Georgia Tech at No. 16 Virginia, 2 p.m. ACC Network (NBC29 in Cville area)
After several games in a row that were interesting into the second half or very tight the whole way, the Cavaliers finally were able to relax a little bit Wednesday in blowing out Boston College on the road, 71-54. And it wasn't that close, as the margin ballooned to as much as 24 in the second 20 minutes. Early in the second, the Eagles worked it down to 12 points (it was 42-25 at the half), but never got closer than that. Virginia was led by the increasingly consistent Devon Hall, who finished with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and made both of his 3-point attempts. Isaiah Wilkins added 11 points and was a rebound away from a double-double with nine boards. Kyle Guy came off the bench for eight points and London Perrantes and Marial Shayok had six each. All 10 scholarship players scored for Virginia. The Wahoos made 5 of their 10 3-pointers, continuing their blistering pace from behind the arc, where they are shooting 41.3 percent, which is sixth in the country. Overall, they are right at 50 percent from the field, which ranks them in a tie for 11th.
It was a nice change of pace, and today, UVa hosts Georgia Tech, which has been a bit "Jekyll-and-Hyde" this season. But if the Cavaliers can win, they get to 5-2 in the ACC, and that would help their cause greatly as the schedule coming up is pretty staggering. After Tech, check this out: at Notre Dame, at Villanova, vs. Virginia Tech, at Syracuse, vs. Louisville, at Virginia Tech, vs. Duke, at North Carolina. Ouch. A 4-4 record there would not be bad at all. Virginia needs to take advantage of the Yellow Jackets, who simply aren't as strong as those other teams, except for maybe Syracuse, which has been a bit of a mystery this year as well. However, I think the players probably feel they owe some revenge to Syracuse for what happened in March.
The Yellow Jackets are now coached by, in his first season in Atlanta, former Memphis coach Josh Pastner. You might recall that Virginia beat his Memphis team, 78-60, to reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament at the end of the 2013-14 season. Pastner is just 39 and went 167-73 (69.6 winning percentage) in seven seasons at Memphis. However, in the last three, he went a combined 61-39 (61 percent), so he definitely began to fall off a bit.
Here's more on the Jackets:
Record: 11-7, 3-3 ACC
Leading scorers: Junior center Ben Lammers (14.9), freshman guard Josh Okogie (14.6), senior forward
Quinton Stephens (11), junior guard Tadric Jackson (10.8)
Leading rebounders: Lammers (9.7), Stephens (7.9), Okogie (4.1)
Assist leaders: Senior guard Josh Heath (3.8), freshman guard Justin Moore (3.4), Stephens (2.3)
Notable: Heath averages 5.9 points and Moore 5.8. They are the only other Yellow Jackets scoring more than 5 ppg. Lammers is second in the country with 3.6 blocks per game, and Stephens blocks a shot per game. Stephens, Okogie, and Heath each average a steal. Moore, Heath, and Stephens all average two turnovers.
Best win: No. 9 North Carolina at home, 75-63
Worst win: Naturally, the game before somehow beating the Tar Heels, the Yellow Jackets struggled at home in downing North Carolina A&T, 59-52. The Aggies are 1-17.
Other wins: Tennessee Tech, Southern, Sam Houston State, Tulane, VCU, Alcorn State, Wofford, Clemson, N.C. State
Best loss: Wednesday at Virginia Tech, 62-61
Worst loss: at Tennessee, 81-58. The Volunteers are 9-9.
Other losses: Ohio, Penn State, Georgia, Duke, Louisville
What Georgia Tech does well: Defend. The Yellow Jackets give up 67.7 points per game (80th), block 6.8 shots per game (second), and hold opponents to 39.7 percent shooting (33rd). They hold opponents to a not-as-good-but-still-solid 33.8 percent from 3-point range (136th). They also move the ball pretty well on offense, racking up 15 assists per game (tied-97th).
