The Virginia Cavaliers (10-2, 2-1 ACC) defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7-6, 0-3 ACC) 74-56 on New Year’s Eve in Atlanta. Kihei Clark lead the way with 15 points and 8 assists in the win. Virginia had 14 steals, while Georgia Tech turned it over 22 times. The biggest stat of note? UVA has 21 assists on 27 buckets, so talk about efficiency.
The win also gave Tony Bennett his 326th win at Virginia, which ties Terry Holland for most all-time in UVA program history.
Here are our biggest takeaways in UVA’s win over the Yellow Jackets.
The Yellow Jackets were hanging around and keeping the game close in the first half of play – with 1:50 left in the first, Georgia Tech was able to bring the game within two as the UVA offense went cold, with a scoring drought that lasted over four minutes. Things took a turn when the threes started falling again. Tony Bennett’s team hit three triples before the end of the half, including Isaac McKneely’s three with seconds left on the clock swung momentum back to the ‘Hoos.
UVA ended the half on a 9-0 run and started where they left off in the second half with a 16-0 run over the first 5:38 to put UVA up 52-25. Game. Over.
This has been a trend this season for the ‘Hoos. In addition to Saturday, UVA have used big second half runs against Baylor, Illinois, Michigan and Florida State to secure big wins – halftime adjustments matter.
Georgia Tech entered the game averaging just over ten turnovers per game, a figure that ranked inside the top ten in all of college basketball – Virginia’s defense made a statement.
There was plenty to like from the defensive side for the Cavaliers. They were disruptive: recording 14 steals, netting 14 points in transition, and scoring 30 points off of 23 Georgia Tech turnovers. Amraan Franklin lead the way with five steals, with Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman tallying three and two steals respectively. The Yellow Jackets were placed in bad situations and made mistakes, and UVA took advantage.
Georgia Tech did manage to score 24 points inside the paint. The team’s interior defense did get better in the second half, however, Georgia Tech is not the sort of opponent one would expect to cause such a mismatch in the interior.
We know how important Reece Beekman is to this Virginia side but so is Armaan Franklin. Franklin tipped off the game knocking down three triples in the first half and UVA seemed to roll with that energy.
Isaac McKneely and Kihei Clark hit two threes apiece in that period with eight of UVA’s 13 made field goals in the first half being three-pointers. Franklin finished with 11 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals,
What more can you say about Kihei Clark. Clark led the way with 15 points, three steals, three turnovers, and eight assists for the Cavaliers in the win on Saturday. With Beekman coming back from a hamstring injury, Clark has really stepped up offensively for the ‘Hoos. Clark was the puppet master as he dished the ball to McKneely, Franklin and Beekman, but he also finished at the rim.
He is currently averaging 11.5 points per game, which is a career high.
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