Kihei goes bombs away on Yellow Jackets and Pastner wishes he’d leave already

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Kihei Clark was wearing one of those canary-chomping-Cheshire cat grins when he fielded a question from the media during postgame interviews in Virginia’s 63-53 win over Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Clark, the Cavaliers’ diminutive senior point guard, was asked about what made him laugh when he was approached by a Georgia Tech assistant coach in the handshake line immediately following the game.

“He said he’ll be happy that I’m gone,” Clark smiled again.

Apparently that’s a common theme among all the Techsters, who have now dropped nine in a row to Virginia. Even Yellow Jackets head coach Josh Pastner mentioned it in his postgame presser.

“Is he a senior?” Pastner questioned the press. “I hope he leaves.”

Clark didn’t score the most points in Virginia’s win over Georgia Tech. That honor went to teammate Jayden Gardner, who tore of the Jackets’ zone with his deft touch from 15-to-17 feet for 26 points.

Clark was the only other Cavalier in double figures (15), with nine of them coming from beyond the arc, where he has become incredibly efficient during Virginia’s surge. Tony Bennett’s team has now won four games in a row and five of its last six, bowing down to only Notre Dame in a close one at South Bend.

Pastner was bemoaning the fact that Clark has tossed daggers at his team before and he’s getting a little tired of it.

“Those late two (triples) were back-breakers,” Pastner said. “We probably should have beaten them last year at our place and [Clark] did the same thing. Give him credit. He’s a winner.”

Clark was 3 for 9 from Bonusphere, and the two late ones Pastner referred to were huge and extra huge.

Tech had cut UVA’s once 17-point lead down to four (46-42) with 8:17 to play.

BAM! Clark nailed a 3-pointer to keep an arm’s length.

Then, with two-and-a-half minutes to play, BOOM! Another Clark triple expanded the Cavaliers’ lead to 57-49 as the Jackets were making a last-ditch effort.

If that wasn’t enough, he iced it with four consecutive free throws in the final minute to elevate Virginia to 16-9 overall and 10-5 in the ACC, the 10th consecutive season with 10 or more conference wins.

Clark has a penchant for knocking down game-changing 3-pointers, particularly down the home stretch of close games. He’s a guy who doesn’t bring a lot of attention to himself and often offers up an aw-shucks answer when the spotlight shines on him.

“I was taking the shots that came to me,” Clark said when asked about making big ones. “The shots felt good. I was trying to take what the defense was giving us.

“Obviously, I knew we could use a big basket. Reece [Beekman] did a good job of driving on them and he kicked it out. It was a good play.”

Told you he was modest.

Later, he confessed that, “I’m kind of hunting those shots,” and that he’s made a lot of big ones late in games ever since his high-school days back in Cali.

“I hit a couple of game-winners in my high-school career,” he grinned sheepishly.

Georgia Tech didn’t make it easy. The Jackets’ zone scheme is complicated and confusing to work against, although Virginia found some holes in it by getting the ball to Gardner down in the soft corner.

Meanwhile, Clark did his damage from the hinterlands.

“Their zone is kind of weird and tough to play against,” Clark said. “They really extend their zone and they play the passing lanes. They make it tough, rotate well and talk well on defense, so it’s a tough zone. But we just kept trying to move the ball and punch the gas when we could.”

This was a game Virginia could not afford to lose. While a win over Georgia Tech doesn’t move the needle very much on the Cavaliers’ analytic rankings, a loss would have proven deadly to NCAA tournament chances.

According to ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg, he said during a podcast on this website Friday that he felt Virginia needed to win four or five of its last six games. No room for error.

Now, the Cavaliers have to somehow rest and prepare for another Saturday-Monday turnaround for a trip to rival Virginia Tech. The Hokies, who defeated Syracuse on Saturday night, are almost as desperate as UVA, but rated higher in some analytic polls.

A win in Blacksburg would certainly give Virginia a significant boost toward the postseason.

“We’ll get as much rest as possible, watch film,” Clark said. “We know it’s going to be a fight going into Blacksburg.”

Bennett talked about Clark’s experience and how often times games like Saturday’s come down to making plays.

“You need a play to be made, making a shot, making a defensive play, whatever it is, all that stuff was on display,” Bennett said of his point guard. “A lot of experience for that young game and I’m glad that he’s here.”

Pastner and the Jackets were not. Who knows, Clark, if he so chooses, has an added year of Covid eligibility remaining. So, maybe that Tech assistant could run into the Virginia guard in a handshake line again next year and say, “Damn, I thought you were gone.”