What Georgia Tech does poorly: The Yellow Jackets struggle on offense. They score 67.3 ppg (290th), shoot 42.9 percent from the field (247th), and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc (169th). Their turnover margin is -1 (tied-231st). They own a slightly positive rebound margin of +.4 (199th).
How the same team can almost lose at home to North Carolina A&T, a one-win squad from the lowly MEAC, and then turn around in the next game and beat UNC by 12 is beyond me. That is wild. I'm sure the Tar Heels were caught off guard. Thankfully now though, coach Tony Bennett has a trump card. If his players are feeling like they can put it on cruise control a little bit, he can say, "But they beat North Carolina!" A team that did that is certainly capable of beating the Cavaliers. Georgia Tech didn't shoot particularly well in that game and only made three 3s, but did shoot 33 free throws, making 28 of them. UNC only shot 33.3 percent and made just 5 of 26 from behind the arc. It also had 20 turnovers. It sounds like to me it was a very off game for the Tar Heels.
If the Cavaliers play close to their potential, they should win. A team that struggles to shoot, especially from 3, doesn't usually fare well against UVa. Lammers, who is 6-foot-10, can be dominant, and hopefully Virginia can mostly stay out of foul trouble when guarding him. He will have to have a monster game, and get a lot of players in foul trouble, and/or someone from Tech will have to get hot from 3, I think, to pull the upset. Tech is actually last in the country in 3s taken at 218. If I were Pastner, I would try to exploit the advantage I might have inside. Virginia has been vulnerable down low on defense at times, with the Cavaliers allowing uncharacteristic slashes to the basket and open looks at the rim. The most likely candidate to get hot from beyond the arc might be Jackson, at 41.7 percent, but he has only shot 48 3s. Stephens is at 32.9 percent and has shot 79 3s.
Virginia has plenty of momentum going into this contest at home. A solid game should churn out a victory. It could be a little low-scoring, but Virginia has put up at least 70 points in regulation in four consecutive games. So it will be interesting to see if Georgia Tech's defense is for real. If it is, and if the Jackets can get a little something going down low with Lammers or from the perimeter, the game could be fairly close.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 10-15 points.
After several games in a row that were interesting into the second half or very tight the whole way, the Cavaliers finally were able to relax a little bit Wednesday in blowing out Boston College on the road, 71-54. And it wasn't that close, as the margin ballooned to as much as 24 in the second 20 minutes. Early in the second, the Eagles worked it down to 12 points (it was 42-25 at the half), but never got closer than that. Virginia was led by the increasingly consistent Devon Hall, who finished with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and made both of his 3-point attempts. Isaiah Wilkins added 11 points and was a rebound away from a double-double with nine boards. Kyle Guy came off the bench for eight points and London Perrantes and Marial Shayok had six each. All 10 scholarship players scored for Virginia. The Wahoos made 5 of their 10 3-pointers, continuing their blistering pace from behind the arc, where they are shooting 41.3 percent, which is sixth in the country. Overall, they are right at 50 percent from the field, which ranks them in a tie for 11th.
It was a nice change of pace, and today, UVa hosts Georgia Tech, which has been a bit "Jekyll-and-Hyde" this season. But if the Cavaliers can win, they get to 5-2 in the ACC, and that would help their cause greatly as the schedule coming up is pretty staggering. After Tech, check this out: at Notre Dame, at Villanova, vs. Virginia Tech, at Syracuse, vs. Louisville, at Virginia Tech, vs. Duke, at North Carolina. Ouch. A 4-4 record there would not be bad at all. Virginia needs to take advantage of the Yellow Jackets, who simply aren't as strong as those other teams, except for maybe Syracuse, which has been a bit of a mystery this year as well. However, I think the players probably feel they owe some revenge to Syracuse for what happened in March.
The Yellow Jackets are now coached by, in his first season in Atlanta, former Memphis coach Josh Pastner. You might recall that Virginia beat his Memphis team, 78-60, to reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament at the end of the 2013-14 season. Pastner is just 39 and went 167-73 (69.6 winning percentage) in seven seasons at Memphis. However, in the last three, he went a combined 61-39 (61 percent), so he definitely began to fall off a bit.
