51 points was all it took for the Virginia Cavaliers to defeat the Clemson Tigers. The Hoos improved to 15-6 (7-4) with the win, and notched their third straight victory. By no measure was it pretty, but it was a win. And it should have been expected that Virginia would be able to win having held their opponent to so few points.
In fact, Virginia is now 10-0 in games in which they’ve held their opponent to less than 50 points. So despite the moans and groans—which were not without reason—Virginia was able to win the game due to stout defense. It wasn’t easy on the eye at times (or the whole game), but in the end it was another check in the win column.
Game MVP
I’m not quite ready to hop on to the Braxton Key train just yet. Reasons for this include the fact that he seemingly can’t make an open layup/dunk, and normally cannot shoot to save his life. Nonetheless, Braxton turned in the most complete performance out of a group of admittedly dismal ones. He came out of nowhere to hit 4 out of 6 threes and score 19 points. He also added 8 rebounds and 2 assists.
Despite these wonderful statistics, there’s a different one that I deem as the most shocking; Key only missed one free throw. Normally you can count on him to miss more than his fair share of opportunities from the stripe. All (kind of) joking aside, without his surprise performance Virginia may not have defeated a struggling Clemson team in what would have been a terribly crushing defeat at home.
Offensive choices
Most of the second half was a lesson in not throwing things at a television for some UVA fans. It’s impossible to fathom what Virginia was thinking at times on the offensive end.
In an average second half possession, the following would happen; Kihei Clark would dribble down the floor and stop at the top of the three-point arc. He would then take a couple of dribbles to the side and throw the ball to a guard stationed on the outside of the line near the sideline. Said guard would look around and pass back to Kihei.
At this point, Kihei would have the ball again, minus five or six seconds on the shot clock. Kihei would turn to the other side and repeat the same process with the other guard. NowOnce Virginia’s 5′ 9″ point guard has failed to get the ball towards the rim on two occasions, the shot clock gives Virginia about 15 seconds to shoot.
A desperate Clark would throw it to one of the taller players on the team. This big guy, instead of turning and doing something with their big frame, would give the ball right back to the person who passed it to him. With less than 10 seconds, the ball is dished out to a guard for a third time. With time winding down on the shot clock, a Virginia player would throw up an off-balance long two, or perhaps a three.
Sound like a recipe for disaster? Yeah, well that’s because it is. This is not to say that the Hoos did not score points off of this setup, but it’s certainly not ideal for scoring points.
Additional thoughts
– Mamadi and Jay both played well, putting up 13 and 10, respectively. But they can be playing more than well. Those two need to be the ones taking shots—and by shots I mean layups and dunks. I’m sure I speak for nearly every Virginia fan when I say that I prefer to see a shot from a big guy in the paint than a guard outside of it.
– What happened to Kihei? The little man took just three shots, missing all of them. This comes after taking 12 and scoring 15 points against Florida State. His drives to the rim were so effective against FSU, yet were nonexistent in the Clemson game. To be fair, he dished out six assists, but could have had a bigger impact scoring himself.
Up Next
Virginia travels to #5 Louisville on Saturday. The game will tip at 4 on ESPN.