Clemson Basketball: How the Tigers beat Virginia in the ACC Tourney
The Clemson basketball team will take on the Virginia Cavaliers tonight in the ACC Tournament semifinals. Here’s how the Tigers advance.
The Clemson basketball team tips off against Virginia tonight at 7 p.m. in the ACC Tournament semifinals.
The Tigers beat Boston College yesterday to advance and now look to make it to the ACC Tournament title game, something that hasn’t been done since the Oliver Purnell-era of Clemson basketball.
The test in front of them, however, is fierce.
Virginia finished the regular season with just one conference loss and sits squarely as the No. 1 team in the nation.
The only time these two teams played in the regular season, UVA absolutely blew out Clemson.
With that being said, here’s how the Tigers beat the Cavaliers tonight in Brooklyn.
Survive and advance mode…
The first thing anyone notices about this Virginia team is that they play lockdown defense. They are very efficient on the offensive end, but it all starts with solid defensive play.
For Clemson basketball to have a chance, the Tigers need to shoot well from three-point territory.
That means that guys like Gabe DeVoe, Marcquise Reed, Shelton Mitchell, and others need to get going.
Clemson needs more from Marcquise Reed.
Reed had just 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field yesterday against Boston College. THe Tigers need him to step up and score in the 20s tonight.
Clemson has played really good defense so far and that will need to continue.
Another key will be keeping Elijah Thomas out of foul trouble. If he can stay on the floor, I think you have a chance.
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Bottom Line:
It really comes down to three things tonight for Clemson basketball:
- Shoot lights out from 3-point range
- Get Marcquise Reed going
- Stay out of foul trouble, power through the no-calls.
We all know that the Cavaliers will get the benefit of the calls tonight. The key will be continuing to power through it and being efficient.