The Virginia basketball team battled Duke in a thumping John Paul Jones Arena on Wednesday night. The Cavaliers fell behind late in the first half and while it turned into only a 5-point halftime deficit, they spent the rest of the night trying to surge back in front. Each time a chance came, though, the Hoos couldn’t quite connect at a critical moment and the Blue Devils won 65-61. The Double Bonus returns for a closer look.

Kihei Clark Lights It Up For Virginia

Undoubtedly, the story of the first half turned out to be the scorching shooting performance for senior Kihei Clark. With a large family contingent in the building, Clark exploded for 18 points in the first half on 6-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. He ended up with a career-high 25 points and 7 assists. Referring back to the recent Miami Double Bonus article, that marked the 29th time in his career that Clark has posted double-digit points with 5+ assists.

Never, however, had Clark knocked down shots from downtown like that before. His previous career high for 3-point makes was 4, which he accomplished twice – at Louisville in 2020 and at Georgia Tech in 2021. In fact, he had made 3 3-pointers just 14 times before – Coppin State, Virginia Tech, and Oregon as a freshman, Vermont, Maine, and Syracuse as a sophomore, Virginia Tech as a junior, and Iowa, JMU, Syracuse, Louisville, Miami twice, and Georgia Tech this season. Now with eight games on the list for this season with 3+ 3-pointers, it represents how far he’s come with his outside shooting this season. It’s a far cry from a year ago when teams dared Clark to shoot sometimes.

With two games left in the regular season, Clark is shooting a career-best 37.9% from 3-point range this season ahead of 34.1% as a freshman, 37.5% as a sophomore, and 32.3% as a junior. What makes that more impressive is the volume. He took 85 3’s as a freshman, 96 as a sophomore, and 62 as a junior in the pandemic-adjusted schedule season, but he has taken 132 this season.

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