No. 18 Virginia Knocks Off No. 12 Clemson

CLEMSON, S.C. – No. 18 Virginia (9-2, 5-0 ACC) hit a season-high 15 three-pointers to propel it to an 85-50 win over No. 12 Clemson (9-2, 3-2 ACC) on Saturday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Tomas Woldetensae (Bologna, Italy) and Sam Hauser (Stevens Point, Wis.) each hit four three-pointers in the contest. Woldetensae had a season-high 14 points, going 4-for-6 beyond the arc. Hauser also had 14 points with a team-high eight rebounds. Trey Murphy III (Durham, N.C.) was 5-for-5 from the floor and 3-for-3 from three to finish with 13 points. Kihei Clark (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and Jay Huff (Durham, N.C.) each had 12 points and five assists.

Virginia shot 60.7 percent for the game and 55.6 percent from three-point range. The Cavaliers held Clemson to just 40.4 percent shooting and 21.7 percent from three. UVA outrebounded the Tigers 33-21 and had 22 assists in the game. PJ Hall led Clemson with eight points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Hauser hit a three to begin the game, then Virginia extended its lead to 18-2 with Clemson going scoreless for the next 10:35. The Cavaliers had a 15-0 run during that span. Huff had five of those points and Woldetensae hit back-to-back threes to close out the run. UVA also had a 9-0 run and held Clemson to 29 percent shooting in the first half.

Virginia had a 10-0 run early in the second half, sparked by threes from Hauser and Huff. Murphy III hit back-to-back three-pointers and Hauser had three in the second half. UVA led 76-37 after a 9-0 run that was capped by a steal and a dunk from Reece Beekman (Baton Rouge, La.).

THE GAME BALL GOES TO

Tomas Woldetensae hit four three-pointers in the game, including three in the first half. Woldetensae finished with a season-high 14 points and added five rebounds.

FROM TONY BENNETT

On importance of first few minutes of the second half:

“We gave up some easy baskets at the end of the first half and I don’t think we’ve played 40 minutes of real good defense, or a complete two halves majority of good defense. And you’re right, I was interested. We’re up 16 and yeah that’s obviously a big lead but certainly not insurmountable in today’s game. Then they get an easy backdoor, we had a breakdown. I think we came down and hit a three. But then I thought our defense tightened up and we did answer the bell in terms of that because they’re a good defensive team and they’re physical. Now, they were off for, I don’t know if it’s four days, five days and they looked rusty you could see that when they did get some open shots but for the most part, we kept them in front of us and used our length. When you combine the defense, with that kind of shooting and then it came together nicely. We didn’t take our foot off the gas and we were, for the most part sound and made Clemson firms their baskets.

NOTES

• UVA scored 80 or more points in back-to-back ACC games for the first time since the 2006-2007 season (103-91 win over Maryland and 88-76 win over Wake Forest)
• UVA started the game on an 18-2 run, limiting the Tigers to two points in the first 11:11
• Clemson started the game 1 of 14, including 0 of 9 from 3-point range
• UVA made 15 3-pointers, including nine straight in the second half
• Woldetensae had season highs in points (14) and 3-pointers (4)
• Hauser had a season-high four 3-pointers
• Huff had a career-high five assists
• Beekman had career highs in assists (6) and rebounds (5)

UP NEXT

Virginia returns home on Wednesday, Jan. 20 to host NC State in the first of three-straight home games. The game is set to tip at 7 p.m. on ACC Network.