Virginia vs. Clemson Score Updates | ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
The No. 2 seed Virginia Cavaliers (25-6) defeated the No. 3 seed Clemson Tigers (23-10) 76-56 in the semifinals of the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday night at Greensboro Coliseum.
Read a full play-by-play and live analysis for the game below. Most recent updates are at the top of the page.
Read a full recap of the game here: Gardner Drives Virginia to Convincing 76-56 Win Over Clemson in ACC Semifinals
Final Score: Clemson 56, Virginia 76
Shedrick fouls Hall and he makes both free throws. Virginia breaks the full-court press and Kadin Shedrick has his layup roll off the front of the iron, but Gardner is there to tip the ball back in. Gardner now has 21 points to lead all scorers. Hunter Tyson fouls Franklin in the back court out of frustration and Franklin makes both free throws. Clemson grabs multiple offensive rebounds and then Kadin Shedrick commits his fifth foul and exits the game to a loud ovation from the UVA fans in the building. Ian Schieffelin makes the first free throw and misses the second, but Clemson grabs two more offensive rebounds and PJ Hall throws down a dunk. Jayden Gardner knocks down a long jumper and that should just about do it. Tony Bennett calls timeout to get his starters out of the game and brings in Chase Coleman off the bench. Coleman shows off his hops for a defensive rebound and then Taine Murray drills a three-pointer from the corner, his second three of the game. Virginia defeats Clemson 76-56 and advances to face Duke in the ACC Championship Game.
Clemson 56, Virginia 76 | Final
Gardner is fouled on a box out, but he misses the front end of the one-and-one. Hall fires a bullet pass to the corner to Brevin Galloway, who knocks down the catch-and-shot three to cut the UVA lead to 15 points. Gardner sends a pass down low to Caffaro, who scores off the glass plus a foul on PJ Hall. Caffaro misses the free throw. PJ Hall is called for an offensive foul for a moving screen and then Clark finds an open Jayden Gardner at the rim with an accurate lob pass and Gardner finishes. Chase Hunter drives inside and scores with a floater plus a foul on McKneely. Hunter completes the three-point play at the line. Brevin Galloway drives and draws another foul on McKneely, his fourth personal. Galloway goes 1/2 from the line. Francisco Caffaro is called for a foul while going for an offensive rebound, sending PJ Hall to the line and he goes 1/2. Kihei Clark runs down the entire shot clock and then drains a pull-up three-pointer. Virginia leads 68-51 with less than four minutes to play.
Clemson 51, Virginia 68 | 3:56 2H
Chase Hunter runs over Kadin Shedrick as Shedrick was setting a screen and Hunter is called for a foul. Brad Brownell gives the refs a piece of his mind and is quickly assessed a technical foul. Clark goes to the line and makes both free throws, pushing the UVA lead back to 20 points. PJ Hall works on Shedrick in the paint and Shedrick fouls him on the arm in the act of attempting a hook shot. Hall makes both free throws. Clemson implements a full-court press and it works as Beekman throws the ball over McKneely's head and out of bounds. Virginia breaks the press this time and then Franklin's layup rolls off the rim, but Gardner flies in for the putback dunk. Clemson scores quickly on the other end as Chase Hunter drives down the lane for a surprisingly easy layup. PJ Hall backs down Gardner and hits a turnaround jumper in the paint. Clemson cuts the UVA lead to 16 points, but then Francisco Caffaro kicks out to Armaan Franklin, who drills the open three from the left wing, his first three of the game. Brevin Galloway finds an open Dillon Hunter, who knocks down the three from the left wing. Gardner is fouled by Tyson and he goes to the line and makes both ends of the one-and-one.
Clemson 43, Virginia 61 | 7:34 2H
Beekman drives and kicks to Kihei Clark, who knocks down the wide open three-pointer from the top of the key. Virginia gets a stop and then Beekman drives again, finishing through contact off the glass, giving the Cavaliers a 21-point lead. Kadin Shedrick steals the ball from Ben Middlebrooks and takes it the other way. Middlebrooks grabs Shedrick in transition and takes him to the ground. The refs review the play and determine that it's a flagrant 1 foul on Middlebrooks. Shedrick makes both free throws and Virginia now leads 50-27. RJ Godfrey hits a runner in the paint over Shedrick to end UVA's 7-0 run. Virginia doesn't bat an eye as Beekman drives on the baseline and sends a bounce pass to Shedrick, who soars to the rim for a thunderous two-hand dunk. Chase Hunter finds Hunter Tyson in the right corner and he drills the three-pointer. Hall's jump hook goes long, but RJ Godfrey is there for the putback off the glass.
Clemson 34, Virginia 52 | 12:01 2H
Hunter Tyson drives to basket and scores a layup, finally putting an end to Clemson's scoring drought, which lasted nearly eight minutes. Ben Middlebrooks fouls Jayden Gardner above the three-point line, taking us to the under 16 timeout.
