Both teams showed signs of improvement.
In Wednesday’s ACC Action, Virginia nearly upset Memphis, going down 64-62, and Georgia Tech beat the dreaded UMBC Retrievers, 92-81.
Virginia has had a tough time since Tony Bennett shocked the basketball world by retiring just prior to the season.
Virginia really didn’t shoot all that well - offensive specialist Isaac McKneely was just 2-7 and hit only one of his four three point attempts. Elijah Saunders led the way with 15 points and Taine Murray had a surprising game off the bench with 14.
Virginia was up 30-21 at the half and it looked like Bennett Ball was back.
But it wasn’t.
Memphis threw out a full-court press to start the second half and started turning over the ‘Hoos. PJ Haggerty had 21 points in the second half.
Virginia still had a chance to win but flubbed a key possession late when Dai Dai Ames couldn’t work a drive.
Georgia Tech fell behind 11-2 to UMBC and Damon Stoudamire quickly called timeout to right the ship. It worked: Tech took the lead back at 13-11 at the 14:13 mark and never looked back. The Yellow Jackets were up 53-41 at the half and while the Retrievers pulled closer, it was over.
Baye Ndongo and Naithan George, who are keys for this team, got back on track. Ndongo finished with 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block.
For his part, George had 18 points and eight assists.
Stoudamire tweaked his lineup a bit and started two sons of outstanding players at other schools: Ryan Mutombo, son of the late Dikembe, started and had six points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Jaeden Mustaf, son of former Maryland star Jerrod, has been coming on fast for the Yellow Jackets. He had 15 points, five assists, five rebounds and one steal.
It’s too early to know how well the tweaks will work but we’ll get a better idea soon as Duke visits Hotlanta Saturday.
That’ll be a busy day and we’ll get to it soon.
