‘Hoos do enough to defeat pesky Yellow Jackets for fourth straight win

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Virginia 63, Georgia Tech 53

Jayden Gardner scored 26 points as Virginia built a big lead against ACC bottom-feeder Georgia Tech and then held on for a win in Charlottesville on Saturday.

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Cavaliers (16-9, 10-5 ACC) avoided a letdown after their big victory at Duke and won their fourth straight game and ninth consecutive over the Yellow Jackets (10-14, 3-10), who have really fallen on hard times after last year’s ACC tournament title — albeit a title they won without having to face UVa in the semifinals. Virginia swept Georgia Tech last season in a pair of tight regular-season games. The teams were set to face each other in the semifinals, but the game had to be canceled because of a positive COVID test for UVa.

During this late-season NCAA tournament push, this was a game the ‘Hoos really couldn’t afford to drop, especially with bad losses already to the likes of Navy, James Madison, and N.C. State.

Virginia came out of the gate strong, blasting out to 22-6 and 30-13 leads in the first half, appearing to suffer no sort of hangover effect after the Duke victory. Georgia Tech whittled the margin down to 32-19 by halftime. Gardner had nearly half of Virginia’s output — 15 points — during the first 20 minutes.


Jayden Gardner hustles to record a steal during the first half against Georgia Tech. (Andrew Shurtleff/The Daily Progress)

But the Wahoos’ energy level in the second half seemed to be lacking, and Georgia Tech’s zone defense slowed down UVa’s attack. The Jackets, on the other hand, came out hot. Jordan Usher hit a 3-pointer and two free throws, and Kyle Sturdivant made a layup to make it 32-26 within two and a half minutes. Michael Devoe hit a trey to make it 35-29 with 16:15 remaining. But then Francisco Caffaro muscled his way to a 3-point play, and Armaan Franklin made a layup to move Virginia’s edge back to 11 at 14:37.

However, the Yellow Jackets wouldn’t go away. They quickly trimmed the lead back to single digits and kept it there until the game’s final minute. Another Devoe 3-pointer with 5:44 left made it 49-47. Tech was knocking on the doorstep, trying to take its first lead of the contest.

“[Georgia Tech is] scrappy,” coach Tony Bennett said. “They’ve been close. They’re tough.”

But Reece Beekman found Gardner for a layup — stopping a nearly three-minute long drought — then Devoe was called for a moving screen when he plowed into Clark on Tech’s next possession, and Beekman found Gardner for a baseline jumper to give Virginia some breathing room.

The Jackets tried to make one more surge, but Clark swatted away their final rally with a 3 off another assist by Beekman to make it 57-49 with 2:34 on the clock.

“Reece did a good job driving,” Clark said. “And they converged on him, and he kicked it out. So it was a good play. … The shot felt good. I was just trying to take what the defense gives us, and obviously I knew we could use a big basket. Every good player wants to take those shots and make those shots for their team, just to uplift them for the W. So I’m just trying to take those shots when the opportunity comes, and of course I’m kind of hunting those because they feel good when you get them.”

Over the past few years, Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner has become known for pumping up other ACC players and teams — to sometimes comical effect — and often calling the conference the best in the country. He was once against complimentary of Clark and Virginia.

“You’ve got to give [Clark] credit,” Pastner said. “He makes tough shots. It was the same thing at our place last year. We probably should have won the game, but he hit a big shot very late, a 3-pointer. He’s a winner.”

Pastner wondered aloud if Clark was eligible to return next season. Pastner was told by the media because of the COVID year, Clark could return. “I hope he leaves. Goodness gracious,” Pastner quipped.

“As I said before, I think Virginia is a blue blood,” Pastner continued. “And the success that they’ve had, I think they’re in the same league as the Carolinas and the Dukes and the Kentuckys, and to be able to have a chance to beat a team like that, you’ve got to play really good for 40 minutes.”
Gardner probably could’ve scored more than 26 points, showing his frustration many times when he got hit but did not get a foul call. Still, he went 10 for 19 from the field and a perfect 6 for 6 from the line.

