The Virginia basketball team faced off against another ranked opponent on Saturday at the John Paul Jones Arena. In the end, the result fit the season's theme.
After a strong first half, UVA faded down the stretch as No. 13 Clemson won 71-58. While the final margin was somewhat close, the Tigers dominated over the final 17:34 as they outscored the hosts 44-21 in that time span. The Hoos simply were overmatched physically in those closing minutes as Clemson turned up the intensity on both ends and Virginia didn't have an answer.
That largely followed the season script for the Cavaliers (14-15, 7-11) when it comes to ranked competition. They've lost to Tennessee (22), St. John's (25), Florida (18), and Duke (18) by wide margins this season as well in these types of matchups. The lone exception where the score stayed close to the final buzzer came in a two-point loss to Memphis.
"I give Clemson a lot of credit. You're not the 13th ranked team in the country by mistake," UVA interim coach Ron Sanchez said.
Unlike some of the challenges against other ranked teams, Virginia stayed in the game into the second half this time around and even grew a double-digit lead just before Clemson turned up the heat.
The first 20 minutes, in fact, saw the Hoos take a 32-27 lead into the locker room as they shot 45.8% overall (11-24) and 50.0% from 3-point range (5-10). Isaac McKneely and Dai Dai Ames fueled most of that production with 5 3's between them as McKneely knocked down 3 of 4 in the first half and Ames made both of his attempts. The Cavaliers had 4 dunks and logged 10 assists on 11 baskets in the opening half. That all added up to 1.185 points per possession.
UVA briefly added to that success early in the second half to lead 37-27, but Clemson dialed in and dug out of the hole quickly. By the time the dust settled at the end of the half, the Hoos shot just 39.3% overall (11-28) and 33.3% from 3 (3-9) with only 4 assists on 11 baskets. They scored just 0.813 points per possession.
It just wasn't enough to get a win in the season's final regular season home game. McKneely led the Wahoos with 16 points (4-9 from 3). Ames tallied 12 points, which Andrew Rohde matched with 12 points and 5 assists. Elijah Saunders added 9 points and 6 rebounds, while Blake Buchanan had 4 points and 4 assists.
Here are some more takeaways from the Virginia loss to Clemson.
No Response To Big Surge
Initially, the first half momentum carried over for the Hoos as they moved out to a 37-27 lead with an early 5-0 edge. McKneely hit another triple and Rohde scored at the basket, which for the moment seemed to put the Tigers on possible upset alert. Just as quickly as those hopes bubbled up, though, they burst.
Clemson uncorked a 20-2 run in 6 minutes to quickly seize control. That started with Jaeden Zackery getting a layup and ended with Ian Schieffelin making a short hook near the basket. The only Virginia bucket, meanwhile, was Rohde scoring from a post-up on the left side.
During this surge, UVA didn't help itself with turnovers. A McKneely turnover led to a mismatch situation on the defensive end as Schieffelin got a rebound and scored while getting fouled. He made the free throw too. A Rohde turnover on a pass saw Del Jones get out for a fastbreak layup as well. UVA had only 10 turnovers, but those two helped get the Tigers on track.
A few minutes later, after a brief moment of resistance thanks to consecutive 3's from Rohde and Saunders, another little 9-3 run for Clemson began to break the game open. During that stretch, an and-one play from Viktor Lakhin contributed to the visitors' growing lead. As noted above, the Tigers eventually doubled up the Hoos 44-21 in the final 17:34.
"I thought we made a few crucial mistakes, back-to-back turnovers that led to and-ones - up by 10, now it's a four-point ball game," Sanchez said. "... Another turnover that, I don't recall which guard it was, pushed down the floor and got an and-one. Those are little incisions that can make a lead go away quickly."
Paint Problems
It's not surprising that Schieffelin and Lakhin both had a hand in the second half takeover. The two have combined for 24.6 points per game this season and the seniors bring a wealth of experience in the frontcourt that UVA simply can't match. Schieffelin has been a three-year starter for Clemson and was the ACC's Most Improved Player last season, while Lakhin redshirted and then started regularly at Cincinnati for two years before joining the Tigers for his final season.
