Georgia Tech (14-16, 7-12 ACC) vs. UVa (21-9, 12-7 ACC)
8 p.m., ACC Network
After a week off, UVa returns to action tomorrow and concludes the regular season with a home rematch against Georgia Tech. The Wahoos have already clinched their 11th ACC top-four finish and ACC Tournament seeding in 13 years. A win against the Yellow Jackets would earn them the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament. Even if they lose, they will be the third or fourth seed, depending on the results elsewhere.
Virginia is also playing for its postseason life in this game. Most bracketologists believe the Cavaliers will be on the right side of the bubble heading into the final weekend of the regular season. A loss to Georgia Tech would surely knock them out of most projections, and unless they make a big breakthrough next week in Washington, D.C., they will miss out on the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years. A win won't lock him into anything for UVa, but it will move the Hoos one step closer to his 68 points.
Their opponent will be Charlottesville, which has won three straight games, and head coach Damon Stoudemire will be looking to end his first year on the Flats on a high note. The Yellow Jackets won in Miami and then, after a week off, defeated Florida State at home and Wake Forest on the road. The performance in Winston-Salem should wake Foos up if he's been asleep. The Yellow Jackets opened up a 26-4 lead against Wake, but Wake, like UVa, was a team that needed a win to help advance to the NCAA Tournament.
If the Jackets can pull off the upset, it would be a rare win for their program in Charlottesville. UVa recently dominated the series against Georgia Tech and hasn't lost at John Paul Jones Arena since 2008, the building's second year open.
numbers
Georgia Tech's recent performance has been impressive, even if the efficiency numbers haven't been all that impressive. The Jackets have him ranked 125th in KenPom, but are outside the top 100 in both offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency, ranking him 140th and 129th in those categories respectively. Georgia Tech doesn't shoot very well from inside or outside the arc, ranking outside the top 200 nationally in both categories. The Jackets often give away the ball a lot, ranking 234th in turnover rate. He also ranks fourth from the bottom nationally in creating turnovers. They are shooting just 31.5% from deep against opposing defenses, which is their biggest strength on that end of the floor.
In the first matchup against UVa, the Yellow Jackets took an early lead after some hard shooting. GT led by as many as 11 points in the first half, but the Hoos rallied in the final minutes and entered the locker room with a 33-29 lead. UVa played well after the break, winning 75-66, the team's first road win of the season. The Jackets scored 1.05 points per possession and made 27 of their nine 3-pointers. It turned over 13 times. Meanwhile, Virginia went 11-of-23 from deep, had 19 assists and scored 1.19 points per possession. The Hoos led by as many as 15 points in the second half, rebounding from a 23.6 percent chance of winning early in the game.
match up
Miles Kelly, guard
Georgia Tech's leading scorer was held to just eight points in the first matchup against UVa, hitting 3-of-11 from the field in the loss. Kelly is averaging 14.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game this season and has had some big games recently. He scored 25 points, including seven threes, against Miami on February 24, and scored 19 points on 5-of-8 triples from long range against Wake.
Baye Ndongo, forward
Ndongo, a 6-foot-9 freshman from Senegal, is a promising prospect at Georgia Tech. In his first season of college basketball, he scored his 11.7 points per game, second on the team. He is also the top rebounder, scoring 8.2 per contest. Ndongo has had 10 or more rebounds in three of GT's last five games, including double-double efforts against Syracuse and FSU. Ndongo had a great game against the Hoos in January, scoring 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field.
Kowasi Reeves, guard
After a strong start to the season, Reeves has cooled off a bit. The 6-foot-7 junior scored in double figures six times in the first eight games of the season and got off to a strong start in the ACC, scoring 18 points at FSU and 17 points against Boston College. However, he has only reached double digits once in his last eight games. Reaves scored eight points in 31 minutes against Wake on Tuesday night. He was also quiet in the first matchup against UVa, scoring six points in 30 minutes of action.
Nathan George, guard
The freshman point guard is quietly putting together a very impressive first season in Atlanta. The Toronto native is scoring 9.4 points and dishing out 4.6 assists per game. George has been very good in the past two games, scoring 15 points against Florida State and 16 points against Wake, although he didn't score three points. He had his best overall performance with 15 assists against Virginia and nine in the home loss.
Outlook
This is a “must win” game for Virginia as much as possible in the game. There are a lot of holes in this resume, mostly due to big losses, many against non-NCAA Tournament teams, and no notable wins to make up for it. is. However, he said one of the things UVa is working on is a better “results-based” system that shows what the team has accomplished, rather than predicting what the team will do next, like KenPom does. It's an indicator. These predictive metrics do not favor UVa. Because the resume explosion shows just how far the Foos are against equal or better competition.
All they have on their resume (at least for now) is that it's not a huge loss. Notre Dame had the worst game, with two losses in the quad as of Friday, so it's not considered a bad game. A loss to Quad-3 opponent Georgia Tech would be a tough loss and ruin an already flawed resume.
Georgia Tech's recent performance should scare the Cavaliers and make them not miss this game. That, as well as the stakes, should help lock Virginia into this game. Additionally, this time it's home, and although UVa has lost two of its last three games in Charlottesville, the atmosphere on Saturday should be good heading into Senior Night.
There were some exciting plays down the stretch, but we're hoping UVa can dominate their defense and home court to get a win here before turning their attention to the postseason. It might not be fair to expect a big win given the way the Jackets are currently playing, but if the Cavaliers are able to put up a significant amount of points in the first half or early in the second half, they could It would be wise to continue on that path. Gas up and try to win as efficiently as possible. Still, what UVa needs here is a win of any kind.
