Tobacco Road Report

Virginia clinched a first round bye in the ACC Tournament on Saturday by staging a late rally to edge a game Georgia Tech team. Trailing 69-62 with 3:31 left, Virginia would score the last 13 points in another road meltdown by the Jackets. The key play was a put back by Tunji Soroye with 29 seconds left that gave Virginia a two-point lead and the eventual win.

The game was a tale of two halves. In the first half, the Cavs dominated the first 10 minutes of action with Singletary and Reynolds connecting with deep field goals. The tempo was high and the Jackets defense was exposed. Tech was closing out well on jump shooters and Virginia was creating wing jumpers with solid baseline screens. The early deficit seems to be a pattern for Georgia Tech as Virginia opened with a 22-6 lead. TRR wonders if Hewitt’s pre-game talk includes anything related to basketball. With a blowout a possibility, Hewitt put in Mario West for Crittenton and the senior leader immediately stabilized the Jackets. The Jackets pounded the ball inside and attacked the Wahoo weakness. The trio of Dickey, Aminu, and Smith got the Jackets back in the game as the team outscored the Hoos 32-12 to close out the half.

In the second half, Tech was able to control tempo and take away the perimeter game for the Cavs. With Tech overplaying the high pick and roll, Virginia began to penetrate with the great guard duo of Singletary and Reynolds and scored through the foul line. On defense, Virginia ran double teams at the Tech post in the second half and Tech could not reverse the ball often enough to exploit the trap. Still, Tech was able to get a working margin with Thaddeus Young scoring the ball.

Watching the last three minutes illustrated the strength and weaknesses of each club. Virginia was able to get to the basket with their guards while Tech turned the ball over three times. In the end, the seasoned, disciplined club finished the drill, while the undisciplined club blew an opportunity at punching their NCAA ticket.

What does this mean?
We like Virginia’s guards, but their post play will send them home in March. Jason Cain plays with a lot of heart but he is undersized to battle some of the bigs that the Cavs will see in the early round action. Virginia will do well against the typical small mid-major club. We would love to see a Butler-UVa contest.

For Tech, at some point, you have to start pointing a finger at the coach. To open road games without any defensive tempo or offensive execution is poor. Tech’s half court offense was ok today, but you still see poor discipline on screens and cuts. Tech’s bigs do not play well against crashing guards in the post. We wonder what players like West and Aminu have to do to get significant tick for the Jackets. With all the talent the Jackets have (two McD’s all-Americans); Hewitt should be on the hot seat.