Still some work to do on D
Clemson shot 45.3 percent from the field and scored 1.016 points per possession Tuesday.
The key for the Tigers was how they consistently exploited Virginia power forward Anthony Gill with Jaron Blossomgame.
Blossomgame, a 6’7” junior, is used as a stretch four by Clemson coach Brad Brownell, and he took Gill to the perimeter early and often.
Blossomgame was 4-of-6 from three-point range and scored 23 points on the night.
The only thing that seemed to slow him down was when Gill went to the bench in foul trouble in the second half, and UVA coach Tony Bennett put Isaiah Wilkins on him.
Brownell put Blossomgame into the post on Wilkins, who held his own on defense for a long stretch that saw Virginia turn a close game into a 13-point working margin.
Gill was reinserted into the lineup with 7:26 to go and Virginia up 52-41. Blossomgame hit a three 19 seconds later to start a Tigers rally that got them back into it.
Good night for Virginia offense
Virginia shot 54.3 percent from the field, and to put that into perspective, that was in spite of off-nights for two of the Cavs’ Big Three.
Gill and London Perrantes were a combined 6-of-15 from the floor. The rest of the team was 19-of-31 (61.2 percent).
Perrantes was particularly inept – going 2-for-6 from the field and 2-for-7 from the line.
Going into the game, Perrantes had been 32-for-37 for the season from the foul line.
Odd stat line for LP: he had a team-best six rebounds.
He also had four assists and no turnovers, so credit to him for having a clean night in that respect.
Gill had a couple of chippies rim out, bad luck there, and did go 4-for-5 at the line.
AG only played 23 minutes because of foul trouble.
Brogdon had a nice bouceback game after going 4-for-17 from the floor in the loss at Florida State Sunday night.
Brogs was 7-of-11 from the floor, 2-of-2 from three and 4-of-4 at the line in scoring a team-high 20.
He also had four assists.
Virginia scored 1.131 points per possession for the game.
MVP: Devon Hall
Devon Hall looked great in his second career start – scoring 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor, 2-of-3 from three, 3-of-4 at the line, with four rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes.
Hall’s +13 rating was the tops on the night.
– Story by Chris Graham
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