been almost a decade since Virginia went to the Big Dance, this is a win.

Minus

I’m not so sure. I certainly don’t play the bracketology game, and when I do, I am usually wrong. Virginia got their signature win four games ago by beating Louisville in Louisville and Charlie Creme installed the Cavaliers as a #10 seed. Since then, Virginia has lost three games: blown out at home by UNC, beaten for the second time by the Hokies (also at home,) and now scoring just 50 points against a distinctly average Clemson team. Maybe Virginia will survive and get slotted into a play-in game. But it will be an anxious ten days until Selection Sunday.

Next Up: Who knows?