Scorching hot Wahoos destroy No. 12 Clemson on the road, 85-50

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Some wise old coach once said that trailing Virginia by 10 points was like trailing any other team by 25. He was right.

Must have been what Brad Brownell was thinking early in Saturday’s game against the Cavaliers when absolutely everything was going right for the visitors and absolutely nothing was going right for Brownell’s Tigers.

Brownell knew that beating Virginia wasn’t going to be easy. Clemson had been on pause from practice because of Covid issues and hadn’t played a game since Jan. 5. There would be rust.

Still, his Tigers were No. 12 in the nation, 9-1 overall, playing at Littlejohn where little comes easy for visitors. Clemson also boasted the No. 1 defensive efficiency in the country, but yet the Tigs were a 1.5 point underdog to the No. 18 Wahoos.

When Virginia bolted to an 18-2 lead, while Clemson missed 13 of its first 14 shots (0-9 from the arc) midway through the first half, Brownell must have thought, here we go again.

“I thought we panicked,” Brownell said. “We started well and got some really good shots, wide-open 3’s, missed them all. When you get behind against Virginia, that’s not good. They don’t help you. They don’t take bad shots, they don’t turn the ball over, they don’t make many defensive mistakes and you can’t get out in transition. So, then you’ve got to be unbelievably efficient.”

All that led to a 33-17 halftime lead for the Cavaliers at the break. And then Virginia really cut loose on the Tigers, shooting a sizzling 68 percent from the field (71 percent from 3-point range) in the second half, including nine consecutive 3-pointers as UVA put up 52 points.

No. 18 Virginia 85, No. 12 Clemson 50.

It was Virginia’s first top-15 road win since 2019 at No. 8 North Carolina, the first time a Cavaliers team had posted back-to-back 80 or more points against ACC competition since 2006-07 and extended their win streak over Clemson to 11 in a row, including four in a row at Littlejohn.

Virginia’s offensive performance was staggering against the most efficient defense in the country. Putting five players in the double figures scoring column (Sam Hauser 14, Tomas Woldetensae 14, Trey Murphy 13, Kihei Clark 12, Jay Huff 12) for the third time in the past four games, the Cavaliers shot a season-high 60.7 percent (34 of 56) from the field and shot 50 percent  (14 of 28) or better from Bonusphere for the sixth time in 11 games.

“They smashed us today,” Brownell said. “I didn’t think our defense was very good at all. Credit to those [Virginia] guys. They made a couple of guarded shots but we had some terrible breakdowns.

“We weren’t ready.”

How could any team be ready for the barrage of 3-pointers launched at the Tigers, hitting 15 of ‘em.

Clemson had a game plan that it couldn’t execute. The Tigers focused on trying to cut the head off the snake by applying tons of pressure on Virginia point guard Kihei Clark and it didn’t work.

Clark is a seasoned point guard who has faced immense pressure during his career (remember the 2019 postseason games?) and he wasn’t about to come apart at the seams. Instead, Clark made the Tigers pay. In 27 minutes, he dished five assists, a steal, no turnovers and hit 5 of 7 shots, penetrating into the lane and scoring easily on backdoor cuts against the over-aggressive Tigs.

“I think it was just a great offensive performance by us,” said Sam Hauser, who posted a season-high four 3-pointers. “When things are going your way like that, it’s very contagious. I think guys coming off the bench and even guys on the floor at the time, once they saw other people making shots, I think it gave them more confidence to shoot and take good shots.”

One of those guys was Woldetensae, who didn’t even get into the Notre Dame game on Wednesday night, but came off the bench early during UVA’s 23-5 boltaway and hit three straight 3’s. A streaky shooter, Woldetensae posted season highs in both points (14) and 3-pointers (4).

“Tom [Woldetensae] came in and gave us a lift with his shooting, which was great to see,” Bennett said after watching the Cavaliers improve to 5-0 in ACC play and atop the league standings, and 9-2 overall.

Woldetensae hadn’t scored since the Dec. 26 game with Gonzaga, a four-game drought. It was quite the surprise that he managed to rediscover his shooting touch and light up the Tigers’ vaunted defense. It was another lesson in always being ready.

“Every time after a game where somebody did not play as much [Bennett] would mention it, just to be ready and stay united with the team,” Woldetensae said. “It’s of course something that you like to hear, especially coming from not play a game or so. You just stick to improving and trust the process.”

After leading 33-17 at halftime, the Tigers came out with a quick basket. While that halftime bulge wasn’t insurmountable, Virginia’s offensive intensity was.

Unlike many second halves this season where UVA would lose interest in playing defense and struggled offensively, allowing some games to be closer than they should have been, the Cavaliers buckled down after the Clemson basket.

Hauser and Huff scored back-to-back 3-pointers and Virginia was off and running as the Cavaliers got scorching hot, eventually building a 60-28 bulge with nearly 14 minutes remaining.

“I thought our defense tightened up and we did answer the bell in terms of that because [Clemson] is a good defensive team and they’re physical,” Bennett said. “They looked rusty and you could see that when they did get some open shots but for the most part we kept them in front of us and used our length.

“When you combine the defense with that kind of shooting, it came together nicely and we didn’t take our foot off the gas.”

The Cavaliers now return home for a three-game stand and a chance to build a lead in conference play: NC State (Wednesday), Georgia Tech (Saturday) and Syracuse (Jan. 25) before traveling to Virginia Tech on the 30th.

Team Notes

• No. 18 Virginia (9-2, 5-0) has a five-game winning streak and has started 5-0 in the ACC for the first time since starting 12-0 in 2017-18
• UVA recorded its first top-15 road win since Feb. 11, 2019 (69-61 at #8 North Carolina)
• UVA scored 80 or more points in back-to-back ACC games for the first time since the 2006-2007 season (103-91 win over Maryland and 88-76 win over Wake Forest 88-76)
• UVA is 1-1 vs. ranked opponents
• UVA has a 13-game league winning streak dating back to 2019-20
• UVA started the game on an 18-2 run, limiting the Tigers to two points in the first 11:11
• Clemson started the game 1 of 14, including 0 of 9 from 3-point range
• UVA held its largest lead of the first half at 25 (33-9) before the Tigers closed the half on an 8-0 run
• Virginia had a 10-0 early in the second half
• UVA made 15 3-pointers, including nine straight in the second half
• UVA had five players in double figures for the third time in the past four contests (Hauser, Woldetensae, Clark, Huff and Murphy III)
• UVA shot a season-high 60.7 percent (34 of 56) and shot 50 percent or better for the sixth time
• UVA is 3-0 when scoring 80 or more points and 7-1 when scoring 70 or more in 2020-21
• UVA is 38-1 overall when scoring 80 or more under Tony Bennett

Series Notes

• Virginia is 79-52 all-time vs. Clemson, including a 26-35 road mark, in a series that dates back to 1935-36.
• UVA has an 11-game winning streak in the series
• The Cavaliers have a four-game winning streak against the Tigers in Clemson
• The Cavaliers are 13-2 in their last 15 meetings against the Tigers
• Head coach Tony Bennett is 13-3 all-time vs. Clemson

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Sam Hauser (14), Tomas Woldetensae (14), Trey Murphy III (13), Kihei Clark (12), Jay Huff (12)
• Woldetensae had season highs in points (14) and 3-pointers (4)
• Hauser had a season-high four 3-pointers
• Huff had a career-high five assists
• Beekman had career highs in assists (6) and rebounds (5)