Virginia and Miami each took care of business on Thursday at the ACC Tournament, setting up a rubber match between the Cavs and ‘Canes in the semifinals Friday night.
Fourth-ranked UVA (25-6, 14-5 ACC) and #11 Miami (25-6, 14-5 ACC) split in the regular season, the ‘Hoos winning 66-58 in Charlottesville in January, The U winning 64-61 in Miami in February.
As the scores would seem to indicate, they were basically the same games. UVA outrebounded Miami in both, got big games from Malcolm Brogdon in both (20 in the win, 28 in the loss).
The difference in the Miami win was the ‘Canes shooting from three: 10-of-19, after going 6-of-22 in the loss in JPJ.
Closing out on threes will be key for the ‘Hoos tonight, you might want to assume.
Inside Miami
Miami shot 56.6 percent in its 88-82 win over Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.
No doubt Jim Larranaga is not happy about the 82 part of that score.
Virginia Tech got to the line early and often, going 28-of-31 at the line, with point guard Seth Allen 17-of-18.
The ‘Canes seemed to enjoy the good sight lines at the Verizon Center, shooting 44.4 percent from three-point range (8-of-18) on the night.
Sheldon McClellan and Angel Rodriguez (3-of-6 each) and Davon Reed (2-of-4) each had solid nights from deep.
The Hokies outrebounded The U, 28-23. Larranaga is no doubt not happy about that, either.
Inside Virginia
The Cavs got off to another slow start Thursday against Georgia Tech, trailing by as many as five in the first half before going into the break up two, 30-28.
Tony Bennett’s squad ratcheted up the Pack-Line in the second half to get separation, holding the Yellow Jackets to four points in the opening six minutes of the second half as the ‘Hoos built a double-digit lead.
UVA has held seven of its last 11 opponents to 53 or fewer points. Back when Virginia was needing miracle rallies to beat lowly Wake Forest, the D was ranked in the mid-40s nationally in the KenPom.com efficiency rankings. Now the Cavs are fourth nationally in those rankings, which probably tells you the defense has been the best one or two in the country over the past six weeks.
– Preview by Chris Graham
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