The Virginia Cavaliers will be spending New Year's Eve, or at least part of it, in Atlanta as they wrap up 2022 with a conference battle against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday at noon. UVA will be looking to win its tenth-straight game in the series against Georgia Tech, while the Yellow Jackets are in search of their first ACC win since March.
Read on for a full preview of Virginia at Georgia Tech, including details on the game, an opponent scouting report, game notes, and a score prediction.
Who: Virginia Cavaliers (9-2, 1-1 ACC) at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7-5, 0-2 ACC)
When: Saturday, December 31st at 12pm ET
Where: McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, Georgia
How to watch: ACC Network
How to stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)
How to listen: SiriusXM 134 or 194, SXM App 956 | Virginia Sports Radio Network - click here for affiliates
All-time series: Virginia leads Georgia Tech 46-40
Last meeting: Virginia defeated Georgia Tech 63-53 on February 12th, 2022 in Charlottesville behind 26 points from Jayden Gardner.
2022-2023: 7-5, 0-2 ACCNotable results: at North Carolina 75-59 L, vs. Georgia 79-77 W, at Iowa 81-65 L, vs. Marquette 80-64 L, vs. Utah 68-64 L, vs. Clemson 79-66 L
The seat has been getting warmer and warmer for head coach Josh Pastner, who, after leading Georgia Tech to the 2021 ACC Tournament Championship, has turned in a 19-25 record since then, including a dismal 5-18 mark against ACC opponents. The 2022-2023 season will make or break Pastner's tenure in Atlanta and it hasn't gotten off to a very good start.
Georgia Tech is 7-5 and 0-2 in ACC play and has largely struggled in the only matchups against notable competition, with the exception of a two-point win over Georgia. The Yellow Jackets are 0-4 in Quad 1 games and suffered double-digit losses to Iowa, Marquette, North Carolina, and Clemson. Georgia Tech comes into the weekend ranked 140th in the NET rankings and 117th on KenPom.
Still, as Tony Bennett always says, anything can happen once the ball is tipped and the Yellow Jackets have the talent to upend the Cavaliers if they don't start playing better basketball than they have been over the last few weeks. Georgia Tech is led by 6'6" sophomore guard Miles Kelly, who is both the team's leading scorer at 13.6 points per game and the best three-point shooter at 37.9% from three. The Yellow Jackets rank 12th in the ACC in three-point shooting at 31.8% as a team.
6'7" forward Jalon Moore, another sophomore, is the only other Yellow Jacket scoring in double figures, averaging 10.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and shooting 48.9% from the floor. Georgia Tech has five other players averaging at least seven points per game, but none of those players are traditional centers. Once again, Virginia faces a team that will almost exclusively play smaller lineups lacking a traditional tall center, as each of Georgia Tech's top seven scorers are 6'7" or shorter. The one exception is 6'11" senior Rodney Howard, who has started in six games this season but averages just over 15 minutes played per game. Tony Bennett and company will once again be tempted to match with small ball, playing Ben Vander Plas at center rather than Kadin Shedrick, unless Shedrick begins to show that he can dominate the matchups against the smaller forwards.
The Yellow Jackets are good at taking care of the ball, but their size limits their rebounding capabilities, an area in which they have struggled this season. There should be more than a few second chance opportunities on the offensive glass for Jayden Gardner, who had 26 points in Virginia's win over Georgia Tech last season.
Virginia took the first small step towards rediscovering the early-season magic that produced impressive wins over Baylor, Illinois, and Michigan with the 20-point win over Albany. The Cavaliers looked sluggish for the first 15 minutes, as the absence of Reece Beekman, who sat out the game to rest his hamstring, was notable on both ends of the floor. UVA toughened up and built a lead as large as 28, albeit against an overmatched opponent, showing just a glimpse of the team that was once ranked No. 2 in the country, although the three-point shooting struggles persisted. The next step is to do that again against a bottom-tier ACC team on the road and it would be ideal if the Cavaliers can win comfortably and find their three-point shooting stroke along the way.
Score prediction: Virginia 75, Georgia Tech 64
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