UVa returns favor, defeats Clemson by 10 at Littlejohn Coliseum

on

Virginia 75, Clemson 65

Jayden Gardner scored 23 points, and Virginia went 21 for 24 at the free throw line as it recorded a 27-point swing from its home loss to Clemson less than two weeks ago by defeating the Tigers at Littlejohn Coliseum on Tuesday night.

UVa (9-5, 3-1 ACC) scored just 50 points and lost to Clemson (9-5, 1-2) by 17 at John Paul Jones Arena on Dec. 22 leading into the Christmas break. Now Virginia has won two consecutive ACC road games by scoring 74 and 75 points, respectively.

“I told them before the game, ‘I know [Clemson is] good, and I know it’s a challenge, but you gotta love this challenge. I think we’re closer to where we need to be this time playing them than last time. We have the blueprint. Now, let’s go out there and let’s just see,'” coach Tony Bennett said.


Francisco Caffaro battles for possession of the ball with Hunter Tyson on Tuesday. Caffaro's 8 points included a rim-rocking dunk over Alex Hemenway in the second half.

Gardner went 7 for 11 from the field and 9 for 10 at the free throw line. He was especially deadly in the first half, when he made 6 of his 7 shots, including four 2-point jumpers. The East Carolina transfer added five rebounds and two assists.

“I’m a big, strong kid, so I’ve got to be able to use my upper body to maneuver and get to the line,” Gardner said. “My jump shot was falling tonight, so I’m able to keep the opposing teams at bay. So I just have to mix it up and pick my spots [as far as] when I can drive and be aggressive and when to just pull up.”

Armaan Franklin scored 13 points as the Cavaliers’ only other player in double figures, but they had a remarkably balanced attack, with every starter scoring at least 8 points, and Francisco Caffaro and Kody Stattmann contributed 8 and 5 points, respectively.

“Everybody who played gave us lifts, and we needed that,” Bennett said.

Franklin went 4 for 11 from the field and 1 for 6 from beyond the arc but 4 for 4 at the line. He also contributed four rebounds, three steals, and a block.
Kihei Clark recorded 8 points, four rebounds, and two assists, with just one turnover. He knocked down two 3-pointers, both of which came at important times. His first came during a back-and-forth start to the second half and gave Virginia a 49-48 lead and responded to a Clemson 3 by Hunter Tyson. It was Virginia’s first triple since Franklin’s at the 6:15 mark of the first half. Clark’s second trey came right as UVa began to pull away at the end of the game. He was fading to his left on the left elbow extended with Al-Amir Dawes trying to recover and defend. It reminded me of a Kyle Guy-type 3 and showcased the quicker release Clark has been exhibiting this season. After it went through, UVa held a 67-59 lead with four minutes remaining.

“No matter what the box score says, Kihei Clark is our most valuable player,” Gardner said.

Clark is shooting 42.1% from beyond the arc this year.

Virginia only made four 3s, but it also only took 14, continually working the ball inside for better shots inside the arc and down low.

Kody Stattmann made the other 3 as part of his 5 points, with it coming right after Clark’s first to extend UVa’s margin to 52-48. Stattmann shot three 3s, as he seemed to be feeling it a little bit. Playing with confidence for the second straight game, Stattmann also recorded two rebounds and two assists.

Reece Beekman had another really good all-around game for the ‘Hoos, scoring 8 points on 4-for-6 shooting, five assists, four rebounds, and a steal for a breakaway dunk in the first half. He had just one turnover. The unassuming Beekman quietly leads the ACC in both steals per game (2.07) and assist-turnover ratio (3.65). Virginia only had eight turnovers, and only one came in the second half. In the loss to Clemson on Dec. 22, the Cavaliers committed 14 turnovers.

Kadin Shedrick scored 8 points, all in the second half. His first basket was an emphatic putback flush of a missed Stattmann 3 that put Virginia up 46-45 with 13:12 left. It preceded the 3s by Tyson, Clark, and Stattmann. Shedrick also recorded six rebounds and four blocks, with one in particular sticking out when he sent David Collins’ shot into orbit with under four minutes remaining.

Francisco Caffaro had a solid game, matching his season high with 8 points (Lehigh, Nov. 26) while also adding two rebounds. Caffaro was a beneficiary of Virginia actively looking to shoot fewer 3s, as he got the ball down low and made a pair of nice, patient moves to put the ball in the basket. And we can’t talk about Caffaro’s performance without mentioning him putting Alex Hemenway on his personal poster with a huge dunk and even a short stare down afterward. The dunk came on a nice pass from Gardner and made it 56-54 with nine minutes left.

“He can dunk the ball easy, but he never really does it,” Stattmann said, “so when you see him throw down a big dunk like that, it’s great to see.”

“I watched it on film [in the locker room],” Caffaro said. “That one looked like [my best dunk].”
Taine Murray also added two free throws in the first half.

Virginia built a 7-point cushion in the first half with a 10-0 run before Clemson surged to a 1-point lead by halftime. The second 20 minutes was close until about the five-minute mark. The ‘Hoos finished the last 5:11 on a 15-6 run.

UVa’s defense wasn’t a ton better than it was in the loss to Clemson, but it did pick it up down the stretch. The Tigers were held without a field goal from the 8:08 to 1:18 marks of the second half, when UVa put the game away. Virginia limited Clemson to 28 second-half points after it had averaged 34.67 in the three other halves against the ‘Hoos.

Another improvement came in the rebounding department, both since the first Clemson game and the Syracuse contest. Virginia outrebounded the Tigers 28-23. On Dec. 22, Clemson won that battle 35-26. And after giving up 18 offensive rebounds to Syracuse, Clemson had just six.

“Going over film from the first game, we just tried to reevaluate everything that we didn’t do as well as we could,” Gardner said. “We attacked those areas in practice, and we came out here and executed, and we got the W, so that was a big win for us.”

Virginia appears to be truly improving now. It just beat two different teams, both on the road. The Cavaliers ripped up Syracuse’s zone and then showed how far they have come in just a couple weeks against Clemson, which plays a normally solid man-to-man defense. Defeating two different defenses indicates this offense might really be building something. Scoring at least 74 points in back-to-back ACC games is not something UVa accomplishes often. It did it once last year but actually did not achieve that feat in the national championship season.

UVa continues its road trip Saturday with a big matchup at North Carolina. The ‘Hoos are riding a seven-game winning streak against the Tar Heels.

“Rolling off the Syracuse win, this team is starting to get some momentum heading into Chapel Hill this Saturday,” Gardner said. “We’re starting to get back on track [with] the things that we do well, and we’re addressing them. It’s a long season, so we’re going to be playing our best basketball come March. That’s all that matters.”

The ACC has been put on notice. Things were looking bleak, but now they are looking up. The extra work these guys put in the over the holiday break seems to really be paying off. Watching Bennett improve each team year after year never gets old.

“To get the results and be a little more like a physical, sturdy Virginia team [was gratifying],” Bennett said. “Offensively, of course, it helps when you’re making shots. Defensively, we had some lapses, but you just keep knocking on that one. So I think it was closer to how we have to play to be good, and to have that result after they kind of took it to us at our place was exciting.”

Comments

Post a Comment