Cavaliers open ACC slate against Jackets

Last season, when Virginia visited Georgia Tech, Calvin Baker — with some help from Lars Mikalauskas — led the Cavaliers to a win that likely kept them from finishing last in the ACC.

This afternoon, UVa plays at Tech in its ACC season opener. A win would be the Wahoos’ first step toward disproving the naysayers who believe they are destined for the league basement this season.

Virginia (5-4), coming off a much-needed win over Hampton on Tuesday, should be in for a battle with Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets are similar to the Syracuse team that UVa lost to on Nov. 28. Like the Orange, the Yellow Jackets have NBA-caliber talent in the front and backcourt.

Georgia Tech (7-3) has four players with double-digit scoring averages — Lewis Clinch, Gani Lawal, Alade Aminu and Iman Shumpert — and Zachery Peacock isn’t far behind at 9.6 points per game.

Lawal and Aminu are nearly averaging double-doubles in points and rebounds.

“I’m always on ESPN and checking out my competition within the ACC and across the nation,” said Virginia forward Mike Scott, who had 17 points and 15 rebounds versus Hampton, “and I know [Lawal] is in the top one or two. I’m going to have to bring my ‘A’ game defensively and go at him because I know he’s coming at me, too.”

Scott is also pretty familiar with Peacock. The 6-foot-8, 240-pound junior had 23 points and seven rebounds in the game in Atlanta last season.

“I got yelled at so many times about Peacock last year,” Scott said. “He had [23] points on me, so I didn’t forget about that. I’m ready to go back down there.”

The win over Georgia Tech, whom Virginia lost to in the first round of the ACC Tournament 10 days later, was a make-up game that had been originally scheduled for Feb. 21 but postponed due to a leaky roof at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

In the game, which was Virginia’s last road triumph, Baker hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 4.2 seconds left that proved to be the game-winner. UVa also got a strong game from Mikalauskas, who provided a much-needed physical presence against Peacock. The two went at it all game. At one point, they were each hit with technical fouls for jawing back and forth.

“Lars definitely had a good game,” Scott said. “Defensively, he saved us because defensively I didn’t provide for us.”

With the start of league play, Scott says everyone must raise their level of play. Virginia has lost 12 of its last 13 ACC openers.

“If you’re not scoring, you have to do something other than that — get rebounds, defend, run the court, set the screens,” he said.

Dunks

Georgia Tech, coming off a loss to USC, leads the all-time series, 38-29. … Virginia lost to Duke, 87-65, in last year’s league opener. … Clinch has averaged 18.3 points in his last three games. He was academically ineligible for the fall semester and didn’t play in the team’s first seven games.