It has been a bad year for No. 13 Clemson to have its best Atlantic Coast Conference season.
With three regular-season games left, including a Saturday test at Virginia, Clemson already has collected more conference wins than any other season in its 72-year ACC history.
Just one problem. Clemson (23-5, 15-2 ACC) still trails No. 2 Duke (25-3, 16-1) in the conference standings. While the Tigers handed the Blue Devils a 77-71 defeat on Feb. 8, the game remains the only blemish on Duke’s conference record.
In a down year for the ACC, the Tigers have not gotten any help in their pursuit of the Blue Devils.
“We’re not really talking about those things,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “We just keep talking about if we play well and handle business and do things the right way, then we’ll keep having important games. I think an older group like we have, that has resonated with them.”
Brownell was speaking Wednesday night after Clemson rolled to its fifth straight victory, 83-68 over visiting Notre Dame. Of the Tigers’ 15 conference wins, 13 have come by double-digit margins.
Most of the victories have been surgical and stress-free for the business-like team with a veteran starting lineup.
Against the Fighting Irish, the Tigers led for all but 70 seconds and posted 23 assists and just four turnovers for the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio in program history. Viktor Lakhin and brothers Chase Hunter and Dillon Hunter each contributed five assists with no turnovers.
Clemson also dominated inside against Notre Dame as 6-foot-8 Ian Schieffelin made 9 of 11 shots and scored a career-high 24 points with nine rebounds. Meanwhile, the 6-11 Lakhin hit 8 of 17 shots for 18 points.
Clemson takes a six-game road winning streak to Virginia, which has been on an uptick of its own. The Cavaliers (14-14, 7-10) have won four of their past six, including an 83-75 road upset of Wake Forest on Wednesday.
The Cavaliers’ surge has been sparked by their backcourt. Isaac McKneely canned 10 of 14 shots for 27 points against the Demon Deacons.
“They cut the lead down and we drew a couple of actions for him and he delivered to give us some separation,” Virginia interim coach Ron Sanchez said. “To be able to do that as a marked man on the scouting report, it’s really impressive.”
In the past five games, McKneely is averaging 20 points and shooting at a 20-for-44 clip (45.5 percent) from 3-point range.
Andrew Rohde also has been hot from outside, hitting 18 of his past 38 3-point attempts (47.4 percent). The junior also has delivered 54 assists and just 11 turnovers in his past nine games.
Additionally, Dai Dai Ames has had a metamorphosis for Virginia. After failing to score in double digits in any of his 13 games in December or January, Ames did so in every game in February while averaging 15.4 points on 59.5 percent shooting.
This is the teams’ first meeting since Tony Bennett stepped down as Virginia’s coach. The Cavaliers won 15 of their last 16 games against Clemson with Bennett at the helm. Virginia leads the series 83-53.
