After a month of traveling troubles from Memphis to Winston-Salem, the Virginia basketball team reversed its road woes in Atlanta on Saturday. The Cavaliers erased an 11-point deficit in the first half and eventually claimed a 75-66 win against Georgia Tech for their first true road win of the season.
Considering that the Cavaliers had not been within 16 points in their previous four trips to Memphis, Notre Dame, NC State, and Wake Forest, the turnaround to a victory that at one time featured a 15-point lead showed a lot of resilience from the past month. UVA improved to 13-5 and 4-3 in the ACC with the victory. It marked the program’s 11th straight win against GT, which includes 5 straight at McCamish Pavilion.
“It’s just trying to take a step,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “We took a step by playing a decent half against Wake Forest and then sort of fell apart partly due to them in the second half. Then came home and I thought we took a step in who we had to be and how we had to play to the best of our abilities at home. Then the next challenge is can you do it on the road. So yeah to be able to finish a game, play well in a second half, and withstand and show some consistency, making some shots, getting some stops, and handling some real game pressure was important. But it’s just another step.”
To take that step Saturday, Virginia had to shake off some similar vibes to its road losses in the first half. Georgia Tech jumped out to a modest 7-3 lead in the first 3 minutes and eventually grew it to 11 points midway through the opening stanza. The Yellow Jackets reached that 22-11 advantage with three unanswered baskets as Deebo Coleman and Kyle Sturdivant knocked down 3-pointers and Nathan George hit a jumper too.
George’s shot with 9:51 to go in the first half gave GT its largest lead, but in the moment UVA had to ignore its recent history on the road. The Hoos fell behind by double figures in the first 10 minutes at Memphis and Notre Dame too. It took longer at NCSU and Wake as the Wolfpack didn’t get ahead by double digits until the second half, while the Deacs took their first 10-point lead approximately 3 minutes before halftime. With the string of jumpshots going down for the Jackets, the Hoos had to ignore any ‘here we go again’ doubts and climb back in the game.
They did exactly that. The coaches challenged individual defenders to contain dribble attacks better and the Hoos collectively began to string together stops. Tech scored just 5 points over the final 9 minutes of the half and then added just one more 3-pointer in the first 3:30 of the second half. While the hosts ended up shooting 45.1% (23-51) with matching 15-point efforts from George and Baye Ndongo, that 12-minute stretch of stingy D was enough to let Virginia claim control of the contest.
That’s because the UVA offense got going at the same time. Reece Beekman and Andrew Rohde made 3’s 2:15 apart to start the momentum swing, while Isaac McKneely added two treys of his own in the final 3 minutes of the first half too. Throw in a layup from Beekman, a bucket from Ryan Dunn, and a buzzer-beating layup from Taine Murray and the Hoos not only erased the deficit, they led 33-29 at the break.
That 12-0 run ballooned to 17-0 at the beginning of the second half when Beekman hit another 3-pointer and Jordan Minor slammed home a dunk. Once the Hoos had that 38-29 lead, they held Georgia Tech at bay for most of the second half, and took their largest lead with 7:45 to go at 63-48 when Jake Groves made a layup. The Yellow Jackets made one final push in the final 8 minutes and got as close as 67-62 on a pair of George free throws at the 1:39 mark. However, Groves canned a 3-pointer on the next possession and McKneely followed with one of his own just 43 seconds later to put the game away.
Beekman, McKneely, and Minor all finished in double figures for the Wahoos. Beekman put up 19 points, 11 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. He has scored in double digits in 9 straight games and Saturday’s performance marked his fourth career double-double. He also became the third Cavalier with 200 career steals, joining Sean Singletary (200) and Othell Wilson (222) in that exclusive club.
“When Reece finds that balance, his stat line was 19 and 11, that’s it,” Bennett said. “He’s got to be more assertive for us, but it can’t just be all [shots], it has to be create for others. That’s who he is and he’s improved. To see him on the offensive end do that was big time.”
McKneely led all scorers with 20 points courtesy of 6-9 shooting from 3-point land and he added 5 rebounds too. He hit multiple shots from several feet behind the line, including one from nearly halfcourt with the shot clock running down on a shaky possession for the Wahoos. The one with 40 seconds to go came from NBA range as well.
Minor chipped in 11 points. Ryan Dunn had 9 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 blocked shots, while Rohde and Groves each finished with 5 points. UVA shot 50.0% overall (29-58) and 47.8% from 3-point range (11-23). Minor has started 3 straight games after being mostly a spot minutes player earlier in the season and he’s made the most of the chances.
“Jordan, his physicality is noticeable, especially going against their interior and the young man that’s a freshman, he’s going to be a heck of a player in this league, both of the freshmen can really play,” Bennett said. “Jordan using his strength to body up and finish some plays down there and just worked hard, setting good screens on offense, all that stuff is how we chip away and is important for him and us.”
After the rocky start on the road in conference play, the Hoos avoided their first 0-4 ACC road start since the 2007-08 season with Saturday’s win. That sets up a stretch of rematches for the upcoming schedule. Virginia welcomes NC State to town on Wednesday Jan. 24, travels to Louisville on Saturday Jan. 27, and then hosts Notre Dame on Wednesday Jan. 31. That offers the opportunity to continue “chasing quality” as Bennett called it following the season’s first true road win.
The coaches will try to stay the course after taking a step with the win at Georgia Tech.
“It’s just reminding ourselves keep pouring in, keep developing, make it relational, it’s not just transactional and hopefully we’ll see some results in these games and in the season, but it is a challenge,” Bennett said. “Then you always have to look at yourself in the mirror and say alright, teach, coach, encourage, challenge, and then do it again the next day.”
Excellent recap of the big road win! Minor’s contributions give this Wahoo squad a chance to be very good in February and March!
Minor’s play is the difference I think. It also helps everyone else on the court to have such a presence on the inside.