Deep 3 with T.O.: Terrence Oglesby previews Clemson's game at Virginia

by TigerNet Staff - Wed Feb 05 11:23:47 GMT-04:00 2020

Clemson travels to Charlottesville Wednesday to take on Virginia and the defensive-minded Tony Bennett. Terrence Oglesby delivers his keys to beating the Cavaliers.

*Make no mistake about it, John Paul Jones is a difficult place to play. Brad Brownell and company will take their show on the road to play the No. 1 defensive team in the country according to Kenpom. The Cavaliers are big, physical and consistent in their pack-line defensive approach. The Tigers are going to have to play exceptionally well to get a win on Wednesday evening.

LINE ‘EM UP, KNOCK ‘EM DOWN

Virginia is superior at protecting the paint and making sure that no shots go uncontested. Defensively, the Cavaliers don’t vary up their coverages much, if at all. This means that you are going to know where your shots are going to come from. There are going to be times in the game where the Tigers are going to get open shots if the players are able to execute. Simply put, Clemson needs to hit at least eight 3-pointers in order to get a win. This will spread out their pack-line defense and give the Tigers more room to operate around the rim.

PROTECT THE PAINT

This is not the same makeup as teams that Tony Bennett has coached over the past three seasons. They lack knockdown shooters and struggle shooting the 3. They are dead last in the conference in 3pt percentage at 27.2 percent. They don’t have a player that can make a trey running away from the basket like Kyle Guy or Ty Jerome could last year. This makes defending the “wheel” or “blocker-mover” action much more achievable. If Clemson is able to keep UVA’s 2pt percentage down, I don’t believe the Cavaliers can beat them with the 3.

PASSING - ON TIME AND ON TARGET

UVA is the number one defensive team in America for a few reasons. Their rotations are almost always flawless and they guard the ball extremely well. This brings up probably the biggest key to the offense for the Tigers: passing. Clemson struggled with passing the ball against Wake Forest and it showed in their poor shooting percentages. The Tigers can not afford to ruin timing with their catch and shoot opportunities. If good passes and catches aren’t made, Virginia has the ability to close out extremely quickly. If good passes are made, the Tigers will have opportunities for open shots.

Game time is 7 p.m. Wednesday (Fox Sports South/RSN). Be sure to follow me on twitter @CoachTO22 as I’ll be tweeting the game in real-time.