CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.- Injuries and the specter of Tony Bennett Appreciation Day were too much for Georgia Tech in a 75- loss at Virginia on Saturday afternoon. The Jackets lost for the 13th straight time to Virginia and the 11th straight loss in John Paul Jones Arena. The loss snapped a two-game win streak for the Jackets.

Both teams sit at 5-8 in ACC play after the game and Tech fell to 11-13 on the season while Virginia moved to .500 at 12-12.

The big difference in the game was the injury to Tech’s leading scorer this season Lance Terry. He came into the game with an injured wrist and he was unable to shoot and went 0-4 from the floor in 32 minutes mostly as a decoy on offense. Terry was averaging over 15 points per game going into the contest.

It was Terry’s first scoreless game as a Yellow Jacket since 2/21/23 at Pitt in a game he was injured in 15 minutes into action.

Coming off a triple overtime win over Clemson earlier in the week, the Jackets looked tired in the second half and the stats backed it up as the Jackets were 1-7 from three and committed six of the eight total turnovers in that half.

“The difference between today’s game and the past three or four games is we the teams that put stress on other teams and we were not able to do that today. We had heavy legs. I would never make up the excuse for myself, but I can say for the guys you can see,” Stoudamire said. “When you make a couple of buckets offensively you can get some energy defensively and we just didn’t have that this evening.”

Tech point guard Naithan George led the effort for Tech with 20 points, but he was 1-5 in the second half shooting with just three assists and two turnovers. He ended the game 6-15 shooting and 5-9 from three with six rebounds and five assists.

Wing Duncan Powell was Tech’s only other perimeter weapon in the game. Powell scored 18 points with his last bucket coming as the clock was expiring. He also added two steals.

With Terry extremely limited Powell said they tried the best they could to work around being shorthanded and without shooters in the game.

“We knew going into the game that Lance was hurt and he was going to try to give it a go and be a decoy for us until they figured out he couldn’t shoot or do anything offensively,” Powell said. “That put a lot of stress on me and Nait as the only two three-point shooters and that is a hard way to play the game in today’s basketball with only two guys who can shoot the three and they would just chase us or sink in if we were to drive.”

Forward Baye Ndongo had 15 points and five rebounds, but he missed several layups around the rim during key stretches especially in the first half of the game helping dig the first half hole for the Jackets.

Freshman guard Darrion Sutton played his first extended ACC minutes with Terry injured logging 23 minutes with four points and his first two ACC field goals in the game. Sutton struggled at times defensively though.

“He is a guy that will have to play now. We have to speed him up. The other guys don’t necessarily have to be on the floor for practice but we have to speed him up and he has to learn how to play with the ball and how to play off the ball. He has to learn what we are trying to do defensively and things of that nature,” Stoudamire said. “For what he did tonight, I was happy. I didn’t think he did bad. This is not an easy place to play and it was the most minutes he played all season against a good team.

Virginia did most of their damage at the three-point line and on the offensive glass. The Cavs were +7 on the offensive glass with 13 offensive rebounds and shot 11-27 for the game led by Dai Dai Ames (18 points) and Isaac McKneely (20 points) each hitting four threes and guard Andrew Rohde added three threes, nine assists and zero turnovers.

Georgia Tech led much of the first half at Virginia before Isaac McKneely got red hot late and put up 18 first-half points to put the Cavs up 41-36 at the break. Nait George was just below him with 15 points and Duncan Powell had 10 in the first half for the Jackets. Virginia shot 54.8 percent in the first half and 6-14 from three while Tech shot 44.8 percent and 7-11 from three.

Virginia opened up a 9-0 lead on the Jackets behind a trio of threes and two bad offensive possessions for the Jackets. Tech used an 8-0 run and strong defense including a big block by Baye Ndongo to cut that lead to one at the first media timeout 9-8 with 14:50 left in the half. George hit a three to put Tech up 17-15 with 12 minutes remaining in the half. Tech maintained the lead through the next media timeout, 24-23 with 7:56 left. Virginia continued to shoot the ball well taking a six-point lead before a George three pulled the Jackets within three 36-33 with just over two minutes to go. Tech missed several shots around the rim and Virginia pulled ahead by eight before a late George cut the lead to 41-36 at the half.

Virginia opened the second half with an 8-0 run to go up 49-38 with 16:54 left in the game forcing a Tech timeout. Tech trailed 55-44 at the second media timeout with 11:22 left after Darrion Sutton hit a layup. The Cavs went up 63-49 just ahead of the U-8 timeout and cruised to victory.

Tech returns to Atlanta and will face Stanford on Wednesday evening in McCamish Pavilion before closing out the week with a game against Cal on Saturday.

“We just need to regroup and we have some home games coming up that I’m looking forward to,” Stoudamire said.