Clemson went into Tuesday night in search of another Quad-1 win, but Virginia’s outstanding backcourt defense had other ideas as the No. 12 Cavaliers handled the Tigers 64-57 in John Paul Jones Arena.
The Tigers (21-9, 13-6) entered the matchup ranked 60th in NET rankings and tied with the Cavaliers (22-6, 14-5) for third place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.
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Armaan Franklin was one of three Cavaliers to score 12 points.
P.J. Hall led all Clemson scorers with 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Hall also added a game-high nine rebounds, which was matched by Hunter Tyson and UVA's Jayden Gardner.
Both teams were flat offensively out of the gate with Clemson missing its first four shots and UVA going 0-for-8 from the floor.
The Tigers, who led for just over two minutes in the first half, went up 5-0, but would struggle from there for much of the first period while the Cavaliers mounted a 17-2 run, prompting a timeout from Clemson head coach Brad Brownell.
Hall would put Clemson back in motion coming out of the timeout, banking in a three-pointer with 9:46 to go before intermission.
With 4:41 left before the break an Ian Schieffelin layup pulled Clemson within two at 21-19. The Cavaliers would quickly stretch their advantage to six points before Tyson’s dunk capped all scoring in the period, sending Clemson into the locker room down 28-23.
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Clemson, which shot just 32-percent in the first half, began the second half again struggling to find the basket with just four points in the first 7:39 minutes. The Tigers would trim the Cavaliers’ lead to single digits with 8:44 to go after Chase Hunter’s layup.
Tyson’s three-pointer with 3:21 left cut UVA’s lead to seven points. Clemson would then draw closer on a Hunter jumper from long range with 31 seconds remaining, but down 59-55, the Tigers would not be able to gain any additional ground.
Tyson finished with 17 points on 6-of-16 shooting, including a 3-for-11 clip from long range. Brevin Galloway, who posted a game-high 28 points in the Tigers' blowout win over N.C. State in Raleigh on Saturday, was held to just three points on 1-of-7 shooting.
The Tigers shot just 41.8-percent and hit 7-of-22 baskets (31.8%) from three-point range, converting 4-of-5 (80%) from the foul line.
UVA shot just 40.7% from the field and was 5-of-19 (26.3%) from long range. The Cavaliers were 15-of-22 from the foul line. Gardner (12), Isaac McKneely (12) and Ryan Dunn (10) joined Franklin in reaching double figures in scoring.
Clemson will enter the weekend still on the outside of the NCAA Tournament picture as it hosts Notre Dame (10-19, 2-16) on Saturday, March 4 for its regular season finale. Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m. ET and the matchup will be televised by the ACC Network.
The Tigers have lost just once in Littlejohn Coliseum all season, a 4-point setback to Miami back on February 4.
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