Here's more on the Jackets:
Record: 11-7, 3-3 ACC
Leading scorers: Junior center Ben Lammers (14.9), freshman guard Josh Okogie (14.6), senior forward
Leading rebounders: Lammers (9.7), Stephens (7.9), Okogie (4.1)
Assist leaders: Senior guard Josh Heath (3.8), freshman guard Justin Moore (3.4), Stephens (2.3)
Notable: Heath averages 5.9 points and Moore 5.8. They are the only other Yellow Jackets scoring more than 5 ppg. Lammers is second in the country with 3.6 blocks per game, and Stephens blocks a shot per game. Stephens, Okogie, and Heath each average a steal. Moore, Heath, and Stephens all average two turnovers.
Best win: No. 9 North Carolina at home, 75-63
Worst win: Naturally, the game before somehow beating the Tar Heels, the Yellow Jackets struggled at home in downing North Carolina A&T, 59-52. The Aggies are 1-17.
Other wins: Tennessee Tech, Southern, Sam Houston State, Tulane, VCU, Alcorn State, Wofford, Clemson, N.C. State
Best loss: Wednesday at Virginia Tech, 62-61
Worst loss: at Tennessee, 81-58. The Volunteers are 9-9.
Other losses: Ohio, Penn State, Georgia, Duke, Louisville
What Georgia Tech does well: Defend. The Yellow Jackets give up 67.7 points per game (80th), block 6.8 shots per game (second), and hold opponents to 39.7 percent shooting (33rd). They hold opponents to a not-as-good-but-still-solid 33.8 percent from 3-point range (136th). They also move the ball pretty well on offense, racking up 15 assists per game (tied-97th).
What Georgia Tech does poorly: The Yellow Jackets struggle on offense. They score 67.3 ppg (290th), shoot 42.9 percent from the field (247th), and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc (169th). Their turnover margin is -1 (tied-231st). They own a slightly positive rebound margin of +.4 (199th).
How the same team can almost lose at home to North Carolina A&T, a one-win squad from the lowly MEAC, and then turn around in the next game and beat UNC by 12 is beyond me. That is wild. I'm sure the Tar Heels were caught off guard. Thankfully now though, coach Tony Bennett has a trump card. If his players are feeling like they can put it on cruise control a little bit, he can say, "But they beat North Carolina!" A team that did that is certainly capable of beating the Cavaliers. Georgia Tech didn't shoot particularly well in that game and only made three 3s, but did shoot 33 free throws, making 28 of them. UNC only shot 33.3 percent and made just 5 of 26 from behind the arc. It also had 20 turnovers. It sounds like to me it was a very off game for the Tar Heels.
If the Cavaliers play close to their potential, they should win. A team that struggles to shoot, especially from 3, doesn't usually fare well against UVa. Lammers, who is 6-foot-10, can be dominant, and hopefully Virginia can mostly stay out of foul trouble when guarding him. He will have to have a monster game, and get a lot of players in foul trouble, and/or someone from Tech will have to get hot from 3, I think, to pull the upset. Tech is actually last in the country in 3s taken at 218. If I were Pastner, I would try to exploit the advantage I might have inside. Virginia has been vulnerable down low on defense at times, with the Cavaliers allowing uncharacteristic slashes to the basket and open looks at the rim. The most likely candidate to get hot from beyond the arc might be Jackson, at 41.7 percent, but he has only shot 48 3s. Stephens is at 32.9 percent and has shot 79 3s.
Virginia has plenty of momentum going into this contest at home. A solid game should churn out a victory. It could be a little low-scoring, but Virginia has put up at least 70 points in regulation in four consecutive games. So it will be interesting to see if Georgia Tech's defense is for real. If it is, and if the Jackets can get a little something going down low with Lammers or from the perimeter, the game could be fairly close.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 10-15 points.
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