Georgia Tech Basketball vs Virginia: Spread and Score Predictions for Saturday's Game
Saturday night is going to be a matchup of one team playing well down the stretch and one team limping to the finish line.
Georgia Tech (14-16, 7-12 ACC) has won three in a row, having defeated Miami (80-76), Florida State (85-76), and Wake Forest (70-69) in the last 10 days. The Jackets have also scored ACC wins over Duke, Clemson (on the road), North Carolina, and Syracuse, and are tied for 11th place in the ACC standings with Boston College and Notre Dame entering the final Saturday of the regular season.
Virginia (21-9, 12-7 ACC) has not played since dropping a 73-48 decision last Saturday at Duke. UVA sits alone in third place in the ACC standings but has lost four of its last six games. including home-court defeats to Pittsburgh (74-63) and North Carolina (54-44). The Cavaliers have defeated Wake Forest (49-47) and Boston College (72-68) in that stretch.
Charlottesville is a place that Georgia Tech has had a hard time winning at.
Virginia has won the last 11 games in the series, and 19 of the last 21 meetings to move ahead 48-40 in the all-time series, which dates back to 1947.
Tech is just 1-10 at John Paul Jones Arena and has lost on its last nine trips to Charlottesville. The Jackets’ last win on the Cavaliers’ home court was Jan. 27, 2008, a 92-82 overtime decision.
Miles Kelly (14.6 ppg) leads three Yellow Jackets averaging in double figures this season, including freshman forward Baye Ndongo (11.7) and junior guard Kowacie Reeves, Jr. (10.1). Tech’s other rotation player averaged between 4.8 and 9.4 points per game.
A key for Georgia Tech in this game is going be keeping the turnovers to a minimum. In the win against Wake Forest on Tuesday, the Yellow Jackets turned the ball over 17 times, including seven from starting point guard Nait George.
Virginia comes into this game with the third-best defense in the nation in terms of PPG allowed (59.2), they are first in the ACC in field goal percentage allowed, and third in three-point field percentage allowed.
Georgia Tech guard Miles Kelly vs Virginia Tech
When talking about Virginia and their style of play on Friday, Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire had nothing but praise for Tony Bennett's program:
"They're you know, they're playing for you know an at-large bid at the moment You know to stay to stay in that race and you know coach Bennett is really a great coach and he's been doing this thing a long time so, you know, you know, but we're looking forward to the challenge of you know Just again seeing what our trajectory is because this is about us at this juncture again. That's... that's all we really care about and you know are we gonna are we gonna continue to keep elevating you know here over the course of the next four days."
Georgia Tech comes into this game as a 7.5-point underdog, but I think there is a real chance for this team to win the game outright. Virginia is not playing well coming into tonight's game and struggling to score on offense. Georgia Tech comes into this game with a lot of confidence and belief that they can beat anyone in the ACC and they have beaten several of the conference's top teams already. It will likely be a low-scoring game due to the Cavalier's defense, but Miles Kelly has another efficient scoring game, and the Yellow Jackets enter the ACC Tournament as winners of four straight.
Final Score: Georgia Tech 67, Virginia 61 (GT +7.5)
