U.Va. cruises to 70-38 dismantling of Georgia Tech

A week ago, you could feel the saliva from screaming fans on the back of your neck and not hear a word anybody was saying at a raucous Cameron Indoor Stadium. On Thursday night, the bounce of the ball and the squeak of sneakers was audible from the farthest reaches of Philips Arena as No. 15 Virginia played Georgia Tech.

The change in environments certainly didn't throw U.Va. off.

The Cavaliers, behind 18 points from Mike Scott, 16 points from Joe Harris and an encouraging effort from Sammy Zeglinski, bounced back from their loss to Duke with one of their most convincing wins of the season — a 70-38 dismantling of Georgia Tech in front of a crowd of 5,885, about 12,000 below capacity.

The 32-point margin of victory was Virginia's largest on the road in the ACC since 1983. The 38 points was the second fewest U.Va. has allowed an opponent this season.

"Whenever you have a game like that, partly it's due to good defense on our part, and then obviously they were off in terms of their 3-point shooting and even with their free throws," said Virginia coach Tony Bennett, whose team hosts Virginia Tech on Sunday. "They were cold.

"The combination of that allowed us to get some separation. We tried to run our offense hard. I thought our guys were sharp. To start the second half, we had a few defensive breakdowns, but we had enough of a lead."

Virginia (15-2, 2-1 ACC) outrebounded Georgia Tech 45-22, shot 48 percent from the field, and held the Yellow Jackets (8-10, 1-3) to 29 percent shooting.

There was one bit of bad news for Virginia, though. With 23 seconds left in the first half, center Assane Sene sprained his right ankle and had to be helped off the court and into the locker room. The senior did not return.

After the game, Sene was on crutches, but he sounded optimistic.

"Definitely, I will do my best to get back on Sunday," he said.

Scott started the game slow, but he wound up leading the way in scoring.

"I missed some easy early ones inside," he said. "I've got to work on finishing with contact. I still need to improve my game, but I just tried to stay poised and let the game come to me."

Virginia, whose last four games had been decided by an average of four points, finally had a game that didn't come down to the wire. The Cavaliers, who had 15 second-chance points, led almost from wire-to-wire.

Zeglinski, who had missed all eight of his shots in the loss at Duke last week, missed his first attempt of the game, but he converted on a fast-break layup off a pass from Jontel Evans. Two possessions later, he scored on a floater to put Virginia up 12-7.

"I thought having a week off, we really prepared for Georgia Tech and wanted to bounce back from the Duke game," said Zeglinski, who was 4 of 8 from the field for 10 points. "I thought we did that tonight.

"My shot felt pretty good all night. A couple of them just went in and out, but they were all on line and in rhythm, so I'll take it."

Harris scored 11 of his points in the first half, showing off his full repertoire.

His buckets included a 3-pointer, a hard drive to the basket and a floater in the lane.