Mustapha Farrakhan and the Hoos locked down on defense.

After Virginia’s defensive debacle at Wake Forest last Saturday, I walked into the John Paul Jones Arena on Wednesday curious how – or if – the Hoos’ defense would respond against Clemson. After all, the Cavaliers haven’t been a picture of consistency on that end of the floor this season, something that isn’t too surprising considering the youth on the team, the injuries, and so forth. What happened against the Tigers, however, was a defensive gem.

The Cavaliers held Clemson to 33.3% shooting for the game, including a dismal 27.3% shooting in the first half. The Tigers made just 3 of 18 3-pointers, a meager 16.7% effort from downtown. Those numbers are even more impressive when you consider that Virginia ranks in the ACC’s bottom three teams in field goal percentage defense and 3-point field goal percentage defense, numbers that improved after the showing against Clemson.

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