The nine-seed Virginia Cavaliers men’s basketball team (15-16, 8-12) heads to Charlotte to face off against the eight-seed Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (16-15, 10-10) in the second round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.
UVA closed the regular season with an ugly 84-70 loss at Syracuse. The Orange dominated the boards and shot uncharacteristically well from distance, while UVA’s best shooters — Isaac McKneely and Andrew Rohde — couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.
Georgia Tech was eviscerated by Wake Forest, 69-43, in their regular season finale. The Yellow Jackets had won three straight coming into the game, only to hoist up brick after brick in a game where they shot 29.6% from the field and 3-for-23 from three.
In the lone meeting between UVA and GT a month ago, the Cavaliers played one of their most complete games of the season, winning 75-61 backed by 20 points from McKneely, 18 points from Dai Dai Ames, and nine assists from Rohde.
Damon Stoudamire and the Yellow Jackets will be seeking revenge, and the winner of Wednesday afternoon’s game will be lucky enough to face the No. 1 team in the country: Duke.
Here are two things to know, one player to watch, and one prediction for the ACC Tournament game between Virginia and Georgia Tech on Wednesday.
Time: Wednesday, March 12 at 12:00 ET
Watch: ESPN2
Two Things to Know
Virginia owned the glass in the first game against Georgia Tech
UVA put up their best rebounding performance of the season last time they played Georgia Tech. They out-rebounded the Yellow Jackets 38 to 24, with 13 offensive rebounds.
Tech isn’t a particularly small team, but they lack height in their front court. Their tallest big man that actually gets playing time is 6-foot-9 Baye Ndongo. 6-foot-11 Blake Buchanan took advantage of Georgia Tech’s lack of size in the front court with 11 rebounds last time they played including five offensive boards. Jacob Cofie added six rebounds and Elijah Saunders had five.
The question for Wednesday’s rematch is whether that rebounding performance was an anomaly for the ‘Hoos. They’ve struggled on the glass throughout ACC play, and while Georgia Tech hasn’t been great, they aren’t normally getting out-rebounded by 14.
Virginia’s bigs will have to play physical, and crash the boards like their season depends on it (because it does). And, besides, if either team wants any chance to beat Duke, they’ll have to ramp up the rebounding intensity by 200%.
Georgia Tech defends the two well, but not the three
Virginia lit it up from distance last time they played Georgia Tech. They hit 11 threes as a team with four from McKneely, four from Ames, and three from Rohde. When Georgia Tech loses, it’s generally correlated with their opponent significantly out-shooting them from downtown.
On the flip side, if threes aren’t falling against the Yellow Jackets, then Georgia Tech’s defense can cause a lot of problems. They’re holding opponents to just 46.6% from two this season, which ranks 28th in Division 1. They do a great job swarming the ball in the paint and contesting shots around the rim.
Offensively, Georgia Tech isn’t a good three-point shooting team, and they don’t attempt all that many threes. If UVA’s shooters can get going early, then they’ll have a major advantage against Georgia Tech.
One Player to Watch
F Baye Ndongo (#11)
Georgia Tech’s sophomore big man is the anchor of this Yellow Jacket’s team. The 6-foot-9 forward from Senegal is one of the best rebounders in the ACC, averaging over nine rebounds per game. He’s also second on his team in scoring at 13.6 ppg.
He’s got long arms and rangy athleticism that make him a dangerous shot blocker. He’s also got a high release jump shot that makes it incredibly difficult to contest his mid-range.
Ndongo is scariest as a lob threat, where he’ll catch alley-oops out of pick-and-rolls, fast breaks, and even in-bounds plays. He throws down dunks with enough force that he can flip the momentum in a close game by hyping up the entire Georgia Tech bench.
This play from a few weeks ago perfectly encapsulates his strengths on both ends of the floor.
In the previous meeting against Virginia, Ndongo put up 15 points and five rebounds. I’d expect him to make a bigger mark on the boards in this game.
One Prediction
I couldn’t have been more wrong in my last prediction which had UVA dominating Syracuse from start to finish in the regular season finale. What I’ve learned making these predictions all season is that this team lacks what made all of Tony Bennett’s teams so great: consistency and predictability.
There’s no true winning formula for this UVA team. To be honest, they don’t have a real identity. Sometimes they’ll win by shooting the lights out from three. Sometimes the defense carries the load in a close, low-scoring game. Other times, it seems like they didn’t even show up to the gym.
All this to say I’m expecting a close, back-and-forth game between two middle-of-the-pack ACC squads hoping for one last positive moment before they’re likely dismantled by Duke in the quarterfinals. I believe Virginia has more talent and more to play for since it’ll probably be the last game for some of them in the Virginia uniform, and it’s likely the last game for their head coach Ron Sanchez.
Virginia 72, Georgia Tech 69