Clemson 27, Virginia 43 | 15:59 2H
Virginia gets a stop on Clemson's first possession of the second half and then Armaan Franklin works into the paint and hits a floater. Franklin uses a brilliant hesitation move to get past his man before sending a quick pass to Gardner, who finishes with a reverse layup. Virginia gets another stop and then Jayden Gardner splashes a mid-range jumper. Virginia continues the run to start the second half and has now scored the last 14 points of the game. The Tigers haven't scored since the four-minute mark of the first half and UVA leads 43-25. Brad Brownell calls timeout.
Clemson 25, Virginia 43 | 17:12 2H
Beekman penetrates the Clemson defense and dishes to Gardner in the paint for a short floater, giving Virginia a 10-point lead. Clark finds Gardner down low and Gardner initially has his shot blocked by PJ Hall, but he regains possession and finishes off the glass. Ryan Dunn blocks Brevin Galloway's layup attempt and UVA has a chance for another shot before halftime, but Kihei Clark doesn't realize the clock was winding down and time expires before Virginia can get a shot off. Nonetheless, UVA holds Clemson scoreless for the final four minutes of the first half and closes the half on an 8-0 run, giving Virginia a 37-25 lead at halftime.
Clemson 25, Virginia 37 | Halftime
Gardner's jumper rims out, but Franklin fights off three Tigers to grab the offensive rebound and scores off the glass. UVA gets a stop and then Gardner finds a cutting Franklin, who scores again, putting Virginia back ahead by eight at 33-25. Brad Brownell calls timeout.
Clemson 25, Virginia 33 | 1:43 1H
Beekman's jumper is off the mark but Jayden Gardner is there for the putback off the glass. UVA gets a stop and then Gardner backs down his defender and hits a fallaway jumper from the baseline, giving the Cavaliers their largest lead at 26-18. Clemson works the ball down to PJ Hall who quickly elevates over Shedrick for a jump hook. Dillon Hunter fouls Gardner on a jumper and Gardner makes 1/2 free throws. PJ Hall scores over Shedrick with a hook shot, but Shedrick returns the favor on the other end, driving hard into the paint and scoring off the glass plus a foul on Hall. Shedrick misses the ensuing free throw and Virginia is just 2/6 from the free throw line tonight. Hunter Tyson gets free from the top of the key and knocks down his third three-pointer of the first half.
Clemson 25, Virginia 29 | 3:27 1H
Franklin goes 1/2 from the line and has the last five points for Virginia. Brevin Galloway uses a screen to dart past McKneely and get to the rim for a layup. Taine Murray checks into the game for UVA. Caffaro kicks out to Murray, who shows he's ready for the playing time by splashing the three-pointer from the left wing as the shot clock expired. Galloway drives inside and scores plus a foul on McKneely, the second personal foul for the true freshman. Galloway completes the three-point play at the line.
Clemson 18, Virginia 22 | 7:56 1H
Tyson misses the first free throw, but makes the second and Clemson leads 9-7. Kadin Shedrick checks into the game and makes an immediate impact, catching a lob from Clark and then patiently waiting before sending down a two-hand slam dunk. Shedrick is then called for his first personal foul. A few moments later, Schieffelin drives to the basket and draws a foul on Ryan Dunn. That's five team fouls for Virginia already. Schieffelin goes 1/2 from the free throw line. With the shot clock winding down, Kihei Clark drives baseline and scores with a crafty reverse layup. Isaac McKneely flares to the left wing off of a screen, receives the pass from Beekman, and drills the open catch-and-shoot three-pointer to give UVA a 14-10 lead. Beekman's layup attempt is blocked and RJ Godfrey saves it in bounds, but the ball goes right to Franklin under the basket for an easy layup. Hunter Tyson ends Virginia's 7-0 run and a three-minute Clemson scoring drought with a three-pointer from the left wing. Armaan Franklin gets into the lane and hits a floater.
Clemson 13, Virginia 18 | 9:33 1H
Armaan Franklin curls around a screen and sends a pass down to Francisco Caffaro, who finishes the one-hand jam plus a foul on Hunter Tyson. Caffaro misses the free throw. Brevin Galloway pulls up from the top of the key and knocks down the three-pointer to get Clemson on the board. Virginia misses a couple of threes and then Ian Schieffelin goes up strong into Caffaro and hits a tough shot off the glass. Kihei Clark answers on the other end, splashing a wide open three from the right wing off the feed from Reece Beekman. Hunter Tyson gets free off of a screen and hits a three-pointer from the right wing. Reece Beekman drives and scores off the backboard. Ryan Dunn checks in to relieve Jayden Gardner, who has an early foul. Franklin picks up a foul and Virginia subs in Isaac McKneely. Beekman turns it over as Hunter Tyson comes up with a steal and draws a foul on McKneely in transition. Virginia has committed three team fouls in the first five minutes of the game.
Clemson 8, Virginia 7 | 15:39 1H