By Scott Ratcliffe

It may not have been the prettiest performance, but No. 4 Virginia was again fueled by a key second-half run to outlast Clemson by 20, 63-43, at Littlejohn Coliseum Saturday.

The Tigers struggled mightily on the offensive end throughout the first 20-plus minutes of the contest, but when Marcquise Reed scored on Mamadi Diakite with 17:23 to play, the Wahoo lead was trimmed to just two, 29-27.

Cue the most recent Cavalanche. This time, it was a 12-1 spurt that ballooned to a 21-5 run over the next seven minutes of action, stretching the UVA lead to 18, 50-32, midway through the second half.

The win kept the Cavaliers perfect on the season at 15-0 overall and 3-0 in conference play, while sending the nation’s longest win streak in true road games to 13. It also marked the team’s school-record 12th ACC road victory.

“If you’re sound and your gameplan doesn’t change, regardless of the environment, it can allow you sometimes — whether you’re at home or on the road — to just stay true to that, and not become unclear on who you are,” said Virginia coach Tony Bennett. “And I think that’s what this team has done — their style, how they play. They don’t get outside of themselves too much and that’s an important factor.”

Neither team could get much going early on until Kyle Guy started heating up. The UVA junior guard nailed a pair of jumpers and then sank his first 3-pointer with 14:31 to go in the first half, as he personally outscored the Tigers 7-2 up until the initial TV timeout.

Senior center Jack Salt added an up-and-under and a nice lefty hook in the lane to make it 11-2 past the midway point of the half.

Former Wahoo and current Atlanta Hawk Justin Anderson was in the building as Clemson (10-6, 0-3) made just one of its first 16 shots from the field. The Tigers didn’t get a shot to drop for the first five minutes, and got just its second field goal to fall with 6:42 left in the half, but only trailed 15-7 at that point.

Virginia made four more shots for the rest of the half, but all four were from beyond the arc — two more by Guy, one by Braxton Key and one by Kihei Clark — and the ‘Hoos held a 27-21 halftime edge. Guy scored all of his game-high 13 points in the first half, with a couple of his what have become signature, off-balance, twisting, quick-release swishes sprinkled in.

“He makes shots that he just needs a sliver of space,” Bennett said of Guy. “He kind of kept us alive when we were missing early. … He was definitely a marked man [in the second half], and you have to [defend tighter] when he gets it rolling like that.”

It was Guy’s 15th straight game with at least one made 3-pointer, and he’s knocked down multiple treys in six straight. Guy (180) moved past Cavalier great John Crotty (179) into 9th on the school’s all-time 3-pointers list.

The Tigers were 5 for 21 (24 percent) from the floor in the half but hung around from the charity stripe, connecting on 10 of 12 trips.

Ty Jerome followed his own miss for his first points of the game to start the second half before an Elijah Thomas putback on the other end cut it to four, and then the 6-foot-3 Reed took advantage of a mismatch with 6-9 Diakite guarding. Reed got a step and drove to the hole and nearly had a three-point play as Diakite committed the foul.

Reed, the ACC’s leading free-throw shooter on the season (and eighth-best career conference percentage), misfired on the freebie, however, and then the Cavaliers put the pedal to the metal and did not let up.

De’Andre Hunter got things going with a 3, his first FG make, to give the ‘Hoos a little cushion and kill the Clemson momentum with 16:40 to play.

Thomas missed on a pair of easy shots in the paint before Wahoo redshirt sophomore forward Jay Huff got a triple to fall from straight away. Huff sandwiched a Jerome 3-ball with three more points of his own off of perfectly placed alley-oop lobs to push the lead to 13 with 13:07 left, and you could feel the wheels beginning to fall off for the home team.

“I think it hopefully will lead to more opportunities,” Huff told the Virginia Sports Network following his big day. “I’ve always believed in myself — I thought I could’ve played in some of these games — but I always wanted to learn from Mamadi and Jack, and I think I’ve tried to learn from them as best I can, so thanks to them for teaching me.”

Added Bennett: “I was so happy that Jay offensively came in and gave us that kind of lift. Even defensively, he wasn’t great, but his length bothered [the Tigers] at times, so that was encouraging.”

Thomas finally got one to fall after another long stretch (of nearly five minutes) without a basket, but Hunter and Jerome added two more UVA trifectas, Hunter scored off an inbounds pass and Huff split a pair of free throws to make it an 18-point game.

With a comfortable lead, Bennett pulled the starters in the closing minutes and Huff wasn’t finished. The 7-1 native of Durham, N.C., got the rock at the top of the key, slipped past Clemson 7-foot freshman Trey Jemison and slammed it home with just over two minutes to go. For good measure, Clark found Huff for one final dagger, an exclamation point oop slam with 56 seconds to go that sent the visiting bench into a frenzy.

“When [Huff] rolls on the rim our guys know, ‘Throw it up,’ and he’s going to go get it,” said Bennett, “and he stretches the floor. Very important minutes, and very good for him.”

Clemson shot just 26 percent (14 of 54) for the afternoon, including only 16 percent (3 of 19) from downtown — two of those triples came in the final 2:50 of “garbage time.”

Reed, the conference’s fourth-leading scorer, finished with a game-high 14 points, but eight of those came from the free-throw line (8-11). He was 3 for 14 from the field and 0 for 5 from long range. Thomas contributed 8 points and 12 rebounds, as the Tigers were limited to just 4 second-chance points all day.

UVA was 23 for 57 overall (40 percent) from the floor, 10 of 23 (44 percent) from deep and 7 for 12 (58 percent) from the line, and outrebounded the Tigers, 46-36. It was the 12th time the Cavaliers have won the battle of the boards this season, and the seventh time the ‘Hoos held their opponent under 50 points.

Guy didn’t score after halftime but still led the team for the eighth time this season on 5-for-15 shooting (3-9 from 3). Hunter, who had 7 rebounds, scored 10 of his 12 in the second half, while all 11 of Huff and all 8 of Jerome’s points came in the second half. Huff added 7 boards and a block in just 10 minutes of playing time. Jerome dished out a game-high 5 assists.

Salt and Key chipped in with 7 points and 8 rebounds each, with Key adding 3 assists and a pair of steals. Diakite struggled offensively, missing both of his shot attempts on the day, but hauled down 5 rebounds and blocked his team-leading 14th shot of the season. Clark sank his second 3-pointer in his last nine games and finished with 5 points in 20 minutes off the bench.

The ‘Hoos now have two days to prepare for a matchup with No. 9 Virginia Tech (14-1, 3-0) with a share of the ACC lead on the line. It will be the first meeting between the longtime rivals in which both teams are ranked in the AP top 10. The Cavaliers will then travel to Durham next Saturday to face top-ranked Duke (14-1, 3-0) for a chance at a second-straight win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.