Virginia Finally Triumphs on the Road, Winning at Georgia Tech 75-66
For the first time this season, Virginia has won a road game.
After falling behind by 11 points in the first half, the Cavaliers went on a big run to take the lead by halftime and withstood a late rally from the hosting Yellow Jackets. And behind standout performances from Reece Beekman and Isaac McKneely, Virginia (13-5, 4-3 ACC) held on for a much-needed 75-66 victory over Georgia Tech (9-9, 2-5 ACC) on Saturday night at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, earning UVA's first road win of the season.
Many of Virginia's blowout losses on the road featured a common factor of the Cavaliers starting slowly and watching their opponent race out to an early lead. Saturday night was no exception as Georgia Tech made four of its first five shots and four three-pointers in the first 10 minutes of the game. The Yellow Jackets, who came into the game shooting 31.9% from three, generated a ton of wide-open looks and made five of their nine three-point attempts in the first half, with each of those five triples coming from a different player.
Naithan George led the way early on, hitting a few heavily-contested jumpers over his defender, and helping Georgia Tech build a lead as large as 11 points at 24-13. UVA smartly put the reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year on the hot hand in George and successfully slowed down the Yellow Jacket offense, allowing much fewer open looks from three. Virginia scored seven unanswered points on threes from Beekman and Andrew Rohde, who had gone 0/9 from beyond the arc in his previous three games.
George knocked down a three, giving him nine points in the first half, ending Georgia Tech's near four-minute scoring drought, and pushing the lead back to eight at 29-21 with 3:45 left in the half. But the Yellow Jackets wouldn't score for the remainder of the half, as the tides decisively turned in Virginia's favor.
Isaac McKneely, who had missed his last five threes coming into this game, splashed a pair of threes, the first on a transition look and the second on a rare designed inbounds play that tied the game. McKneely then assisted on a short push shot in the paint for Ryan Dunn to give the Cavaliers their first lead of the game.
Georgia Tech was set up to have the final shot of the half, but the Yellow Jackets committed a major blunder, as their inbounds pass flew untouched into the backcourt, where Taine Murray chased it down and laid it in at the buzzer. Seizing all momentum in the game, Virginia ended the half on a 12-0 run to take a 33-29 lead into the halftime break.
Despite Georgia Tech's red-hot start to the game, Virginia actually ended up shooting better in the first half at 50% from the floor. Reece Beekman led the way with seven points and five assists and Dunn joined him with seven points, four rebounds, and two blocks.
Virginia's run continued in the second half, with Beekman asserting his will as he knocked down a three, assisted on McKneely's third three, and then scored a tough transition layup plus a foul. Ultimately, the Cavaliers went on a 17-0 run spanning at halftime to build a double-digit lead early in the second half.
Georgia Tech's offense then reignited with Kowacie Reeves and Kyle Sturdivant hitting threes from opposite corners on consecutive possessions. But Virginia managed to keep its lead around 10 or more thanks to continued elite play from Beekman and McKneely, who had 12 and 14 points, respectively, in the second half.
For most of the second half, the game resided in a gray area, with Georgia Tech hanging around, but not quite able to get back within striking distance, and UVA leading by at least 10 points most of the time, but not quite able to fully put the Yellow Jackets away.
In his first season coaching Georgia Tech, Damon Stoudamire has his team playing hard to the final whistle, as evidenced by 12 games determined by single digits this season. The Yellow Jackets again fought to the bitter end and made the Cavaliers sweat this one out, stringing together a late 9-0 run to get back within five at 67-62 with 90 seconds left.
A near five-minute UVA scoring drought finally came to an end as Beekman kicked out to Jake Groves, who hit a wide-open three from the right wing. On Virginia's next possession, Isaac McKneely delivered the dagger, a deep contested three-pointer that finally put the game out of reach for good.
Read Val's minus-less Plus/Minus breakdown of the game here.
Although it was just a nine-point win against a bottom-half team in the ACC, the significance of this result cannot be overstated for a Virginia team that was 0-4 in true road games and 2-5 away from Charlottesville coming in. Finally breaking that streak of terrible basketball required a complete effort from the Cavaliers on both ends of the floor, especially after the sluggish start.
Reece Beekman delivered an excellent all-around performance, posting a double-double with 19 points and 11 assists as well as six rebounds and two steals. Isaac McKneely was the high scorer in the game with 20 points on a blistering 6/9 shooting from beyond the arc, his third game with six threes this season, but first since December 5th.
Even with the greatness of Beekman and McKneely, Virginia needed solid contributions from several other players as well. Ryan Dunn had a near double-double with 10 rebounds and nine points on a perfect 4/4 shooting from the floor and also had three blocks. Jordan Minor continued his emergence since entering the starting lineup, scoring in double figures with 11 points on 4/5 shooting. Andrew Rohde, Dante Harris, Jake Groves, and Taine Murray also made timely plays for the Cavaliers.
Georgia Tech's freshman duo of Naithan George and Baye Ndongo had 15 points apiece, but the Yellow Jackets couldn't overcome Virginia shooting 50.0% from the floor and knocking down 11 three-pointers on 47.8% shooting.
With the win, Virginia is back above .500 in the ACC at 4-3 and 13-5 overall. Up next, the Cavaliers return home for a rematch with the Wolfpack as UVA hosts NC State on Wednesday at 7pm at John Paul Jones Arena.
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