Virginia looks to keep the momentum going off of its best win of the season when the Cavaliers host Georgia Tech on Saturday in Charlottesville.
The Cavaliers (15-9, 9-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) pulled off a 69-68 upset on the road at No. 7 Duke on Monday.
Virginia trailed 68-66 on the final offensive possession of the game when Reece Beekman received a pass in the corner. Beekman knocked down a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining, and the defense held on for one final possession to secure the victory against the Blue Devils.
“You have a tendency sometimes to make this bigger than it is when you come in here,” Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennett said after the win. “It’s an unbelievable atmosphere; you grow up watching it. You know how talented their team is, Coach K, all of that. But we just said, ‘Be laser-focused to start and play our kind of game.'”
The win was Virginia’s third in a row, vaulting the Cavaliers up to sixth place in the league and giving them their longest ACC winning streak of the season in the process.
Georgia Tech (10-13, 3-9 ACC) has dropped three of its last four games following a 79-70 setback at Miami on Wednesday. The Yellow Jackets are now 1-4 on the road in conference play after squandering a 14-point lead against the Hurricanes.
Georgia Tech turned the ball over 18 times and shot just 29.2 percent from 3-point range. Two of its starters — Khalid Moore and Rodney Howard — did not score.
“First off credit to Miami,” Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner said. “They’re a very good basketball team. We had some chances; 18 turnovers (are) too many. Of course, our guys are going to compete and get after it, but in the end, we had a segment there where there was a little bit of a scoring drought and the turnovers got us.”
–Field Level Media