Jason Clark's short-shaven mug timidly peeked over an usher in the player's tunnel at University Hall Saturday night. Maybe he didn't want to distract his former teammates, or maybe he just didn't want to be seen by anyone at all.
One thing was certain: The tunnel was as close to the action as Clark would get. The ex-tri-captain was dismissed from the team Wednesday for academic reasons.
While Clark played peek-a-boo, the Cavaliers barely managed to flush out their first conference victory, an 81-79 luck shot over Clemson. It was just their second win in seven tries in the new year.
Despite the win for Virginia, Clark's replacements, sophomores Jason Cain -- who started versus the Tigers -- and Donte Minter, didn't exactly put a hurting on Clemson center Sharrod Ford or forwards Olu Babalola and Cheyenne Moore.
Cain and Minter each tallied four points, but the pair juiced out just one rebound in 28 minutes combined playing time, while Clemson's big three collected 50 points and 16 boards.
Clark was averaging only about seven points per game, but he was a physical hawk on the defensive end, where he put up 5.2 rebounds a game and had already recorded a team-leading 17 blocked shots before his departure.
Senior co-captain Devin Smith talked about Cain and Minter after the win Saturday.
"It's just like when [Clark] got injured," Smith said. "They're coming in, and they haven't played a whole lot. We're just staying positive with them and trying to give them confidence and let them know that we have confidence in them. They have a lot of abilities that can help us in a lot of different ways. They can come out and do those things for us."
Besides not playing much, Minter has also endured a slew of injuries this season
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