By Will Vandervort.

Clemson head coach Brad Brownell says there is a simple reason why it seems like his team has been playing with more effort in the last two games. His players are making a few more shots and are playing with a lot of confidence.

In the Tigers’ first ACC victory of the season they connected on 47.1 percent of their shots in a 71-62 victory at Pittsburgh this past Saturday. That followed a loss at Louisville in which they had the then No.5 Cardinals up against the ropes late in the second half.

“I think when you don’t play well on offense, it is easy to get demoralized. It is just as simple as that,” Brownell said Monday. “Every time you watch a kid make a shot, they have a bounce in their step when they go back down the court. Obviously, all the gestures from the guys on the bench and all the gestures from the guys doing all their stuff that is in vogue and has been in vogue for a while, it gives your guys energy.

“When you are not playing well offensively, you never get that jolt of energy. You can be playing your tail off on defense for a while, but when you never get rewarded with a basket it is hard to sustain it and I think it is as simple as that sometimes.”

That jolt of energy has now given the Tigers confidence that they can win basketball games as long as they play and execute the way they are supposed to. That includes Tuesday’s 8 p.m. tip in Charlottesville, Va., against No. 2 Virginia.

The Cavaliers are a perfect 15-0 and 3-0 in the ACC.

“Our confidence is extremely high right now,” said forward Jaron Blossomgame, who scored 18 points and had six rebounds against Pittsburgh. “The team feels like we have played really well the past two games. Up at Louisville, we played well enough to win the game, but unfortunately we lost. But we do have the momentum moving in the right direction.

“We beat Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh which is a very tough place to win so our confidence is high right now and it will be a good opportunity for us tomorrow at Virginia.”

Pittsburgh was 228-27 the previous 12 years at the Petersen Center prior to Saturday’s loss to the Tigers. Clemson will now try to get a second straight historic road victory over the Cavaliers who are 7-0 at home this season and is 41-17 vs. Clemson in Charlottesville.

The last time Clemson played at Virginia’s Paul Jones Arena, Virginia beat the Tigers (9-6, 1-2 ACC) by 37 points in Charlottesville – the worst defeat ever by a Brad Brownell coached team. Clemson was just 5 of 25 from the field in the first half that night.

The Tigers know they cannot afford to think about that performance or that the Cavaliers are undefeated or anything like that. It’s just about playing the best they can and hoping that is enough to put themselves in position to win, much like it did at Louisville and at Pittsburgh.

“A lot of people are losing right now. A lot of top 10 teams have lost,” Blossomgame said. “Wisconsin lost last night and Duke lost yesterday so being top 25 or whatever really does not matter. None of that matters. You just have to come ready to play every night.”