The Clemson men’s basketball team didn’t do enough offensively on Tuesday night, as the Tigers fell 64-57 to No. 13 Virginia in a pivotal ACC matchup at John Paul Jones Arena.
After over four minutes without a team scoring a field goal, Clemson guard Brevin Galloway made a 3-pointer to put the Tigers up 5-0 to start the game — a lead that didn’t last long.
Virginia went on to score nine unanswered and never gave the lead back to the Tigers, in large part because of the Cavaliers’ stellar defense. Ultimately, head coach Brad Brownell and his team shot 42% from the floor, 32% from beyond the arc and had 11 turnovers on the night.
Clemson (21-9, 13-6 ACC) found itself in more and more trouble as the second half got underway, trailing by as many as 14 with 12:46 on the clock. Although the Tigers cut their deficit down to four with 33.3 seconds left in the second half, they were unable to complete the comeback.
PJ Hall and Hunter Tyson were the primary scorers, putting up 19 and 17 points, respectively.
Although Hall and company scored eight more points in the paint, Virginia (22-6, 14-5 ACC) found itself at the free throw line much more often, converting 15-of-22 attempts. Clemson had just four makes on five attempts from the charity stripe.
Despite coming off a game in which they combined for 43 points, Galloway and Chase Hunter struggled to score against the Cavaliers. The backcourt duo shot a combined 4-for-17 from the field for 10 combined points.
As for the reserves, the Tigers’ bench did little to combat some of the team’s offense struggles, as it scored just seven points. Virginia’s bench, on the other hand, poured in 24 points.
With the loss, Clemson cannot win the regular season ACC title and has more pressure to win down the stretch to make the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers will play their final regular season game before the ACC Tournament on Saturday when it hosts Notre Dame.