UVA Basketball (11-12, 4-8 ACC) hosts Georgia Tech (11-12, 5-7 ACC) in ACC action in Not Quite Prime Time (Saturday, 5:30 p.m. ET).
Forecast
- KenPom: Virginia 67-65
- BartTorvik: Virginia 66-62
- EvanMiya: Virginia 67-64
- Haslametrics: Virginia 67-64
- ESPN BPI: Virginia +2.7
Starting lineups
Virginia is starting Jacob Cofie and Blake Buchanan in the frontcourt, though Elijah Saunders was a full participant in the shootaround.
Your starting backcourt: Andrew Rohde, Dai Dai Ames and Isaac McKneely.
First half
First media timeout: UVA 9, Georgia Tech 8, 14:50/1st
Virginia got threes on its first three possessions, but has come up empty since (six possessions).
Ames was sent to the bench in favor of Taine Murray because of two early (ugly) turnovers.
Second media timeout: Georgia Tech 17, UVA 15, 11:24/1st
Duncan Powell, the 6’8″ stretch four, has two threes for Georgia Tech.
Odd: he’s the guy who was 1-of-2 at the line with awful form. Good form on the threes, though.
Third media timeout: Georgia Tech 24, UVA 23, 7:56/1st
UVA is having obvious difficulty trying to keep GT’s guards out of the paint on dribble penetration.
The switching on screens isn’t working well, either. GT is getting the ball into the post on those pretty easily.
Powell is 3-of-3 from three. Season: 34.2%.
Fourth media timeout: UVA 33, Georgia Tech 30, 3:24/1st
McKneely has 15 (6-of-9 FG, 3-of-5 3FG), with a couple of nice pump-fakes at the three-point line setting up dribble-drives to the rim.
Halftime: UVA 41, Georgia Tech 36
McKneely finished with 18 points (7-of-10 FG, 4-of-6 3FG). Andrew Rohde had six points and seven assists vs. zero turnovers.
Naithan George had 15 points (5-of-10 FG, 4-of-6 3FG) for Georgia Tech.
Powell had 10 (3-of-4 FG, 3-of-3 3FG).
Second half
Georgia Tech timeout: UVA 49, Georgia Tech 38, 16:54/2nd
Virginia has forced a couple of turnovers, and is getting out in transition (shudder!).
Second media timeout: UVA 55, Georgia Tech 44, 11:22/2nd
Georgia Tech came out with a zone look on back-to-back possessions there. Ames hit a midrange jumper on the second one.
That might be one where you plant the idea that you’re going to zone, just to get UVA to waste time in the timeout huddle drawing up a zone play.
Third media timeout: UVA 63, Georgia Tech 49, 7:26/2nd
Georgia Tech has been using zone, diamond-and-one and triangle-and-two.
It’s confusing Virginia, and at the same time, Virginia is getting late-shot-clock clean looks.
Fourth media timeout: UVA 67, Georgia Tech 53, 3:44/2nd
Georgia Tech finally called for its first foul in the second half at the 4:06 mark.
Final: UVA 75, Georgia Tech 61
With UVA Basketball royalty – De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome, among other NBA alums – in the house for Tony Bennett Day, Virginia raced past Georgia Tech to a 75-63 win on Saturday night in front of a sellout home crowd.
The university raised a banner honoring Bennett’s 15 years in the southwest corner of JPJ, alongside fellow legendary coach Terry Holland, in a moving halftime ceremony.
On the floor, the ‘Hoos (12-12, 5-8 ACC) went over the 70-point mark for the fourth time in the past two weeks, signaling, maybe, the kids have figured out the offense.
And this one was the second straight double-digit win for UVA, after the 73-57 win at Pitt on Monday night.
Isaac McKneely had 20 points (8-of-14 FG, 4-of-9 3FG), and Dai Dai Ames had 18 (7-of-12 FG, 4-of-6 3FG), 14 of his points coming in the second half.
Andrew Rohde had 11 points (4-of-9 FG, 3-of-6 3FG) and nine assists vs. no turnovers.
Blake Buchanan had seven points and 11 rebounds.
Virginia had a 38-24 rebound advantage, and had 13 offensive rebounds.
It’s two games now, but it looks like … maybe the guys have figured out Tony Bennett Basketball.
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Chris Graham
