Virginia flattens Georgia Tech; Football schedule announced and Boise State added to future schedules
Virginia 82, Georgia Tech 54
It was looking like deja vu for the Cavaliers against the Yellow Jackets. Virginia had built a 12-point, 41-29 halftime lead over its visitors from the South but the Jackets had close to within five points, 45-40 early in the second half.
Just a few weeks ago on Super Bowl Sunday, Virginia had a nine-point halftime lead in Atlanta seized by Georgia Tech in the second half, which went on to win, 66-60. The Yellow Jackets scored 38 second-half points in that contest.
Jontel Evans did not let that happen this time. During a timeout, the senior point guard told the Cavaliers, "Don't let history repeat itself." The Cavaliers responded, closing the game on a 37-14 run that wiped away the Yellow Jackets for good. This time, Tech totaled just 25 second-half points.
Evans had maybe his best game of the year with 10 points, eight assists, and zero turnovers. He finished making five of his seven shots from the field, one being a pull up jumper from around 18 feet with the time winding down.
His performance was outshined by junior forward Akil Mitchell, who scored an ACC career-high 18 points and added eight boards. Joe Harris had 15 points but failed to make a 3-pointer. Justin Anderson scored 11 points.
Perhaps the best news Virginia got was from Mike Tobey, who came back from a bout of mono and played 15 minutes, scoring seven points, including a 3-pointer. He lasted played against Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Most people didn't think he would be back until early March at the earliest so to get him back could be a big boost for the Wahoos as they prepare for their big clash with Duke on Thursday.
Taylor Barnette continued to show his value coming off the bench as a hot shooter, making 3 of 4 3s for nine points. The freshman from Lexington, Ky., has now made 15 of 32 3-pointers on the year (46.9 percent). Defense kept him on the bench for long stretches this season but coach Tony Bennett said after the game that Barnette played "solid" defense. Contributions from Barnette and other role players will be crucial to knocking off the Blue Devils on Thursday.
Virginia started off both halves sloppy and slow. Georgia Tech bolted out to a 5-0 lead in the first half and the Cavalier defense was looking unsettled. Anderson and Paul Jesperson hit consecutive 3-pointers to put UVa up for the first time, 8-7, with 15:53 left in the first half. The Yellow Jackets began the second half on an 11-4 jaunt before the aforementioned run by the Wahoos put the game out of reach. It could be difficult to overcome such runs by Duke on Thursday so hopefully the Cavs come out of the gate focused in both halves.
Overall, it was just another dominating victory by the 'Hoos when they really needed one. Except for a few minutes here and there, they looked like an NCAA tournament team, they just need to finish down the stretch with some big wins. They are now up to 69 in RPI. A win over Duke on Thursday would do wonders for that number and for the perception in the eyes of the selection committee, which always takes victories over the Blue Devils seriously. A win Thursday could make the final stretch a bit easier for the Cavaliers for sure.
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VIRGINIA FOOTBALL
The 2013 schedule was released Monday, and with it, some interesting news: Boise State and Virginia have agreed to a home-and-home beginning in 2015 in Charlottesville. In 2017, the Broncos will host the Wahoos. Man, Virginia is not holding back and is serious about this scheduling business. It just seems like we are making it harder on ourselves than we need to, though. Let's get some traction by winning some games and going to some bowls, then schedule tough. At least that game isn't until 2015 and maybe the team will be playing better ball by then. Anyway, the 2013 schedule was released, and there were no surprises, as all the teams were known in advance. Here it is and I'll make a couple of comments after:
8/31-vs. BYU
9/7-vs. Oregon
9/14-bye
9/21-vs. VMI
9/28-at Pittsburgh
10/5-vs. Ball State
10/12-at Maryland
10/19-vs. Duke
10/26-vs. Georgia Tech
11/2-vs. Clemson
11/9-at North Carolina
11/16-bye
11/23-at Miami
11/30-vs. Virginia Tech
I understood we were going to have a tough schedule going into this season but wow, to see it on paper is a different story. The whole schedule is tough but November is particularly brutal with the Tigers, Tar Heels, Hurricanes, and Hokies. What I don't understand is our placement of the bye weeks. OK, the second one is fine, although ideally I would rather have it right before the Virginia Tech game because that is the most important game all year. But the first bye week makes no sense. A bye week to prepare for the Keydets? Really? I hope bye weeks are mostly out of the school's control, because that is terrible placement. An evaluation could be in order after the first two games of the year, in which Virginia could definitely come out 0-2. But I think playing VMI immediately after those two games would be fine. No break needed. Then, after the VMI contest, take the bye week before ACC play starts at Pitt. A breather before the Pitt game would have been nice but it is before the VMI game. Hopefully the staff can afford to almost use that as a bye week, too, and rest any banged up players and use it as a way to test out new players or tweak schemes.
