By Andy Demetra | Voice of the Yellow Jackets
Josh Pastner wasn’t buying it.
Georgia Tech’s head coach watched Virginia’s early struggles from afar. He saw the Cavaliers’ 7-5 record on December 23, with non-conference losses to Navy and James Madison. But Pastner knew Tony Bennett, whom he’s long championed for the Naismith Hall of Fame, hadn’t forgotten how to coach. He knew the Cavaliers hadn’t forgotten how to play their bracing Pack Line defense. With Virginia having to replace six of its top eight scorers, he knew it would be unwise to count them out.
Sure enough, Georgia Tech (10-13, 3-9 ACC) faces a Cavaliers team Saturday that’s starting to confirm Pastner’s premonition. Virginia (15-9, 9-5 ACC) has won four of its last five games, including back-to-back wins over Miami and Duke. Their offense has started to click. Their centers have started to gain experience. And the Cavaliers once again have the look of a thorny matchup in the ACC.
A win that may have seemed attainable in December once again looks arduous. Georgia Tech knows any frustration from its Miami game can’t linger. Not with a Virginia team that forces plenty of frustration on its own. The Yellow Jackets will look to go into John Paul Jones Arena clear-eyed and determined as they try to snap an eight-game losing streak in Charlottesville.
Enjoy the top notes, quotes and anecdotes from my chart in preparation for Saturday’s matinee (4 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network from Legends Sports):
Jordan Usher averaged 15.5 points in Tech’s two games against Virginia last season. (photo by Danny Karnik)
Georgia Tech still has to brace itself for Virginia’s razor-wired defense (more on that later). But both this year and last year, the Cavaliers actually rank higher nationally in offensive efficiency than defensive efficiency.
The Cavaliers’ blocker-mover offense features constant cuts, flares and pindown screens, with a pair of guards who rank in top five of the ACC in assists. Senior guard Kihei Clark has emerged as a scorer of late (13.0 points last 5 games) and has a crafty-not-flashy floor game that can be tough to read. Sophomore Reece Beekman (7.9 ppg, 5.0 apg), last seen hitting a game-winning three-pointer against Duke, has a quick first step and an improved outside shot. Together they keep the offense flowing for Virginia’s top scorers, 6-6 East Carolina transfer Jayden Gardner (14.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and 6-4 Indiana transfer Armaan Franklin (12.2 ppg). Gardner is a rugged, mismatch-making power forward, while Franklin comes off screens well as he snipes for jumpers. The Cavs have also gotten contributions from a pair of sound bigs in 6-11 Kadin Shedrick (career-high 16 points vs. Duke) and 7-1 junior Francisco Caffaro. Both like to screen and blow up defenders on seals across the paint.
Virginia scored a Tony Bennett-era record 52 points in the paint in its win over Duke, which should test a Tech defense that typically plays a smaller front line. As sharp as the Jackets’ three-point defense has been lately, the Cavaliers don’t rely on threes nearly as much as they did when Sam Hauser, Jay Huff and Trey Murphy III circulated around the arc:
VIRGINIA’S ACC RANKS (ACC GAMES ONLY)
| Year | 3pt.% | 3pt. Rate |
| 2022 | 13th | 15th |
| 2021 | 2nd | 4th |
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Among the keys for Tech: don’t get detached from cutters early and stay disciplined late in the shot clock. Virginia ranks last in the nation in tempo, and 30 percent of its offense ends in the final five seconds of the clock. The Cavaliers are cerebral with their pivots and pump fakes and adept at changing the angles of screens.
Georgia Tech ranks second in the ACC in turnover rate defense, forcing a turnover on 20.4 percent of opponents’ possessions. Overall they rank 120th nationally in TO rate defense according to KenPom.
Virginia has faced four teams this year that have a higher TO rate defense than Tech (Houston, Navy, James Madison, Miami).
The Cavaliers are 1-3 in those games.
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Georgia Tech and Virginia meet Saturday, with the Cavaliers coming off a Reece Beekman game-winning three-pointer in the final second against Duke.
Tech and Virginia were scheduled to meet in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals last March before COVID issues with the Cavaliers scuttled those plans.
Virginia advanced to that game on…. a Reece Beekman three-pointer at the buzzer against Syracuse.
Michael Devoe will look for better success Saturday than his 2-for-18 shooting last season against the Cavaliers. (photo by Danny Karnik)
Foul trouble and six turnovers sanded away some of his effectiveness, but Jordan Usher still managed to make a three-pointer in the second half against Miami Wednesday. The senior has now hit a three-pointer in a career-high 10 straight games. His previous long streak was five.
Usher averaged a team-best 15.5 points in two games against the Cavaliers last season. He’ll once again face a Virginia defense that, keeping with its Pack Line style, forces clogged paints and flattened-out passes in the halfcourt. The Cavaliers also hedge punishingly hard on screens, which can scramble possessions even more. Tech’s guards will have to contend with Beekman, an instinctual defender who ranks second in the ACC in steals, and Shedrick, who lurks underneath as the third best shot blocker in the league.
And yet, despite having the best block rate and third-best steal rate in ACC play, Virginia ranks a surprising 11th in defensive efficiency in conference games. Can Deivon Smith, Kyle Sturdivant and the rest of Georgia Tech’s guards negotiate Virginia’s hedges and swing the ball quickly before their bigs can recover down low? And will Michael Devoe be primed for a scoring revival against the Cavaliers? The senior went a combined 2 for 18 against Virginia last season.
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Whoever runs Miami’s in-arena music, give him or her credit. After Georgia Tech and Miami’s dustup in the final minutes Wednesday, the referees reviewed the sequence at the monitor to sort out punishments.
As they did, the Watsco Center played “Fight Night” by Migos.
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Now that we’re prepared, we hope you are as well. Join us for pregame coverage starting at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Georgia Tech Sports Network from Legends Sports. See you in Charlottesville.
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