No. 2 Virginia Powers Past Georgia Tech, 81-51
Postgame Notes | Postgame Quotes | Boxscore
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – A 25-4 run in the first half helped propel No. 2 Virginia (25-2, 13-2 ACC) to an 81-51 win over Georgia Tech (12-17, 4-12 ACC) on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. The win secures a double bye for the 2019 ACC Tournament.
Three players finished in double figures. Junior Ty Jerome (New Rochelle, N.Y.) led UVA with 19 points and had five rebounds with four assists. Sophomore De’Andre Hunter (Philadelphia, Pa.) had 18 points and junior Kyle Guy (Indianapolis, Ind.) added 11. Freshman Kihei Clark (Woodland Hills, Calif.) had eight points, going 3-for-3 from the field, and had a team-high six assists. Junior Mamadi Diakite (Conakry, Guinea, Africa) had seven points and a career-high eight rebounds with three blocks.
The Cavaliers shot 56 percent from the field and outscored GT, 42-26 in the paint. UVA dished out 17 assists and had a 41-21 advantage on the boards.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After being down early, the Cavaliers went on an 11-0 run bookended by threes for junior Braxton Key (Charlotte, N.C.) and Guy to take the lead. UVA had a 25-4 run over eight minutes to jump out to a 32-15 advantage. The Cavaliers took a 41-22 lead into halftime. Jerome started the scoring in the second half and had 10 of his 19 points after halftime. The Cavaliers closed the game with dunks by sophomores Marco Anthony (San Antonio, Texas) and Jay Huff (Durham, N.C.) for the 30-point win.
THE GAME BALL GOES TO
Ty Jerome finished 8-of-13 from the field. Jerome scored 10 points in the second half, including back-to-back floaters. He finished with four assists to one turnover.
NOTES
• No. 2 Virginia (25-2, 13-2 ACC) secured a double bye for the 2019 ACC Tournament
• The Cavaliers have won 25 or more games for the ninth time in school history with five of the nine under 10th year head coach Tony Bennett
• Virginia has won 13 or more league games for the fifth time in the last six seasons
• UVA has held 21 opponents to 40 percent or less field goal shooting and 24 opponents to 33 percent or less 3-point shooting
• Virginia is 7-0 when scoring 80 or more points
QUOTES
On Virginia’s spread of playing time:
“We played solid tonight. We did what we had to do. And I thought the group at the end did a nice job. I was glad to get [Kody Stattmann] in there, see [Marco Anthony] get a nice dunk and [Francesco Badocchi]. To have the game in a spot where you could balance the minutes and get different looks at guys and lower that minute count, that’s always a positive. Sometimes in this league you don’t have that opportunity, but we played well enough to be able to get everybody and opportunity, which I think is important.”
UP NEXT
Virginia hosts Pitt on Saturday, March 2. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 2 p.m.