Like: Jay Huff’s defense
Jay Huff started, and gave Tony Bennett 36 minutes, and the fact that he was able to stay on the court for 36 minutes was huge.
Clemson starts a four-guard lineup around 6’8” junior Aamir Simms, who is basically a guard playing the five.
I didn’t foresee Huff getting more than 15 minutes in this one, because it was hard to imagine who he’d check on the defensive end.
Bennett started with Huff on Simms, and largely kept him there, and Huff largely kept Simms in check.
Photo Gallery: Virginia defeats Clemson. Photos by Dan Grogan.
Simms finished with 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting, but Huff made him work for everything he got.
Huff also blocked four shots, and had 10 rebounds, to go with his 10 points.
Bennett and Virginia need this Jay Huff every night.
Dislike: Tomas Woldetensae struggles
The 6’5” junior busted out for 21 in the OT win at Wake Forest a couple of weeks back. Wednesday night, Woldy was 1-of-6 from the floor, all on threes, all but one good looks.
Like: Braxton Key comes up big
Key was shooting 17.4 percent from three coming in. He was 4-of-6 from long-range Wednesday night, including a pair of big makes from three in the final 4:50.
You have to like how Key attacked the rim, even though he missed three bunnies.
And of course Key pulled down eight boards.
Dislike: The second half offense
Virginia led by 12 at the break, then proceeded to score 10 points in the first 15:10 of the second half.
The ‘Hoos missed 13 of their first 16 from the field and had four turnovers in that stretch.
Six turnovers in the final 20. A modest 10-of-15 at the line.
Gotta do better.
Like/Dislike: Kihei
Kihei Clark had 10 assists, leading to 26 UVA points.
Clark himself had one point. Was 0-of-4 from the floor, hit 1-of-3 at the line after being fouled on a three midway through the second half.
He also had four turnovers. Which is unacceptable, even with the 10 assists.
Still gotta do better.
Story by Chris Graham
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