Virginia at Clemson, 7 p.m. ESPNU
The news got worse for Virginia after the game when it found out that Joe Harris had fractured his non-shooting (left) hand during the game. Harris played with it hurt (before he knew it was a fracture) and even hit a couple 3s but who knows how it will affect him going forward. Once the adrenaline settled down after the game, I'm sure it felt worse and he said during the game he couldn't make a fist. Coach Tony Bennett on Monday said that Harris will be a game-time decision vs. Clemson. I've got to think that Harris will go, though. He's proven to be tough before and is very valuable to this team. He has also shown signs of wanting to step up and be a leader. He seems willing to take more shots and does a lot of talking in player huddles. I think he will be out there and will hopefully be mostly himself. With Assane Sene out, and Mike Scott's ankle reportedly flaring up (I think it was Daily Progress beat writer Whitey Reid who had reported this before the UNC game, but Scott said he would be fine), Virginia can't afford more time off for injuries because the final stretch of the schedule is tough and the Cavs need probably 3 to 4 more wins to lock up an NCAA tourney berth.
The quest toward getting a berth in the NCAA tournament continues tonight when the Hoos (19-5, 6-4 ACC) face Clemson (12-12, 4-6 ACC) in Littlejohn Coliseum, the first repeat ACC team on the schedule. Virginia beat Clemson 65-61 on Jan. 31 in Charlottesville. The Tigers are a deceptive team. They have an RPI of 173 per realtimerpi.com and six ACC losses, but by a combined 20 points. Also, Milton Jennings, a key cog for Clemson, was suspended just before the Virginia game for academics but is back for this game. Jennings averages 9.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game for the Tigers. Virginia outrebounded Clemson 34-19 in that first meeting. Having Jennings back and Harris hurting should help Clemson at least make the rebounding game a more balanced one. Andre Young (13.6), Tanner Smith (11.3), and Devin Booker (11) are Clemson's three leading scorers.
Virginia did a good job of holding Young down last game. He scored just seven points on 3 of 12 shooting. Booker led the Tigers with 16 points and Smith added 14 on 4 of 5 shooting from 3-point land. The Cavs were led by Mike Scott, who had one of his best games of the season with 23 points on 8 of 11 shooting while Harris added 19 and made 5 of 6 3-pointers. Akil Mitchell scored eight points but beyond that, no player scored more than five points. With Harris' hand hurting, Virginia might need a more balanced scoring effort this time around to come out on top. Malcolm Brogdon and Jontel Evans have picked up their scoring in recent games and they might need to score in double figures.
This is a dangerous game for Virginia because though Clemson is a tough team, the losses have still piled up for it and its RPI is not good as a result, meaning that the Cavs' RPI (currently 34) will take a hit if they lose to the Tigers. This is the last game on the schedule that could really have a big negative impact on Virginia's RPI if it loses. Besides Florida State and UNC, which obviously have great RPIs, Virginia faces Maryland and Virginia Tech but their RPIs are not as bad as Clemson's (hovering around 100). Also, though the Cavs' next six games are tough, I think the three toughest are home against North Carolina and FSU and at Maryland, and those happen to be the last three games. The next three are this one at Clemson, home against Maryland, and at Virginia Tech. If the Hoos could somehow find a way to eek out victories in these next three games to get to 9-4 in the ACC, that would take an enormous amount of pressure off them to win one or more of those last three games. If Virginia loses any of its next three, that just magnifies how big those last three will be.
The Cavaliers lost 70-52 at North Carolina on Saturday and are back on the road again today at Clemson. The Tar Heels outrebounded Virginia 52-32 but the Cavaliers built a seven-point lead in the first half with some strong shooting -- a 41 percent clip in the first half. Still, at the break, UVa found itself down 35-32. In the second half, North Carolina further imposed its will and scored 35 points again, but the Hoos couldn't keep up as they made just eight field goals on 30.8 percent shooting. The Tar Heels were allowed to be pretty physical down low while Virginia seemed to be called for more ticky-tack fouls, drawing the ire of Hoo fans. While it might have been closer with a better-called game, a win at UNC is always tough and would have been especially tough because the Heels were coming off a home collapse to Duke and were unlikely to drop a second consecutive game at the Dean Dome. And the reffing probably wouldn't have changed the fact that Virginia just didn't shoot well enough to knock off UNC in the second half. The game was closer throughout than the score indicated, however. UNC didn't attain a lead of more than 10 points until eight minutes were left in the game. Unlike last Saturday when Virginia made a run at FSU after getting down double digits, it didn't happen against the Heels.
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| Virginia forward Joe Harris virginiasports.com |
The quest toward getting a berth in the NCAA tournament continues tonight when the Hoos (19-5, 6-4 ACC) face Clemson (12-12, 4-6 ACC) in Littlejohn Coliseum, the first repeat ACC team on the schedule. Virginia beat Clemson 65-61 on Jan. 31 in Charlottesville. The Tigers are a deceptive team. They have an RPI of 173 per realtimerpi.com and six ACC losses, but by a combined 20 points. Also, Milton Jennings, a key cog for Clemson, was suspended just before the Virginia game for academics but is back for this game. Jennings averages 9.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game for the Tigers. Virginia outrebounded Clemson 34-19 in that first meeting. Having Jennings back and Harris hurting should help Clemson at least make the rebounding game a more balanced one. Andre Young (13.6), Tanner Smith (11.3), and Devin Booker (11) are Clemson's three leading scorers.
Virginia did a good job of holding Young down last game. He scored just seven points on 3 of 12 shooting. Booker led the Tigers with 16 points and Smith added 14 on 4 of 5 shooting from 3-point land. The Cavs were led by Mike Scott, who had one of his best games of the season with 23 points on 8 of 11 shooting while Harris added 19 and made 5 of 6 3-pointers. Akil Mitchell scored eight points but beyond that, no player scored more than five points. With Harris' hand hurting, Virginia might need a more balanced scoring effort this time around to come out on top. Malcolm Brogdon and Jontel Evans have picked up their scoring in recent games and they might need to score in double figures.
This is a dangerous game for Virginia because though Clemson is a tough team, the losses have still piled up for it and its RPI is not good as a result, meaning that the Cavs' RPI (currently 34) will take a hit if they lose to the Tigers. This is the last game on the schedule that could really have a big negative impact on Virginia's RPI if it loses. Besides Florida State and UNC, which obviously have great RPIs, Virginia faces Maryland and Virginia Tech but their RPIs are not as bad as Clemson's (hovering around 100). Also, though the Cavs' next six games are tough, I think the three toughest are home against North Carolina and FSU and at Maryland, and those happen to be the last three games. The next three are this one at Clemson, home against Maryland, and at Virginia Tech. If the Hoos could somehow find a way to eek out victories in these next three games to get to 9-4 in the ACC, that would take an enormous amount of pressure off them to win one or more of those last three games. If Virginia loses any of its next three, that just magnifies how big those last three will be.
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