By Jerry Ratcliffe
Virginia extended the nation’s longest road winning streak on Saturday and the Cavaliers did it the way their coach appreciates most: deee-fense.
Tony Bennett barked about a defensive letdown after his team routed Boston College on the road Wednesday night, but had no complaints Saturday when No. 4 UVA (No. 1 in the Coaches’ Poll) obliterated Clemson, 63-43 at Littlejohn Coliseum. It was the 13th consecutive road win for the Wahoos, dating back to last season, and the 12th ACC road win in a row, fourth-longest streak in league history.
This time around, the Cavaliers didn’t give their coach much to gripe about. Virginia held Clemson to a mere bucket in the first 10 minutes, 57 seconds of the game and then held the Tigers to 26 percent shooting for the entire afternoon (14-54), and only 16 percent from beyond the arc (3-19).
“Defense travels regardless of the environment,” Bennett said after watching his team roll to 15-0 overall and 3-0 in ACC play with two huge showdowns vs. Top 10 teams looming in the week ahead against No. 9 Virginia Tech and No. 1 Duke. “You want to stay true to that, and that’s what this team has done.”
After clobbering BC on the road, Bennett wasn’t happy about the Eagles beating his defense down the floor and “touching the paint” more than the coach felt necessary.
That certainly wasn’t the case at Clemson.
Bennett’s goal is to make the opponent shoot a contested shot every trip down the floor.
“If they’re coming down and they don’t get the easy looks over the course of the game, it’s a battle of wills as to who is going to break first,” he said.
Clemson (10-6, 0-3) battled as well as it could under the circumstances but couldn’t match Virginia’s intensity.
“I was super proud of how our team hung in there and competed,” Tigers coach Brad Brownell said. “It’s hard to hang in there against a team like Virginia when you’re not scoring. It can be demoralizing.”
Which is exactly Bennett’s plan.
Even though Clemson made only 5 of 21 field-goal attempts in the first half, Brownell’s Tigers trailed only by six due to success at the free-throw line. Clemson actually drew within a bucket, 29-27, early in the second half, but that was short-lived.
UVA outscored Clemson 34-16 the rest of the way, including a 21-5 run immediately after the Tigers drew to within two. De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome, both of whom went scoreless in the first half, lit it up the second, while seven-foot reserve center Jay Huff came off the bench and ignited the team with an 11-point, seven-rebound performance over the course of 10 minutes.
Kyle Guy, who passes John Crotty into ninth place on Virginia’s all-time 3-pointers made list with 180, sparked the Cavaliers in the first half with 13 points, but took only four shots in the second and didn’t score.
Guy explained his lack of second-half scoring by noting “[Clemson] wasn’t covering anyone else.”
Hunter contributed 12, Jerome 8, Jack Salt 7 (eight rebounds), and Braxton Key 7 (8 rebounds). Mamadi Diakite, who was pulled for Huff, did not score after having put up 18 at BC.
It was defense, though, that got the job done as Clemson became the seventh team to be held to under 50 points by Virginia this season, best in the nation.
The Tigers managed to score only four, second-chance points, while UVA held Clemson’s best offensive weapon, Marquise Reed to 14 points on a 3-for-14 shooting performance (0-5 from the arc).
“That was a good basketball team we played,” Brownell said of the Cavaliers, who have won 23 of their last 24 games against ACC competition. “They’re extremely sound fundamentally, they have more depth, and are more versatile than any team Tony has ever had.”
Now comes the meat of Virginia’s basketball schedule. After having knocked off then-No. 9 Florida State in Charlottesville on Saturday a week ago, the Cavaliers have a quick turnaround and will host the new No. 9 team in the AP poll, state rival Virginia Tech (14-1, 3-0), which hasn’t played since Wednesday night at Georgia Tech.
Tuesday night’s game at John Paul Jones Arena will be the first time in the history of the UVA-Tech series where both teams have been ranked in the Top 10. The Hokies were the only ACC team to defeat Virginia last season, and that came in overtime at JPJ.
If that isn’t enough of a test, the Cavaliers then travel to Duke next Saturday to face the No. 1 Blue Devils, who won by the skin of their teeth at Florida State, 80-78, on a 3-point shot at the buzzer. Duke played the entire second half without freshman phenom Zion Williamson, who suffered an eye injury late in the first half.
If Virginia ever wanted to flex its defensive muscles, there’s no better time than this coming week. Might not hurt to flex the offensive ones, too.
