Freshman duo manufactures consistent offense as Virginia downs Clemson

By Kenneth Cross
JerryRatcliffe.com Correspondent

As the Virginia Cavaliers have checked into game nights this season with a tough defense that allows them to dictate the tempo in most games, the offense has been an enigma that has been in a tough position throughout those contests.

That was once again the case in Tuesday evening’s 64-57 win over the Clemson Tigers in John Paul Jones Arena. Virginia started the game 0 of 8 from the floor before freshman Ryan Dunn finally put the Cavaliers on the board with a layup off of an alley-oop pass on the fast break.

“I thought their two freshmen off the bench and were very big in the game and that was the difference,” said Clemson head coach Brad Brownell. 

Dunn has as much athleticism as anyone on the team and he has seemed like a rocket that could blast out of Virginia’s launching pad with his ability on the offensive end with the basketball. 

As Dunn finished his and-one three-point play, he also hit a triple at the end of the shot clock and he scored on an offensive rebound to help the Cavaliers build a 17-7 lead after the slow start.

“Your offense can come and go, but the defense has to always be there,” said Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett. 

Dunn thought the team was getting good shots, but the Cavaliers were just having trouble getting those to fall. They shot only 36.2 percent from the floor in their two losses (combined) against Boston College and North Carolina last week. 

“I think we were getting great shots throughout the game, but they just weren’t falling,” said Dunn. “I knew stuff was going to fall, so once I got that block, I started to run.”

Defensively, Virginia wasn’t close to a picture of itself as the Eagles and Tar Heels combined to shoot 49.4 percent. That changed on Tuesday as the Cavaliers held the Tigers to 41.8 percent from the floor after Clemson was 9 of 28 at halftime.

“Our defense got us some offense early,” said Bennett. “We just worked. It was far from perfect, but it was what we needed. We tried to move hard and work hard offensively and be true to who we are.”

In order to win, a team has to be able to score the basketball consistently and in Dunn and Isaac McKneely, Bennett has a pair of freshmen who have shown through the season’s schedule that they can be key offensive leaders when the opportunity arises.

“They were just a little tougher than we were on certain plays that in a game like this when you are battling on the road in a difficult environment against a very good team that is very hungry,” explained Brownell.

Although Dunn was perfect from the floor as he was 3 for 3 with 10 points, he still only saw 18 minutes which was six more minutes than the 12 minutes he has averaged on the season.

Meanwhile, McKneely showed the ability he has on offense as he scored eight points in a row as his reverse layup and free throw pushed Virginia into a 49-36 lead with 9:21 to play.

“We tried to make a few tweaks to our offense and we ran a little more ‘Sides’ tonight,” explained McKneely of the offensive flow. “We haven’t ran it much this season and we just tried to tweak it a little bit and Clemson was going to be physical on our screens and try to bump us on our cuts.”

McKneely joined Armaan Franklin and Jayden Gardner as they all led Virginia with 12 points each.

“Getting those steals and blocks, we were able to run our transition,” explained Dunn. “Kihei and Reece are able to get to them fast.”

Offensively, the Cavaliers have had a tough time in making field goals and getting field goal attempts. They have made 24.2 out of 55.9 on average as those are 13th and 14th, respectively in ACC play. 

The flip side is how the defense claims these two positions where the Cavs allow only 22.2 of 52 on the season where the lead the ACC in both defensive categories.