Virginia earned its second straight conference win last night, beating Clemson 61-50 at University Hall. The game lacked the drama of last week's overtime win over Florida State, but the Cavaliers again recovered from poor first-half shooting to end the game shooting 44.7 percent from the floor.
"It wasn't picturesque, but any win in the ACC is a valuable win," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said.
Virginia (12-4, 2-3 ACC) kept Clemson (8-8, 1-4) from earning its first road win of the season with a second-half run sparked by a Devin Smith three-pointer with 5:19 left in the game. The junior forward's bucket put Virginia up 46-43, and the Cavaliers never lost the lead. With junior Jason Clark fouling out with 3:39 to play and Smith picking up his fifth foul with 1:33 left on the clock, Virginia's freshmen took over the end of the contest.
Donte Minter scored 10 second-half points, and J.R. Reynolds nailed a three from beyond NBA range with 3:07 left in the contest. Freshman Gary Forbes emphatically sealed the game with a dunk to put Virginia up by 10 with under a minute to play.
"The story of this game was the freshmen stepping up and making big plays," Gillen said.
Reynolds led the Cavaliers with 11 points, his career high. Smith and Minter added 10 points apiece, and guard Todd Billet contributed nine.
"We're all basketball players when we step onto the court, whether you're a freshman or not," Reynolds said.
The Cavalier defense was aided by a poor shooting night for the Tigers, who managed just 25 percent of their field goals in the first half and 2-18 on three pointers over the course of the game. Virginia also forced 23 Clemson turnovers, including nine by freshman point guard Vernon Hamilton.
"Our inability to take care of the basketball put too much pressure on our defense," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said.
An area where the Tigers soundly defeated the Cavaliers was offensive rebounding. Clemson converted 20 offensive boards into 18 second-chance points compared to just six for Virginia.
"We're going to have to do better," Gillen said. "That's horrible to give up that many shots. They're a great rebounding team, but you can't give somebody 20 [second-chance] shots and expect to win."
Gillen altered his starting lineup for the second straight game, again giving Minter and Clark the nod in place of junior Elton Brown and Smith, but Gillen also inserted Reynolds into the starting lineup last night, noting at the end of the game that many of his players were both emotionally and physically exhausted from last Sunday's win over Florida State.
Virginia will have four days to recover from their second ACC win before they travel to Chapel Hill to face the No. 7 Tarheels.
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