Now that the Cavalier men's basketball team has claimed sole possession of fourth place in the Conference with Saturday's 88-82 victory over N.C. State, the team faces the Clemson Tigers, the ACC cellar-dwellers, tonight at University Hall at 8 p.m.
Virginia (16-8, 6-5 ACC) cannot afford to be over-confident against the Tigers, though. When these two teams met Jan. 15 in Clemson, the Cavs built a 22-point lead early in the second half, but couldn't cage the Tigers (9-15, 3-8), who fought back and cut the lead to four with 50 seconds left. Point guard Donald Hand gave the Cavaliers the win by shooting 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the final minute.
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In that meeting, the Tigers were led by sophomore guard Will Solomon, who poured in a career-high 43 points - the most points by a Tiger in 30 years. Solomon, who leads the ACC with 21.6 points-per-game, played in the first meeting without starting point guard Edward Scott and reserve guard Dustin Braddick.
The absence of Scott and Braddick also showed in Clemson's 25 turnovers, 17 more than the Cavaliers committed. But both Tiger guards will be back for the game tonight.
The Cavs will depend on their defense to create opportunities on offense.
Against N.C. State, second-year swingman Adam Hall had a high-flying block of a Justin Gainey fast-break layup attempt with just over two minutes left that electrified the crowd. Hall, who had 11 points and three steals against the 'Pack, said that both his defense and his ability to entertain the crowd are important components of getting the victory.
"It's just part of my job," Hall said. "I'm just going to do whatever it takes to get the crowd going and to get the team going so that we can pull out a win."
In the first half of the game, the Wolfpack threatened to blow out the Cavaliers. They held Virginia's leading scorer, Donald Hand, to zero points and would have put their lead beyond reach if not for the stellar play of first-year big man Travis Watson and sharp-shooting transfer Keith Friel. Watson scored eight of the first 12 Cav points and Friel had eight points in a 1:40 stretch in the first half, setting up a second-half explosion sparked by Hand.
Watson scored a career-high 20 points against N.C. State and grabbed 12 boards. Despite his youth, he said he understands that in the intensely competitive ACC, every win counts. As the NCAA Selection Committee starts penciling in Dance partners, these season-ending games are of utmost importance.
"Right now we're trying to win as many games as we can," Watson said. "These last five games are very important and we want to come out with most of them before the end of the regular season."
But Virginia Coach Pete Gillen refuses to let his young players look too far ahead.
"We're not looking ahead at NCAAs right now," Gillen said. "A lot of the players don't know what that's like since they've never been there, so our focus will be on individual games and finishing out the season"
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