London Perrantes scored 25 points to lead 18th-ranked Virginia to a 77-73 victory over Clemson in Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday. The loss was the fourth straight for the Tigers and dropped them to 11-6 overall and 1-4 in ACC play, while the Cavaliers improved to 13-3 overall and 3-2 in the conference.
The loss did not fall on the Tigers’ offense. Clemson shot an even 50 percent from the floor, hitting 28 of 56 shots, but it allowed Virginia to shoot 58 percent (29-50), including 60 percent (15-25) in the second half. Jaron Blossomgame led the Tigers with 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.
Avry Holmes and Gabe DeVoe each added 15 points in the contest for the Tigers, who forced Virginia into 16 turnovers and held a dominating 42-18 advantage in points in the paint despite playing for the second time in 41 hours.
“Our guys played hard. We played well. This felt like an NCAA Tournament game. All these games have,” Brownell said. “The problem is, we’re not winning them.”
Clemson did not wait on the crowd to file in late following a morning-long parade and ceremony to celebrate the school’s football national championship. The Tigers began the game on a 6-0 run, holding Virginia scoreless for the first 3:18 of the game. Avry Holmes scored all six of those points and added a three-pointer to extend the lead to six at 20-14 with 9:35 to go before the half.
Buoyed by Marial Shayok—who poured in 17 points for the Cavaliers-and Perrantes, Virginia battled back and held a five-point lead with 2:22 to play in the period. But the Tigers closed the half with a 7-2 run, including a steal and lay-in by Holmes as the horn sounded to tie the score at 36-apiece.
The Cavaliers hardly missed after the break, opening up a nine-point lead at 60-51 with 10:14 remaining. But the Tigers, who shot 52 percent after halftime, hung around for the duration.
Trailing 70-64 with under four minutes to play, the Tigers got a Donte Grantham three-pointer and a three-point play by Blossomgame to tie the game. But as he did all game long, Perrantes followed up the spurt with a three-pointer and punctuated the game with a driving finish to put Virginia up 75-70 with 41 seconds remaining.
“Perrantes, especially, is an elite player,” Brownell said. “When you play against elite players in this league, some guys are just going to be able to score. We’ve just got to be able to challenge them, make them tough. Certainly, our overall field goal percentage defense was not good today.”
The Tigers will be back in action on Thursday at nationally-ranked Louisville.
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