ATLANTA — Georgia Tech and No. 9 Virginia met up for the second time this season, and the Yellow Jackets again demonstrated that they can stand toe to toe with the Cavaliers. And again they fell, losing 57-49 Wednesday night at McCamish Pavilion.
In a taut second half in which neither team led by more than five points until the 4:04 mark, the Jackets relived the agony of having the Cavaliers swoop in to claim a game that Tech had controlled for most of the 40 minutes.
Tech (9-7 overall, 5-5 ACC) saw its 11-game winning streak in ACC home games, a school record, come to an end. Virginia (14-3, 10-1) held the Jackets to 36% shooting, 10 percentage points below Tech’s season average.
In the team’s first meeting on Jan. 23 in Charlottesville, the Jackets led by 11 points in the second half only for Virginia to charge back in the final minutes for a 64-62 win.
Wednesday, the Jackets led from midway in the first half until the Cavaliers took the lead for good with 5:26 to play on a jump shot by guard Kihei Clark. Tech defended well, particularly guard Jose Alvarado’s play on forward Sam Hauser, but was done in by its 4-for-21 shooting from 3-point range.
Tech had the chance to send a strong signal to the NCAA tournament selection committee by beating the Cavaliers, No. 7 in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Instead, the Jackets can claim only another close loss to Virginia and consider what might have been.
In two games against Virginia, the Jackets led for more than 53 of the 80 minutes and ended up getting swept, extending their losing streak against their nemeses in orange and blue to eight games.
Wednesday, Tech led 44-41 with 6:18 to go on a jumper by Alvarado, but the Cavaliers then reeled off a 12-1 run, with Clark hitting the go-ahead basket on a jumper and then bagging a 3-pointer on the next possession. Clark scored all of his 14 points in the second half.
Alvarado led the Jackets with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting. He was also assigned to guard Hauser, the Cavaliers’ leading scorer at 15.4 points per game and someone with an eight-inch height advantage. Hounded by Alvarado, who chased him around the perimeter, suffocated him when he had the ball and prevented him from getting strong post-up positions, Hauser scored a season-low eight points, although he scored two critical baskets in the final six minutes.