It was looking like deja vu for the Cavaliers against the Yellow Jackets. Virginia had built a 12-point, 41-29 halftime lead over its visitors from the South but the Jackets had close to within five points, 45-40 early in the second half.
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| UVa senior Jontel Evans |
Jontel Evans did not let that happen this time. During a timeout, the senior point guard told the Cavaliers, "Don't let history repeat itself." The Cavaliers responded, closing the game on a 37-14 run that wiped away the Yellow Jackets for good. This time, Tech totaled just 25 second-half points.
Evans had maybe his best game of the year with 10 points, eight assists, and zero turnovers. He finished making five of his seven shots from the field, one being a pull up jumper from around 18 feet with the time winding down.
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| UVa junior Akil Mitchell |
His performance was outshined by junior forward Akil Mitchell, who scored an ACC career-high 18 points and added eight boards. Joe Harris had 15 points but failed to make a 3-pointer. Justin Anderson scored 11 points.
Perhaps the best news Virginia got was from Mike Tobey, who came back from a bout of mono and played 15 minutes, scoring seven points, including a 3-pointer. He lasted played against Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Most people didn't think he would be back until early March at the earliest so to get him back could be a big boost for the Wahoos as they prepare for their big clash with Duke on Thursday.
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| UVa freshman Mike Tobey |
Virginia started off both halves sloppy and slow. Georgia Tech bolted out to a 5-0 lead in the first half and the Cavalier defense was looking unsettled. Anderson and Paul Jesperson hit consecutive 3-pointers to put UVa up for the first time, 8-7, with 15:53 left in the first half. The Yellow Jackets began the second half on an 11-4 jaunt before the aforementioned run by the Wahoos put the game out of reach. It could be difficult to overcome such runs by Duke on Thursday so hopefully the Cavs come out of the gate focused in both halves.
Overall, it was just another dominating victory by the 'Hoos when they really needed one. Except for a few minutes here and there, they looked like an NCAA tournament team, they just need to finish down the stretch with some big wins. They are now up to 69 in RPI. A win over Duke on Thursday would do wonders for that number and for the perception in the eyes of the selection committee, which always takes victories over the Blue Devils seriously. A win Thursday could make the final stretch a bit easier for the Cavaliers for sure.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIRGINIA FOOTBALL
The 2013 schedule was released Monday, and with it, some interesting news: Boise State and Virginia have agreed to a home-and-home beginning in 2015 in Charlottesville. In 2017, the Broncos will host the Wahoos. Man, Virginia is not holding back and is serious about this scheduling business. It just seems like we are making it harder on ourselves than we need to, though. Let's get some traction by winning some games and going to some bowls, then schedule tough. At least that game isn't until 2015 and maybe the team will be playing better ball by then. Anyway, the 2013 schedule was released, and there were no surprises, as all the teams were known in advance. Here it is and I'll make a couple of comments after:8/31-vs. BYU
9/7-vs. Oregon
9/14-bye
9/21-vs. VMI
9/28-at Pittsburgh
10/5-vs. Ball State
10/12-at Maryland
10/19-vs. Duke
10/26-vs. Georgia Tech
11/2-vs. Clemson
11/9-at North Carolina
11/16-bye
11/23-at Miami
11/30-vs. Virginia Tech
I understood we were going to have a tough schedule going into this season but wow, to see it on paper is a different story. The whole schedule is tough but November is particularly brutal with the Tigers, Tar Heels, Hurricanes, and Hokies. What I don't understand is our placement of the bye weeks. OK, the second one is fine, although ideally I would rather have it right before the Virginia Tech game because that is the most important game all year. But the first bye week makes no sense. A bye week to prepare for the Keydets? Really? I hope bye weeks are mostly out of the school's control, because that is terrible placement. An evaluation could be in order after the first two games of the year, in which Virginia could definitely come out 0-2. But I think playing VMI immediately after those two games would be fine. No break needed. Then, after the VMI contest, take the bye week before ACC play starts at Pitt. A breather before the Pitt game would have been nice but it is before the VMI game. Hopefully the staff can afford to almost use that as a bye week, too, and rest any banged up players and use it as a way to test out new players or tweak schemes.
I know Coach K would never admit this, but any chance Duke is overlooking the Cavs with their impending rematch against Miami Saturday?
ReplyDeleteI would say there is definitely a chance. The media seems to be. Im sure Coach K will stress to his team not to overlook us but behind closed doors the coaches could be putting in extra prep for Miami. The players are going to be thinking about it even if they dont want to with such a short turnaround. If the game was next week or even Sunday there would be more time to think about Miami but the way the schedule is there isn't. You know they want to get the 'Canes back for the 27-point beatdown in Miami.
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