CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Facing one of the nation's better defenses, No. 2 UVa didn't show much sign of wear with just a handful of games left in the regular season. Ty Jerome scored 19 points, De'Andre Hunter added 18, and the Wahoos shot 55.6 percent from the field in an 81-51 blowout of Georgia Tech Wednesday night.
With the win the Cavaliers (25-2, 13-2 ACC) secured a double-bye in next month's ACC Tournament in Charlotte. It was the fifth time in a row—all wins—that Virginia has held the Yellow Jackets to 54 points or less. And for the fifth time in six seasons, the Hoos have at least 13 league victories.
After controlling the paint in the win at Louisville on Saturday, UVa had another big night inside, outscoring the Jackets 42-26 and controlling the glass 41-21. The Cavaliers were also able to balance the number of minutes, with only one player going more than 30 (Kyle Guy, who had 11 points) and seven getting 17 minutes or more.
Outside of Jerome and Hunter, who combined to shoot 14 of 23 from the floor, UVa also got solid contributions from Kihei Clark and Jay Huff, who both scored eight points apiece. Clark hit a pair of 3-pointers in as many attempts along with racking up six assists and gathering three boards. Huff, meanwhile, was 4-for-5 from the floor and added four rebounds and a block.
Mamadi Diakite scored seven points and pulled in a career-high eight boards to go with his three blocks, giving him at least one blocked shot in 20 straight games.
Georgia Tech (12-17, 4-12) put three in double figures led by Jose Alvarado (12 points), James Banks (11) and Mike DeVoe (10).
The Jackets actually had an early lead in this one, taking an 11-10 advantage into the first media timeout thanks to a solid start shooting it (71.4 percent).Hunter hit a 3-pointer to get things going before the Jackets—who finished having shot 37.5 percent in the game—answered with a DeVoe bucket in the lane. Kristian Sjolund got his own offensive rebound and scored on the putback to give Georgia Tech its first lead on the ensuring possession. But Diakite answered on the end as the advantage seesawed back and forth until Virginia took control several minutes later. That included an Alverado runner followed by a pair of free throws from Hunter. After Banks scored in the lane and Sjolund hit a 3, Braxton Key answered on the other end for the Hoos.
Hunter's and-1 dunk gave the Cavaliers the lead for good with 14:05 left in the half but he wasn't done. His blow by bucket before Guy hit a 3 combined to make it an 11-0 run and an 18-11 lead with 12:31 remaining.
Things didn't get much better for the Jackets after they called a timeout at that point, as the run ballooned to 14-2 while the Wahoos made five of seven shots and GT went several minutes without scoring. Once the Yellow Jackets got back on the board thanks to a pair of free throws from Banks, UVa still scored the next nine points in a row and all came from either Jerome or Hunter.
By the time Huff blocked Banks' shot on one end (flat footed) and then got a tip in to go on the other with 3:05 left in the half, the Jackets were forced to call another timeout down 18.
Clark hit the first of his two 3-pointers with 1:24 left until the break and after leading 41-22 at intermission, Jerome kept things rolling for the Wahoos on the other side. He went on to score 12 in the second half alone.
Meanwhile, Clark hit his second 3-pointer of the night with 16:00 left to put UVa up 51-24 and if there was any doubt at that point, the rout was certainly on. It capped an 8-0 UVa run over 1:42 as the Hoos made four of five from the floor. Outside of back-to-back dunks by Marco Anthony and Huff in the last few minutes, the only thing in doubt was the final margin of victory.
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