Clemson falls short against Virginia, ends 4-game winning streak with second ACC loss
Heading into the season, Brad Brownell wasn’t sure what his Clemson squad would look like because of so many new pieces. One thing he did know, however, was the Tigers had shooters.
After having almost two weeks off, Clemson found its shots but so did Virginia. In a battle of highly-efficient offenses, the Cavaliers used a late-game momentum swing and a few mental lapses from Clemson to beat the Tigers 75-65 on Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.
The loss ended the Tigers’ four-game winning streak.
“I thought they had tremendous juice,” Brownell said of the Cavaliers. “They run a cutting offense, motion screen stuff and I thought their kids cut extremely hard off the ball. They did a better job of executing their stuff in this game than they did the last game.”
Here are three takeaways from the Tigers’ home loss:
Beating a team twice
The last game Clemson (9-5, 1-2) played was against Virginia (9-5, 3-1) in Charlottesville on Dec. 22. The Tigers won 67-50 for their first victory on the Cavaliers’ home court since 2009. It’s hard to beat a team twice, though, and the Tigers couldn’t do it. Where Clemson was able to build and sustain a lead over UVa. almost two weeks ago, the Cavaliers played the Tigers in a closer, more physical contest at Littlejohn.
Letting the Cavaliers hang around cost the Tigers in the loss as the two teams split the conference series.
Rest or rust
Due to a COVID-19 outbreak within Duke’s program, Clemson didn’t play the Blue Devils on the originally scheduled Dec. 29 date. That resulted in the Tigers having almost two weeks off in between games against Virginia.
In the proverbial quest to be rested and not rusty, Brownell made sure his team still practiced and completed skill work in the meantime. The Tigers’ mission was to keep the momentum of a four-game winning streak going.
After one half, it seemed the Tigers were well rested and held a 37-36 lead. They couldn’t keep it, though, as the Cavaliers found a second wind over the final five minutes of the game, outscoring Clemson 39-28 in the second half.
“I didn’t think we were rusty or anything like that from the layoff,” Brownell said. “We were fine and we missed a bunch of shots down the stretch that you’re going to have to make in some of these games.”
Clemson shot over 50% for much of the game, but ended up going 46% from the field and 45% from 3-point range. Hunter Tyson and David Collins had 15 and 14 points, respectively, to power the team’s offense.
Sharing the ball
The more Clemson plays together, the better the team’s chemistry becomes. The Tigers are improving on their ability to create shots for one another and move the ball around, which was key against UVa. Out of 23 made shots, 17 came via assists.
Nick Honor was the main facilitator with four assists in the game.
“I think it just goes to our coach’s game plan. They do a really good job dissecting film figuring out what we need to do to be successful,” Tyson said. “For most of the game, we followed that. They really talked about having a good flow, moving the ball fast, getting out of those ball screens, getting the ball out of your hands, throwing it down to the corner, cutting through, trying to see the post. I think we did a good job of that at times.”
Up next
Clemson is set to play at N.C. State at noon Saturday.
Box score: Virginia 75, Clemson 65
VIRGINIA (9-5): Gardner 7-11 9-10 23, Shedrick 2-2 4-6 8, Beekman 4-6 0-0 8, Clark 3-9 0-0 8, Franklin 4-11 4-4 13, Caffaro 3-3 2-2 8, Stattmann 2-4 0-0 5, Murray 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 25-46 21-24 75.
CLEMSON (9-5): Hall 5-16 0-0 13, Tyson 5-8 4-5 15, Collins 5-9 4-7 14, Dawes 3-6 0-0 8, Honor 4-5 1-2 11, Hemenway 1-1 0-0 3, Hunter 0-2 0-0 0, Bohannon 0-2 0-0 0, Schieffelin 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 23-50 10-16 65.
Halftime—Clemson 37-36. 3-Point Goals—Virginia 4-14 (Clark 2-5, Stattmann 1-3, Franklin 1-6), Clemson 9-20 (Hall 3-7, Honor 2-2, Dawes 2-5, Hemenway 1-1, Tyson 1-3, Collins 0-1, Hunter 0-1). Rebounds—Virginia 28 (Shedrick 6), Clemson 19 (Tyson 9). Assists—Virginia 12 (Beekman 5), Clemson 17 (Honor 4). Total Fouls—Virginia 17, Clemson 18. A—5,202 (10,000).
This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 11:05 PM.
