Gardner leads the way as Virginia downs Yellow Jackets, 63-53

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia forward Jayden Gardner put on a show Saturday, leading the Cavaliers to a 63-53 win over Georgia Tech at John Paul Jones Arena, the team’s fourth-straight victory.

The Cavaliers (16-9, 10-5 ACC), who won their ninth in a row — and 17th in the last 19 meetings — against the Yellow Jackets (10-14, 3-10), got a game-high 26 points to go along with 7 rebounds from Gardner, while holding steady in the conference race with five regular-season games to play.

After trailing by as many as 17 points late in the first half, the Jackets scored the first seven points of the second to make it a two-possession affair, 32-26, by the 17-minute mark.

That’s when Gardner’s three-point play halted the momentum and briefly got the Wahoos back on track, but Tech hung around, down just 42-35 as the clock went under 12 minutes.

The Jackets trimmed it to four, 46-42, with 8:27 to play — the closest they had been since it was 8-4 — but Kihei Clark answered with a much-needed 3-pointer, just the Cavaliers’ third of the game in 14 tries up to that point.

Michael Devoe drilled one from downtown to cut the UVA lead to just two, 49-47, with 5:44 to go, but the Hoos responded with back-to-back Gardner baskets to retain a little breathing room.

“We just kept trying to move the ball and punch the gas when we could,” Clark said. “We’d try to get it to Jayden down low on the short corners as much as possible.”

As the clock went under four minutes, Gardner couldn’t get one to go, but Francisco Caffaro was there for the offensive rebound, then was fouled and split a pair from the stripe out of the final media timeout, and Virginia led by five, 54-49, with 3:25 remaining.

The defense got a big stop on the other end, and then Reece Beekman found a wide-open Clark, who connected again from downtown to cap an 8-2 spurt, and Tech coach Josh Pastner had to burn a timeout with 2:25 left.

Beekman hauled in a crucial defensive rebound and was fouled with 1:07 to play, and calmly knocked down a pair from the stripe, and then after another Tech miss, Clark swished home four more over the final 47 seconds to finish things off.

The Hoos shot just 39 percent (19 for 49), including 22 percent from deep (4 for 18), but sank 21 of 23 from the foul line (91 percent), forced 15 Tech turnovers, and prevailed on the glass, 32-24.

Gardner connected on 10 of his 19 field-goal attempts, while going a perfect 6 for 6 from the free-throw line. He added 3 blocks, 2 assists and a steal.

“We put in the work at the free-throw line in practice,” said Gardner. “We have good shooters, there’s just some games that we have low games. But, guys will keep putting the work in and knocking the shots down. You can’t live by the three. We don’t let that define our game.”

Clark finished with 15 points (3 for 7 from 3-point territory), 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a pair of steals, while Caffaro hauled in a game-high 8 rebounds to go along with 6 points.

Beekman was in foul trouble for a second-straight game, only registering 23 minutes on the evening. He finished with 4 points, 3 boards, 3 assists and a steal.

Georgia Tech was led by Devoe’s 17 points, while fellow senior Jordan Usher finished with 11 and Rodney Howard added 10 off the bench, as the Jackets shot 46 percent for the game (21 for 46) and 33 percent from 3-point land (4 for 12).

FIRST HALF

With the game scoreless in the early going, the Wahoo defense forced a shot-clock violation at the 17:32 mark to give the fans something to cheer about, as the two teams combined to miss the game’s first five shots.

Armaan Franklin, who had an off night with just 5 points on 2-for-10 shooting (0 of 5 from long range), got the first points to fall on the ensuing possession, as his juke move left his defender in the dust before sinking a long jumper.

Gardner converted a three-point play and flexed for the crowd, giving Virginia a 6-2 cushion with 15:17 on the clock. Moments later, Kody Stattmann entered the game and knocked down his first look from 3-point land, stretching the lead to 11-4.

Gardner sank a baseline jumper, and then, following his own steal on the other end, the ECU transfer connected on another bucket to cap a 9-0 Cavalier run to make it 15-4, just before the Hoos forced the fourth GT giveaway of the half going into the under-12 timeout.

The Jackets misfired on seven of their first nine field-goal attempts, while a Clark triple and yet another Gardner mid-range jumper made it six-straight makes for the Hoos.

Stattmann scored off of a Beekman steal to make it seven in a row, as the lead ballooned to 22-6 with 9:27 left. Devoe’s 3-pointer at the 8-minute mark finally gave Tech some momentum, as the Jackets gained some ground while UVA went over six minutes without a field goal, only getting two Caffaro free throws to drop during that stretch. The Cavaliers’ lead was trimmed down to 11, 24-13, by the final TV break.

UVA missed seven-consecutive baskets until Gardner got one to fall to end the cold streak with 2:43 remaining, and then his sixth basket of the day pushed the advantage to 30-13, the largest lead of the half.

Georgia Tech was able to add a pair of buckets in the final 34 seconds to make it 32-19 at halftime. Gardner had a game-high 15 points at the half on 6-of-7 shooting, as Virginia scored 15 points off of 10 Tech turnovers.

Box Score

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia improved to 16-9, 10-5 ACC
• UVA tied a season high with its fourth straight win
• UVA secured its 10th straight season with 10 or more league wins
• UVA is 10-4 at home and has won 10 or more home games for 11 straight years.
• UVA is an ACC-leading 78-11 (.876) in league home games over the past 10 seasons
• UVA forced three shot clock violations (29 in 2021-22)
• UVA had a 12-0 run to gain an 18-4 lead
• UVA led 32-19 at halftime and is 13-1 when leading after 20 minutes
• UVA held its third opponent to fewer than 20 points in a half (FDU, Providence & Georgia Tech)
• Georgia Tech started the second half with a 7-0 run
• UVA went 21 of 23 from the free throw line
• UVA won the rebounding battle 32-24

Series Notes

• Virginia is 46-40 all-time vs. Georgia Tech, including a 26-11 home record, in the series that dates back to 1947-48
• The Cavaliers have a nine-game winning streak in the series
• UVA has a nine-game home winning streak in the series
• Virginia is 17-2 in its last 19 games against Georgia Tech, including a 16-2 mark under head coach Tony Bennett

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Jayden Gardner (26), Kihei Clark (15)
• Gardner reached double figures for the 20th time (93rd career)
• Gardner recorded his 38th career 20-point game (5 at UVA)
• Gardner has an eight-game double-figure scoring streak
• Gardner scored 15 of his 26 points in the first half
• Gardner had a career-high three blocked shots
• Clark reached double figures for the 13th time (47th career)
• Reece Beekman extended his steal streak to 15 games
• Beekman’s 53 steals are tied for 10th with Jeff Jones (1981-82) on UVA’s single-season steals list
• Kadin Shedrick (3 blocked shots) recorded his 12th game with three or more blocked shots

UP NEXT

It’s another quick turnaround for the Hoos, with a nationally televised Commonwealth Clash showdown at Virginia Tech on Monday night. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN. UVA defeated the Hokies, 54-52, at JPJ on Jan. 12.