CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – If No. 14 Virginia’s game at Georgia Tech wasn’t over before it started, it certainly was shortly after tipoff.

Thijs DeRidder scored 22 points and Malik Thomas added 17 as UVA stormed out to a big lead, grabbed the largest halftime advantage this season in the ACC, and rolled to a 94-68 blowout of the stingless Yellow Jackets on Wednesday night in Atlanta.

UVA has won seven in a row, the longest win streak in the ACC. Georgia Tech dropped its eighth straight, the league’s longest losing slide.

Dallin Hall added 12 points and 10 assists.

The Cavaliers (23-3, 11-2 ACC) went 14 for 37 from 3-point range, their most made 3s since hitting 14 in a win at Louisville on Jan. 13, as they posted their highest regulation point total in ACC play this season.

The night started with Georgia Tech 14 spots behind UVA in the ACC standings, 8 1/2 games back of the second-place Cavaliers. It ended with the gap between the two teams looking even more substantial.

Plagued by slow starts in recent outings, UVA flipped that script.

A 22-2 run over 5:57 gave Virginia a 27-5 lead just 8:32 into the contest. And with Georgia Tech star Baye Ndongo picking up two fouls in the first five minutes of play, this one was never really a contest.

DeRidder, who had been scuffling in the month of February, scored 11 of his points in the first 11 minutes of the game.

The Cavaliers went to the locker room ahead 59-27, having authored their most dominant first half of the season. It saw them knock down 10 3-pointers, assist on 14 of 22 made baskets and out rebound the Yellow Jackets 27-14,

Georgia Tech (11-16, 2-12) committed seven turnovers, went 1 for 10 from 3-point range, and shot just 34.4% from the floor.

The second half played out more competitively, not that it mattered. UVA’s lead never fell below 26.

Perhaps the biggest development of the night was DeRidder’s big game.

The Belgium forward had scored at least 20 points in 10 of his first 20 games with the Cavaliers. He was held to single digits just four times during that stretch.

But over his last four outings, he averaged just 8.5 points per game. He surpassed that mark in the first 9:16 of the game Wednesday.

Next up for Virginia, it hosts surprising Miami (21-5, 10-3), which sits a game-behind the Cavaliers in third in the ACC standings. Before the game, UVA will name the court at John Paul Jones Arena in honor of former coach Tony Bennett, who led the ‘Hoos to the 2019 national championship.