CLEMSON -- Despite the fact that the Cavaliers held Clemson to 1-for-16 shooting to start Saturday afternoon here in Littlejohn Coliseum, No. 4 UVa was up six points going into the second half.
But a critical 9-0 run coming out of the under-16 as part of an 18-4 spurt helped the Wahoos cruise to a 63-43 victory, giving them their second 20-point ACC road win in a row.
UVa (15-0, 3-0 ACC) was led by Kyle Guy, who had 13 points—all in the first half—and De'Andre Hunter, who had 12 points and seven rebounds in the win. But it was the play of Jay Huff that ignited the Cavaliers in the second half. His 11 points and seven boards in just 10 minutes of action came precisely when Virginia needed them.
Clemson (10-6, 0-3) struggled to shoot it early as Guy carried the load for the Hoos. He scored his team's first seven points and even as UVa too wasn't able to score consistently, its defense remained stifling. Marcquise Reed, who had a game-high 14 in the loss, made a bucket 5:05 into the game. By the time the Tigers made another field goal, there was 6:42 left in the first half. But even though they had missed 15 for their first 16 shots, they only trailed 15-7 by that point.
Guy hit back-to-back 3s to give UVa a 21-9 lead with 5:13 left until the break but Clemson put together a 6-0 run and closed the half making four of its last five. Virginia, meanwhile, went the final 2:21 without scoring.
Leading 27-21 at intermission, UVa appeared in for a dog fight. Elijah Thomas scored a pair of buckets inside and Reed's and-1 made it 29-27 with 18:04 left.
And that's when the Wahoos went on the scoring spree that basically ended this one. It began with a Hunter 3-pointer, the first of two he'd hit in the second half. Reed made one of two at the line coming out of the under-16. But when the Tigers scored again three minutes later, they were down 11 thanks to seven points from Huff and a 3-pointer from Ty Jerome. Then, after Thomas scored inside, Hunter's second 3-pointer started a 9-2 run that gave UVa a 50-32 advantage with under 10 to play.
Reed scored on a drive and, after the under-8, John Newman III did as well but Clemson went from that bucket at the 7:25 mark until Skara's 3-pointer with 2:50 left without scoring. All the while, UVa scored another eight and outside of a pair of Huff dunks in the final couple minutes there was little doubt about how this one would end.
Also in the victory, both Jack Salt and Braxton Key finished with seven points and team-high eight rebounds each.
With the win, UVa extended its road winning streak to 13 games—which currently leads the nation—and its ACC road winning streak to 12.