Breaking Down Virginia’s 63-53 Victory over Georgia Tech

Taking a deeper look at how the Cavaliers beat the Yellow Jackets to extend their winning streak on Saturday

Matt Newton | Feb 13, 2022

It was far from Virginia’s best performance of the season, especially in the second half, but the Cavaliers managed to hold off a late push by the Yellow Jackets and extend their winning streak to four games with a 63-53 victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday. Jayden Gardner dropped 26 points, the most he has scored in ACC play, and Kihei Clark made a clutch three-pointer to help the Hoos put the Jackets away. The Cavaliers are picking up steam with five games to play in the regular season.

Let’s take a deeper look at some of the key stats, standout performances, and takeaways from Virginia’s victory over Georgia Tech.

Key Stats

Turnovers: Virginia 10 | Georgia Tech 15

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets guard Michael Devoe dribbles against Virginia Cavaliers guard Kody Stattmann. — Photo courtesy of Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports

Georgia Tech had the advantage over Virginia in several key categories in this game. The Yellow Jackets shot 45.7% from the field as compared to 38.8% for the Cavaliers. Georgia Tech’s bench outscored Virginia’s bench 20-7 and the Yellow Jackets also had more fastbreak points (7-2) and points in the paint (30-20). Virginia made up for that margin by winning the turnover battle. The Cavaliers forced 15 Georgia Tech turnovers and scored 19 points off of those takeaways, as compared to just 10 UVA turnovers and 13 Georgia Tech points off of takeaways.

Rebounding: Virginia 32 | Georgia Tech 24

Virginia Cavaliers center Francisco Caffaro battles for a rebound with Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets center Rodney Howard and guard Dallan Coleman. — Photo courtesy of Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports

As previously mentioned, the Cavaliers did not have their best shooting day. UVA missed 30 of their 49 attempts from the floor and went 4/18 (22%) from three-point range. Crucially, Virginia outworked Georgia Tech on the boards to the tune of 32-24 rebounding advantage, including a 21-19 edge in defensive rebounding and an 11-5 advantage on the offensive glass. Francisco Caffaro (8 rebounds) and Jayden Gardner (7 rebounds) did a lot of the heavy lifting for the Cavaliers in that area. UVA had 12 second chance points to just five for Georgia Tech.

Free Throws: Virginia 21/23 | Georgia Tech 7/10

Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball — Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Communications

Fouls and free throws proved to be a pivotal factor in this game. Both teams had important players in foul trouble, including Reece Beekman and Armaan Franklin for Virginia and Jordan Usher and Rodney Howard for Georgia Tech. Partly due to their aggressiveness in chasing offensive rebounds, the Cavaliers earned several trips to the free throw line and made them count, knocking down 21/23 foul shots as compared to just 7/10 for Georgia Tech. Reece Beekman and Kihei Clark made all their free throws down the stretch to seal the game. Virginia’s reliable free throw shooting in late-game situations will be essential for the Hoos as they look to keep winning through the end of the regular season and into postseason play.

Standout Performances

Jayden Gardner

In many ways, Jayden Gardner saved the Cavaliers from letting this game slip away. The senior forward scored 15 points on 6/7 shooting in the first half to help UVA take a big lead. Then, in the second half, Gardner made critical plays every time Georgia Tech threatened to overtake Virginia, whether it was grabbing offensive rebounds or knocking down his patented mid-range jumpers. Gardner’s statline was outstanding across the board: 26 points on 10/19 shooting, 6/6 from the free throw line, seven rebounds (including four offensive boards), two assists, three blocks, one steal, and zero turnovers. The East Carolina transfer has adjusted well to ACC competition after a slow start.

Kihei Clark

The orchestrator of the UVA offense had himself another solid game. Clark scored 15 points and hit three three-pointers, including yet another big-time triple late in the game to put Virginia up by eight points. The senior point guard also had four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and went 4/4 from the free throw line to seal the win in the final minute.

Francisco Caffaro

Both Caffaro and Shedrick have played much better during this four-game winning streak for the Cavaliers. Caffaro had six points and eight rebounds (four offensive and four defensive) and most importantly, went 4/5 from the free throw line. Caffaro’s improvement at the charity stripe has been one of the more underappreciated developments over the past several games (14/17 FT in the last six games).

Takeaways

Jayden Gardner is an All-ACC performer

Coming into the season, there were some who questioned how well Jayden Gardner’s game would translate to ACC competition, especially given his undersized measurements at the forward position. Gardner had a rough stretch early in ACC play, including three straight outings of ten points or less against North Carolina, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. Since then, however, Gardner is averaging 16.9 points per game including two performances of 20+ points. He is nearly automatic from mid-range and more than makes up for his size with a level of energy and hustle that makes him an extremely effective rebounder. Gardner is currently top-15 in the ACC in both scoring and rebounding and is the go-to scoring option for a Virginia team that is just starting to click at the right time.

Just keep winning

In an ideal world, Virginia would have continued its recent resurgence with a crushing victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday. Instead, the Cavaliers saw their 17-point lead reduced to just two points with over five minutes remaining, but managed to outlast the Yellow Jackets and ended up winning by ten. At this point, with just five games remaining in the regular season, it does not matter how the Hoos win, as long as they win. Overall, Virginia has played some of its best basketball of the season on both ends of the floor over the past four games. The Cavaliers dipped slightly into their old habits (defensive breakdowns and scoring droughts) in the second half, but UVA shaped up down the stretch and made the crucial plays needed to come away with the win. And that’s all they need to do.

Season Reset

Virginia is now 16-9 overall and 10-5 in ACC play with five games remaining in the regular season.

Next five games: at Virginia Tech (Feb. 15), at Miami (Feb. 19), vs. Duke (Feb. 23), vs. Florida State (Feb. 26), at Louisville (Mar. 5)

Postseason outlook: After the upset win over Duke, Virginia began to creep into the bubble pictures of some of the latest bracketology projections, mostly as one of the first four teams out of the NCAA Tournament. A victory over a Georgia Tech team that is second to last in the ACC standings is certainly not the most impressive resume-builder, but it does show that the Cavaliers are more than capable of turning their recent success into an extended winning-streak. For the second week in a row, UVA has to follow up a home win by turning around and playing a tough road game just 48 hours later, as the Cavaliers head to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech on Monday night. The margin of error remains very small for Virginia and it will likely take at least four wins in the last five games, plus a decent showing in the ACC Tournament in order for the Cavaliers to not be sweating it out on Selection Sunday.

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