Playing at home just isn't the same anymore.
After the 78-59 loss to Duke last Saturday, the Cavaliers appeared to have as meager a challenge as they could handle in eighth-place Clemson (13-11, 4-7 ACC), who had come into the game with an 0-4 road record in the conference.
Clemson reinforced the unpredictability of the ACC, grabbing the lead in the opening minutes and holding off the Cavaliers' attempted second-half comeback to secure a 73-64 victory last night.
When these two teams met in Clemson on Jan. 18, Todd Billet's 25 points and career-best seven three-pointers could not save the Cavaliers in their one-point loss, nor could guard Keith Jenifer's attempted game-winning three-pointer.
This time it was the guards of Clemson who provided the early attack for the Tigers. Both squads kept up a steady pace in the early minutes of the game, with sophomore forward Elton Brown leading the Cavalier attack. Brown scored seven of Virginia's first nine points, but the perimeter attack and offensive rebounding of Clemson guards Edward Scott and Chey Christie pushed the Tigers' 8-0 run to give them an early 15-9 lead.
The duo would combine for a total of 34 points in the first half -- two more than the entire Virginia team. For Clemson, all but one player in the lineup had at least two rebounds in the first half -- 10 of which were on the offensive glass.
"Clemson did a great job early in the game," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "They were on fire. We had trouble scoring and they hurt us on the offensive boards."
Sharp shooting was present for the Cavaliers in the name of Devin Smith. Smith was 6-of-8 from the floor in the first half, hitting on all three of his three-point shots to score 15 of the Cavaliers' 32 points.
A quick hoop by center Travis Watson and a three by Smith pulled the Cavaliers within four points with just under two minutes gone by in the second half, but that was as close as Virginia would get.
Smith continued to produce and tried to fill gaps where Virginia's offense was lacking, scoring a career-high 30 points -- the most of any Cavalier since Roger Mason, but it was not enough.
"Sometimes we were just caught watching the ball," Smith said. "They were a lot bigger team than us, and not putting a body on them and boxing them out really hurt us."
Christie cooled off in the second half for the Tigers, but Clemson still had an answer for everything that Virginia threw at them, and more often than not it was Scott. The six-foot guard not only led the Tigers with 32 points but also grabbed eight rebounds, bested only by Watson's 13.
Finally able to make a decent run, Billet found the three-point range he'd been missing all game to cut the score to 60-56 with just under four minutes to play.
Scott replied back with a three of his own, and then Smith connected from long range to cut the lead to four once again. Aside from a dunk from Jason Clark, however, the Cavaliers would not hit a field goal for the rest of the game, and Clemson ended on an 11-5 run.
This was Virginia's second consecutive home loss -- and only the team's second defeat of the season at University Hall.
With the loss, the Cavaliers fell to 5-7 in conference play and are on the outside looking in at an NCAA tournament bid. Virginia next travels to Wake Forest Sunday.
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