While the Virginia men’s basketball team has struggled on the road of late, its play at home continues to be strong. The Cavaliers knocked off Clemson on Tuesday night, 69-62, in their latest contest at the John Paul Jones Arena. UVA owns a 29-1 record in its last 30 ACC home games over the past four seasons.
To get the latest victory in that string, the Hoos (14-4, 3-3 ACC) built a 13-point in the second half and then held off a pair of late surges from the Tigers (12-7, 5-2 ACC).
“It felt like [we got back on track] a little bit,” Cavalier guard London Perrantes said. “Clemson made some tough shots and played extremely well. We definitely wanted to buckle down on defense and get some stops like we usually do and I felt like we did that today. They had been playing well coming in, but we kept our lead. Our defense made some key stops and we made some key buckets towards the end.”
The Virginia defense still struggled to string together stops consistently as Clemson shot 45.3% and committed only seven turnovers, the fewest by an opponent this season. When the Hoos needed some critical stops in the final 3:30, however, they did deliver enough times to prevail.
The first opportunity for a critical defensive stop came after UVA saw a 13-point lead at 52-39 dwindle to 55-53 on an Avry Holmes layup with 3:39 to go. After Anthony Gill scored on an offensive rebound to double the lead to four points, Virginia came up with a key stop on the defensive end. The Cavaliers challenged a 3-point shot and Malcolm Brogdon secured the rebound. In this case, the defense led to offense as he fired a pass ahead to Gill for a transition dunk.
That six-point lead needed preservation too, though. The Tigers climbed to within 62-59 on three free throws from Jaron Blossomgame and they backed that up with a defensive stop that gave them a possession with a chance to tie it in the final minute. The Cavaliers, however, crowded an on-ball screen look on the sideline and Jordan Roper lost the ball. That turnover and an Isaiah Wilkins dunk with 16 seconds to go made sure the Wahoos got the W.
Blossomgame finished with 23 points and Landry Nnoko added 15, but UVA slowed down other options. The hosts also got a better outing on 3-point defense as Clemson made just 8 of 24 (33%) from long range.
“It’s a fine line and I say it all of the time, I like this side of the line better than the other side, but it comes down to a few key stops and you have to get those,” Cavalier coach Tony Bennett said. “The fact that we were able to get a few of those was important for us. We will certainly keep working at that. You can see why Blossomgame was the reigning player of the week in the ACC and he is so talented and why they have won some games. I think we responded well and have tightened up defensively. We’ll take it.”
A few key stops played a role down the stretch, but one of the biggest storylines came on the other side of the ball. Virginia put together a balanced and efficient attack on offense to help take down the Tigers. Four different players reached double figures in scoring in the win.
Not surprisingly, Malcolm Brogdon and Anthony Gill led the charge. Brogdon made 7 of 11 shots and both of his 3-point attempts en route to 20 points. Gill, meanwhile, added 12 points and 5 rebounds. That duo came through with 9 points in the final 6 minutes of crunch time basketball too. Brogdon climbed to No. 21 on the UVA all-time scoring list during the game as he passed Lee Raker and Jim Connelly. With one more point, he’ll be in the top 20 for the program.
Beyond the expected performances of those two seniors, Virginia also got significant production from Devon Hall and Isaiah Wilkins. Starting his second straight game, Hall scored 11 points, made a pair of 3-pointers, and added 4 rebounds and 2 assists too. Wilkins chipped in a career-high 10 points and 2 assists as well.
Add in 6 points each from London Perrantes and Mike Tobey, who had a big performance on both ends of the floor with 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocked shots as well, and it looks like the Cavaliers found better footing on offense. They shot 54.3% for the game and committed just 9 turnovers.
“I think everyone had the same mindset tonight, which was great for us,” Gill said. “Everyone was trying to take steps in the right direction so we can be efficient later on in the season and in the next game.”
“It felt like we were playing as a team again – we were really gelling,” Wilkins said. “They hit a lot of tough shots and have some really good players, but in my opinion we just had this vibe that we were going to get it done today and it paid off.”
