The Virginia and Duke basketball rivalry has had its fair share of dramatic endings over the years. Saturday’s game at the John Paul Jones Arena became the latest to join the list.
UVA claimed a 69-62 win in overtime, but only after Cavaliers everywhere held their collective breath. The Blue Devils’ Kyle Filipowski had attacked the basket with 1.2 seconds to go in a tie game at the end of regulation, but the Hoos’ Reece Beekman met him at the rim. Both players crashed to the floor when the baseline official signaled a foul. Beekman appeared to block the initial attempt before any contact occurred and after a review, the official sent the game to overtime with no free throws for Filipowski.
Virginia fans, of course, were quick to point out similar late game issues that went Duke’s way with Willie Dersch at the scorer’s table in the late 90’s and Grayson Allen’s foot on the floor game-winner as the most obvious examples. So, yes, the late game drama this time around was just another chapter in the rivalry.
“We have the advantage of being able to see the replay and boy Reece got it looked to me a good block on it,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “I would assume that the time ran out or the foul was after it. … I didn’t get an official [explanation]. … It was close right? Bang, bang. We’ll take it.”
The game had some more tense moments in overtime. After UVA built a 5-point lead, Duke’s Tyrese Proctor scored on a pair of drives to make it a 63-62 game entering the final minute. With the shot clock running down, Armaan Franklin slipped free in the left corner, received a pass from Kihei Clark, and nailed a 3-pointer in front of the Virginia bench to set off a celebration.
That clinching shot provided icing on the cake for a big day from Franklin. The senior guard poured in 23 points on 9-13 shooting, which included a 3-5 shooting day from 3-point range. That’s his sixth 20-point game of the season, which leads the team.
“I saw them kind of matched up on the side with Kihei on the wing and I just ran to the corner,” Franklin said. “His man didn’t switch off and I had an open corner look and I shoot a million of those a day. It’s just good to see that one go in.”
Virginia potentially could have avoided all the late game stress if not for a rough shooting day from 3-point range and especially the free throw line. The Cavaliers made just 4 of 14 triples (28.6%) as Clark was the only player other than Franklin to connect from deep. The free throw line had a bigger impact. UVA made just 9 of 22 free throw attempts in its win with Kadin Shedrick’s 50% (1-2) serving as the best number of the day. Clark went 1-3 and Franklin 2-5, while Isaac McKneely missed his only attempt and Ben Vander Plas made just 5 of 11.
UVA entered the day shooting 72.3% from the stripe.
“Ironically, we do a little free throw challenge game at the end of a lot of practices and [Friday] was the first time all year that every guy made every free throw so I told them after the game, I said don’t do that any more, just miss one or two,” Bennett said smiling.
Despite the 3-point shooting and shaky outing at the free throw line, Virginia produced enough to win thanks to a solid game otherwise. The Hoos scored 42 points in the paint and shot 51.9% overall (28-54). Those numbers came despite missing 9 layups too.
In addition to Franklin’s 23 points, Clark and Vander Plas also scored in double figures. Clark posted 16 points on 7-10 shooting to go with 5 assists. Vander Plas finished with 13 points on 4-7 shooting to go with 4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 assists. Jayden Gardner had 6 points, while Beekman added 4 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, and the 1 blocked shot.
With several players in foul trouble and the free throw woes, the ability to hang in there and win anyway reflected on the team’s maturity this season.
“I think just with the experience and the old guys we have on the team, stuff like that can happen. You’ve just got to keep pushing through,” Vander Plas said. “You’ve got to be able to control your effort on the defensive end and keep doing everything else.”
The Cavaliers certainly did that on the defensive end.
Duke managed just 44.9% shooting (22-49) overall and committed 22 turnovers. Jeremy Roach had 16 points to lead his team, while Proctor added 14. Jacob Grandison and Dariq Whitehead had 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Virginia held the Blue Devils’ starting frontcourt to 2 points. Dereck Lively II had those points from the free throw line just 11 seconds into the game. From there, he didn’t score again. Star freshman Kyle Filipowski finished without any points in 29 minutes. He went 0-6 from the floor and 0-2 from the free throw line. He’s averaged more than 15 points per game this season.
“Whenever you play against good players, pick your poison, but they have to earn and I don’t think he got too many clean looks,” Bennett said. “I don’t even know if he got a rhythm 3, well he only took one. We just tried to play as hard as we can and made him earn his looks. They got some other stuff and I think they used him well to bait us out and they got in the lane. … He’s young. The inexperience shows at times, but he’s good, really good and he plays hard, which I respect.”
The Cavaliers remained tied for first place in the ACC standings with the win. They travel to Louisville on Wednesday.
“It just goes to show how much work we put in on the defensive end, down the stretch trying to get those stops and then on the offensive end, being able to have poise with our guards and our bigs, be able to execute down the stretch, get good looks, and that’s all at the end of the day that it comes down to is being ready when your name is called and knocking down shots,” Franklin said.