“Jayden in that sweet spot [in the zone] was pretty good,” Bennett said.

Gardner added seven rebounds, three blocks, two assists, and a steal to his big day. The North Carolina native is averaging 16.88 points over the past eight games.

Clark had 15 points, with 12 coming in the second half. He went 4 for 8 from the field, including a 3-for-7 outing from beyond the arc. Clark also tallied four rebounds, two assists, and two steals. He did have four turnovers, as UVa ticked back up to 10 total after limiting itself to just five at Duke. Georgia Tech scored 13 points off those turnovers. The Jackets committed 15 turnovers, but Virginia scored just 19 points off them.

The other Cavaliers had a quiet game, with no one else scoring more than 6 points. Virginia shot only 38.8% from the field compared to 45.7% for the Jackets. UVa went 4 for 18 on 3-pointers and has combined to go 6 for 30 from beyond the arc the past two games after hitting on 8 of 15 versus Miami last Saturday. Georgia Tech went 4 for 12 beyond the arc. Where Virginia had the advantage was at the free throw line, going 21 for 23. Tech converted 7 of 10.

“We didn’t shoot it great from the 3, obviously, but Kihei hit just enough,” Bennett said. “And then I thought [Georgia Tech] got into us a little bit with their offense in the second half.” UVa defeated Duke largely thanks to a huge advantage in points in the paint, but Saturday, Georgia Tech had the upper hand on UVa there, 30-20.

Caffaro had 6 points on 1-for-2 shooting from the field and a solid 4-for-5 effort from the stripe. He added eight rebounds.

Franklin scored the game’s first points on a jumper after shaking a defender with a nasty move but struggled mightily the rest of the way, making just one more field goal on his way to a 2-for-10 evening. He finished with 5 points, an assist, a steal, and a block.

Beekman paid back the sports gods for his spectacular closing stretch at Duke, going 0 for 2 from the field on two 3s. He made all four of his free throws, though, and posted three rebounds, three assists, and a steal. He had just one turnover.

Kody Stattmann came off the bench to score 5 points, including Virginia’s only other 3-pointer. He also had two rebounds, two assists, and a steal.

Kadin Shedrick followed up his 8-for-8, 16-point performance at Duke with just 2 points on two free throws, three boards, and three blocks. He only took one shot.

With Beekman in more foul trouble, Malachi Poindexter saw significant time for the second straight game but didn’t score. He missed one shot, a 3-pointer, and recorded a rebound and an assist.

Virginia was clearly bothered by Tech’s zone, and the ball movement was not nearly as crisp as it was at Duke. As a result, Caffaro and Shedrick, in particular, didn’t get many looks at the rim, like they did last Monday.

“Their zone is kind of weird, and it’s kind of tough to play against,” Clark said. “They really extend their zone, and they play the passing lanes and make it tough. They rotate well, and they talk well on defense.”

Overall, it was an uneven performance by the Cavaliers after two really strong outings against Miami and Duke. They can’t all be excellent, but they did enough to get the win, avoid a tournament-resume-crippling loss and move on to the next task — sweeping the season series versus Virginia Tech when they go to Blacksburg this Monday. The Hokies do not have as good a signature win as the ‘Hoos (but do own a home win over Notre Dame), but their winning streak is longer, five games, and they are getting right back in the thick of the NCAA tournament conversation, like Virginia, after appearing dead in the water.

“I think they’re one of the better teams in our league,” Bennett said. “Forget about records; they’re playing good basketball.”

“We know they’re a good team. It was a tough game here,” Clark said, referring to UVa’s 54-42 win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 12. “We just got to get as much rest as possible and try to watch film from the first game. We know it’s gonna be a fight going into Blacksburg, so I’m just trying to get the guys mentally focused as much as possible.”

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