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Clemson had lost 11 straight games to Virginia and hadn’t won in Charlottesville since 2008, but this time around the Tigers controlled the first half and pulled away with a second-half surge to notch a 67-50 road victory over the Cavaliers.
Hunter Tyson led the way for Clemson with 17 points including 3-of-5 3-point shooting. He spearheaded a 19-5 run in the second half to turn a tightening game into a convincing win for the Tigers.
David Collins added a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while PJ Hall chipped in 11 and 7 of his own. Clemson — normally bogged down when attacking the Virginia defense — posted another efficient offensive performance, shooting 47 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range with just seven turnovers.
In a surprising turn of events, Virginia was the team in this matchup that was sputtering offensively and trying to play catch-up. After a nip-and-tuck first 10 minutes, Clemson was able to distance itself with a 35-27 halftime lead.
A quick Virginia run cut the deficit to 37-35 and prompted a Clemson timeout at the 17:24 mark. After that, the Cavaliers went ice cold.
Virginia didn’t make another field goal until Armaan Franklin’s jumper with 6:31 remaining, and by then the Tigers had worked their way to a double-digit lead the hapless Cavaliers could not overcome. Virginia cut the lead to 56-44 with six minutes left, but five straight points by Tyson snuffed out any hope of a miracle comeback.
Reece Beekman scored 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting to pace Virginia, but he was a one-man show as the rest of his team shot an abysmal 8 of 31 from the field.
Clemson got an efficient performance from its bench, with Naz Bohannon and Ian Schieffelin pitching in a combined 14 points in just 20 combined minutes of playing time.
The Tigers are now 9-4 and ranked 37th in the KenPom rankings. They host Duke at 2pm next Wednesday.