In addition to being veterans, both players bring a lot of size to the table too. Schieffelin checks in at 6'8" and 240 pounds with some solid footwork around the paint. Lakhin tops that at 6'11" and 245 pounds with more of a bruiser style. Virginia, on the other hand, has freshman Jacob Cofie (6'10", 232), redshirt freshman Anthony Robinson (6'10", 250), and sophomore Blake Buchanan (6'11", 227) as its tallest options this season, though Saunders (6'8", 240) does give power forward minutes as a junior too.
Those types of matchups give UVA problems. This week, that's shown up in a big way. Wake Forest got 12 points and 10 rebounds from Efton Reid III (7'0", 250) on Wednesday night even though the Hoos won. Then Schieffelin posted a monster 21 points and 13 rebounds alongside 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists from Lakhin on Saturday. Throw in the driving ability of guards like Hunter Sallis and Cameron Hildreth, who combined for 47 points for the Demon Deacons, or Zackery, Chase Hunter, Dillon Hunter, and Jones, who posted 33 points together for the Tigers, and you've got a paint problem.
Wake and Clemson rolled up 52 and 48 points in the paint, respectively.
"It's inexperience," Sanchez said. "We don't have older guys in there trying to get the job done. Ian Sheflin has been doing this four years in this league. It's not a first year guy that's going in here and stop him from doing that. He's done that against some of the best bigs in this conference. As far as us, we've just got to continue to improve and continue to teach to get better in that area. We've got to get more of a defensive presence, absolutely, from our big guys on the inside."
Not Many Clean Looks
While the Tigers began to get easier and easier buckets the longer the game progressed, the Cavaliers saw their openings get smaller and smaller.
After Virginia cut the deficit to 47-45 with a pair of 3's, it managed just 13 more points in the final 10:38. From the 10:38 mark to the 2:00 mark, the hosts made just 2 of 10 shots and 1 of 2 free throws with 1 turnover. During that time, the Tigers grew their advantage to 64-50 and all but sealed the game. The hosts got a few late baskets as Clemson did not need to force the issue defensively, but the group had completely shut down the UVA offense in the most critical stretch of the game.
"They are really good defensively, they made it hard, they put pressure on the ball ... we didn't score in the paint, we didn't get anything really production in there from post play," Sanchez said.
Those minutes saw Clemson's perimeter defenders envelope McKneely, Ames, and Rohde. McKneely faced tight, physical coverage throughout the game but it ticked up another notch late. The Hoos were forced to drive against physical defenders and then try to finish contested shots more often than not. McKneely and Ames had to try to get reverse layups under pressure, while Rohde had to go for floaters or fakes into pivot shots.
In other words, the Tigers made it hard.
"They turned up the pressure a little bit," McKneely said. "They're a super physical team, they were getting up in us, pushing us off our cuts, and just really got physical with us and kind of took it to us and went on a little run there. But we can't have those lapses where we don't score for three or four minutes, that's what happens. They go on a little run and the game flips just like that."
Seniors' Final Game
Saturday's game at the John Paul Jones Arena also served as Senior Day for Taine Murray and Bryce Walker, a walk-on for the Hoos that has been in the program for four years. Walker subbed in with 15 seconds to go and capped off the day with a driving layup. Murray got the start and played 24 minutes. He did not score and finished 0-4 shooting. He did have 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
The day goes beyond those stats, though, as teammates and coaches appreciate Murray for sticking it out at Virginia and becoming part of the rotation as a senior.
"I can't articulate my appreciation for the person that Taine Murray is," Sanchez said. "He's literally just an every day guy - you never get a different person. When Taine walks into the building, he's the same exact person every day whether he's played 20 minutes, scored 20 points, didn't play, didn't score any points. It's an amazing characteristic that he has as an individual. Taine's going to have a tremendous future regardless of what he decides to do in life because he's an amazing person."
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