Breaking Down Virginia’s 63-53 Victory over Georgia Tech
It was far from Virginia’s best performance of the season, especially in the second half, but the Cavaliers managed to hold off a late push by the Yellow Jackets and extend their winning streak to four games with a 63-53 victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday. Jayden Gardner dropped 26 points, the most he has scored in ACC play, and Kihei Clark made a clutch three-pointer to help the Hoos put the Jackets away. The Cavaliers are picking up steam with five games to play in the regular season.
Let’s take a deeper look at some of the key stats, standout performances, and takeaways from Virginia’s victory over Georgia Tech.
Key Stats
Turnovers: Virginia 10 | Georgia Tech 15
Rebounding: Virginia 32 | Georgia Tech 24
Free Throws: Virginia 21/23 | Georgia Tech 7/10
Jayden Gardner
Kihei Clark
Francisco Caffaro
Takeaways
Jayden Gardner is an All-ACC performer
Coming into the season, there were some who questioned how well Jayden Gardner’s game would translate to ACC competition, especially given his undersized measurements at the forward position. Gardner had a rough stretch early in ACC play, including three straight outings of ten points or less against North Carolina, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. Since then, however, Gardner is averaging 16.9 points per game including two performances of 20+ points. He is nearly automatic from mid-range and more than makes up for his size with a level of energy and hustle that makes him an extremely effective rebounder. Gardner is currently top-15 in the ACC in both scoring and rebounding and is the go-to scoring option for a Virginia team that is just starting to click at the right time.
Just keep winning
In an ideal world, Virginia would have continued its recent resurgence with a crushing victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday. Instead, the Cavaliers saw their 17-point lead reduced to just two points with over five minutes remaining, but managed to outlast the Yellow Jackets and ended up winning by ten. At this point, with just five games remaining in the regular season, it does not matter how the Hoos win, as long as they win. Overall, Virginia has played some of its best basketball of the season on both ends of the floor over the past four games. The Cavaliers dipped slightly into their old habits (defensive breakdowns and scoring droughts) in the second half, but UVA shaped up down the stretch and made the crucial plays needed to come away with the win. And that’s all they need to do.
Season Reset
Virginia is now 16-9 overall and 10-5 in ACC play with five games remaining in the regular season.
Next five games: at Virginia Tech (Feb. 15), at Miami (Feb. 19), vs. Duke (Feb. 23), vs. Florida State (Feb. 26), at Louisville (Mar. 5)
Postseason outlook: After the upset win over Duke, Virginia began to creep into the bubble pictures of some of the latest bracketology projections, mostly as one of the first four teams out of the NCAA Tournament. A victory over a Georgia Tech team that is second to last in the ACC standings is certainly not the most impressive resume-builder, but it does show that the Cavaliers are more than capable of turning their recent success into an extended winning-streak. For the second week in a row, UVA has to follow up a home win by turning around and playing a tough road game just 48 hours later, as the Cavaliers head to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech on Monday night. The margin of error remains very small for Virginia and it will likely take at least four wins in the last five games, plus a decent showing in the ACC Tournament in order for the Cavaliers to not be sweating it out on Selection Sunday.
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