ACC Tournament, 2nd Round

#9 Virginia (15-16, 8-12 ACC) vs #8 Georgia Tech (16-15, 10-10 ACC)

Noon, ESPN2

The regular season is in the rear view, and now it’s win-or-go-home for the Wahoos. Virginia enters ACC Tournament play tomorrow, taking on the #8-seed Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center. The winner of Wednesday’s matinee will move on to Thursday’s Quarterfinals, to take on top-seed Duke. UVa hasn’t missed the Quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament since 2011.

UVa and Georgia Tech met just once during the regular season. The Jackets were in Charlottesville on February 8th, the day that the Cavaliers honored retired coach Tony Bennett, and weren’t able to keep pace with the Hoos. UVa led early and eventually rolled to a 75-61 victory, and moved back to .500 for the first time in more than a month. Georgia Tech ended their season just over .500 at 16-15, but clawed to .500 in league play in Damon Stoudamire’s second season in Atlanta.

Virginia and Georgia Tech haven’t met often in the ACC Tournament, of late. The last meeting in conference tournament play came in 2016 in Washington D.C., when the Hoos out-shot the Jackets on their way to a Quarterfinal victory. UVa and Tech were set to meet in the 2021 ACC Tournament’s semifinals, but Virginia had to bow out after a positive COVID-19 test sent them home.

In UVa’s regular-season win over Georgia Tech, the Hoos shot the ball relatively well from the field, making 49.2 percent of their shots and 40.7 percent of their threes, hitting 11 of 27 tries. UVa also held a significant advantage on the glass, out-rebounding Tech 38-24 in the win. UVa also shared the ball well, with 21 assists to Tech’s 11, and scored 13 points off turnovers. Fouls were relatively uncommon in that matchup, with UVa shooting just five free throws, and Georgia Tech taking nine.

Georgia Tech heads into the ACC Tournament ranks #97 in Kenpom. The Jackets’ offense has been up and down this year, but their defense has been solid, ranking 72nd nationally in efficiency. Tech’s two-point defense is the highlight on that end of the floor, ranking 25th nationally in two-point percentage allowed, at 46.6 percent. The Jackets don’t send opponents to the line much, either, ranking 71st in free throw ratio. Georgia Tech does struggle to close out on threes sometimes though, allowing opponents to hit 35 percent of their triple tries. The Yellow Jackets don’t take the ball away much, either, ranking 275th nationally in turnover rate.

Georgia Tech ranks 161st nationally in offensive efficiency. Not a ton stands out about their statistical profile; the Yellow Jackets are simply relatively average across the board.They hit 33.9 percent from beyond the arc, and make 50.1 percent of their two’s, which is below average nationally. The Yellow Jackets rank 193rd nationally in turnover rate, and shoot just 68.1 percent at the free throw line, which ranks 313th in the D1.

Naithan George, Guard

Despite losing the game when Tech came to Charlottesville, Naithan George was one player that stood out in blue and gold. George led the Jackets in scoring with 20 points in a losing effort, and was easily Tech’s best player on the day. That performance was one of four straight with 20+ points, culminating in a 26-point, 8-assist game against Cal. The sophomore from Toronto averaged 12.5 points and 6.6 assists per game in the regular season.

Lance Terry, Guard

Georgia Tech’s leading scorer, Lance Terry came home to Atlanta to play for Stoudamire last year, after three seasons at Gardner Webb. Terry scored 15.4 points per game during the regular season, and was a solid three-point shooter at 36.7 percent. Last week, Terry went for 31 points in a win over Miami, including six made triples. Terry was silent in the first game against UVa, however, failing to score on 0-for-4 from the floor in 32 minutes.

Baye Ndongo, Forward

Georgia Tech’s post presence, the sophomore from Senegal had a nice finish to his season. Ndongo scored 29 on NC State and 22 against Miami and then finished the regular season with a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double against Wake Forest. Ndongo is averaging 13.6 points and 9.1 boards per contest, and had 15 points and 5 boards in Georgia Tech’s loss at JPJ last month.

This game feels like a straight toss-up, which makes sense given it’s an 8/9 game. Both teams had moments throughout the regular season, and Georgia Tech picked up two of the best conference wins of the season, beating both Clemson and Louisville. But like UVa, Tech had a bad outing to end the regular season, and now who knows what team will show up, in either uniform.

UVa was clearly the better team in the first game, but they were playing at home, on an emotional day with Bennett’s banner ceremony at halftime. Perhaps it’ll be more of the same, but UVa’s effort on Saturday is hard to overlook heading into this next game. Obviously UVa can win it, but for whoever comes out of this one, it feels like a setup to get blown out by Duke in the next round. We’re going with Georgia Tech in a game that could go in so many different directions for two programs running out their respective seasons, trying to make a miracle run through the conference tournament.