Virginia Wins Top Five Clash At Duke

Virginia remained undefeated in ACC play.
Kyle Guy and the Hoos celebrated a big win at Duke. ~ Photo courtesy of Matt Riley at Virginia Athletics Media Relations – check out his entire gallery at this link!

Before the smart phone. Before HDTV. Before Tony Bennett’s playing career ended. Before this site became TheSabre.com. The long wait for another win at Cameron Indoor Stadium ended Saturday when the No. 2 Virginia basketball team took down No. 4 Duke, 65-63.

That ended a 17-game losing streak at the venue as the program won for the first time there since 1995. It also represented the first road win against a top five team since 1993. The Cavaliers remained undefeated in ACC play with the victory and will take their 9-0 league record into a showdown with second place Louisville on Wednesday.

“It felt good,” UVA coach Tony Bennett said. “The last couple of times we’ve been here, it’s come down to the wire so it felt good to get it the way we did.”

The two top five teams swapped control of the game in the middle 20 minutes. Virginia closed the first half with a steady 14-8 advantage in the final 10 minutes before halftime. That gave the visitors a 32-22 lead at intermission and Devon Hall stretched it with a 3-pointer to start the second half. Duke answered with a 19-4 surge to take a 41-39 lead by the 12:44 mark.

That back-and-forth action set up a duel as the two teams entered the final 10 minutes tied at 46-46.

“I just said at the 10 minute mark, there’s so many possessions left,” Bennett said. “Can we steady the ship and get after it?”

The two teams traded buckets over the next two minutes as Marvin Bagley hit a 3-pointer and Grayson Allen added a layup for Duke, while De’Andre Hunter put home an offensive rebound and another shot for Virginia. Hunter had scored six of the last eight points for his team after it had started 3-of-15 shooting against a 2-3 zone that the hosts moved into after Hall’s triple after the break.

Hunter made one more bucket just after the five-minute mark, but stayed on the floor grabbing his right ankle after landing on another player’s foot. He exited the contest after establishing a 55-53 lead with that drive and never returned. That meant the Hoos needed to finish off the win without one of their best weapons against the zone. All three of UVA’s starting guards answered the bell down the stretch.

First, Hall made a left-handed floater after catching the ball in the middle of the zone. Bagley followed with a dunk, but one of the games’ crucial sequences followed. The Cavaliers came out of the under-four minute media timeout with 10 seconds on the shot clock and Kyle Guy air-balled a baseline shot over the rim. The sophomore chased down the miss, however, to come up with the rebound and then fired a shot off the back of the rim. Jerome corralled the long rebound and the possession ended with Guy hitting a corner 3-pointer on the baseline while Jack Salt screened the zone’s rotation.

Virginia remained undefeated in ACC play.
Ty Jerome delivered during the stretch run at Duke. ~ Photo courtesy of Matt Riley at Virginia Athletics Media Relations – check out his entire gallery at this link!

Bagley cut the lead to two again entering the final minute and this time Jerome stepped to the forefront. Duke tried a home run break over the Cavaliers’ transition defense, but Jerome tracked it down and picked off the pass. Then late in the shot clock on the ensuing possession, he calmly made a ball fake and drained a long-range 3-pointer with just 37.6 seconds to go. He had already hit a 3-pointer at 6:41 from a similar distance too.

A couple of missed free throws on one-and-one opportunities allowed Duke to have a chance at the last-gasp rally, but Guy finally sealed the drought-breaking win with six seconds remaining.

“This is a special environment as it always is here and you do have to have some poise and toughness in this setting,” Bennett said. “Different guys at different times – you know we tried to slide some different guys in the high post when we were struggling offensively. De’Andre did it, Devon made a play. Kyle hit the corner three, Ty hit the dagger up top. So we did some things. Jack was battling to the best of his abilities defensively. They find ways. They’re a team that’s a joy to coach because they’re pretty clear on who they are and it doesn’t matter who’s getting the shots or whose doing what so I hope that will remain.”

The final box score showed that ‘sum of its parts’ style in the end too. UVA placed four players in double figures. Guy led the way with 17 points, while Hall and Jerome really stuffed the stat sheet. Hall posted 14 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and one steal with one turnover. Jerome chipped in 13 points, five rebounds, seven assists, and three steals with just one turnover. Hunter finished with 12 points to round out the quartet.

Salt also added seven points, three rebounds, two blocked shots, and two steals in 31 minutes for Virginia. That proved to be a really big line with Isaiah Wilkins in foul trouble and on the floor for just 14 minutes.

The Cavaliers lost just five turnovers in the game, which helped counter some rim-attacking offense in the second half by Duke. The Blue Devils shot 58.6% after halftime to finish at 48.2% for the game. Bagley and fellow inside threat Wendell Carter set the tone in that regard. Bagley finished with 30 points on 13-of-18 shooting and 14 rebounds in 40 minutes, while Carter tallied 14 points and 15 rebounds in 37 minutes.

Ultimately, however, the hosts couldn’t overcome their turnovers. They had 16 in the game that led to 14 points for UVA. Combined with a good effort defensively in the first half when the Cavaliers held the percentage down to 37%, that proved to be too much to prevail.

“I thought the game was a tale of two halves,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “The first half, our guys have not been in a game like that, and it looked that way in the first half. They made us not play well. The level of intensity and the high level of defense and offense that they play, I thought knocked us back. In the second half, I thought we played really well and we fought. Again, all of this stuff is a big learning experience for these guys. In saying that, then we had a position to win. As all these close games are, there’s a Jerome three, a missed free throw, or a turnover; somebody makes a play and the other guys don’t make a play. Basically, they played really well. They’re a terrific team, and I thought we played well enough to win in that second half. We put ourselves in a position to win, but we couldn’t close it out.”

While the win set off euphoric feelings for Virginia fans and the players and coaches certainly embraced the moment of the accomplishment, they were quick to reset their attention with the ACC schedule at its halfway point.

“As far as winning here, I’m thankful. I really am,” Bennett said. “This is the gold standard, what Duke’s done. But we’re in a race here and we’re just trying to get better and that’s the way you do it. You just kind of take it one at a time. I’m glad at one point in my career I won at Duke. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to do it again.”

Virginia Basketball Final Stats