For a team that already found life on the road tough this season, Cameron Indoor Stadium hardly represented an appetizing oasis on Saturday. It didn’t take long for Duke to show why. The Blue Devils jumped out to a double-digit lead less than 5 minutes in and never let Virginia back into it in a 73-48 victory.
Duke improved to 31-2 under Jon Scheyer at Cameron with the win, while UVA suffered its 7th loss by at least 16 points away from home this season. The 25-point margin of victory by Duke was its largest in the series since 2001 in a contest also at Cameron.
“This has happened to us a few times this year. If our defensive isn’t sound and right and we’re playing a team with the firepower of certainly Duke, it can get separated quick,” “We’ve had a few games where we’ve gotten beat handily. That’s a humbling place to be and so you know that going in and your work at it and try to prepare as well as you can, but they got the ball in the lane, down the floor, on the glass, every which way … and they guarded us well. Jon’s done a really good job with this team.”
Neither the defense nor the offense gave Virginia much chance at an upset in this one. The Devils, on the other hand, finished at 49.2% (30-61) for the game, a number softened by subs late in the action. The hosts had already scored 35 points just 15 minutes into the game as UVA’s defense provided little resistance. On the other end, the Cavaliers managed just 30.9% shooting from the floor (17-55), including an anemic 23.1% in the first half (6-26). That provided little firepower in a game where it was sorely needed.
Duke caused problems right out of the gates for the Virginia defense. Mark Mitchell converted an old-fashioned 3-point play on his team’s first possession of the game. On the next two possessions, Kyle Filipowski added two more layups. Those points near the basket became a theme for the night as the Blue Devils produced 18 layups or dunks, which explains a lot when it comes to their strong shooting percentage. It also means they made more layups or dunks than UVA did for total baskets.
That’s not a winning formula obviously. Duke dominated points in the paint 44-18 and Virginia seemingly had no answers. Whether it was screen-and-roll offense that easily picked the defense appart with ball movement, offensive rebounds (12 O-Boards for 8 second chance points), or simply players beating someone one-on-one, the Blue Devils had their way.
Filipowski landed at 21 points on 9-14 shooting as UVA could not stop him. He added 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and a block for good measure. Mitchell had 10 points with 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. Tyrese Proctor also rolled up strong numbers with 15 points on 6-8 shooting (3-4 from 3) and 5 assists.
“I don’t know if we got a little stunned at times, but the fight and the soundness … the fight was better in the second half, but the soundness was a bit much,” Bennett said. “… It had to be a collective effort. … Hopefully we’ll learn from that and grow from that. There’s not much to say. They pretty much got what they wanted in the first half.”
With no solution defensively, Virginia needed a big night offensively to keep pace. That simply didn’t happen.
In addition to the poor shooting numbers noted above, the Hoos managed just 29.4% shooting from 3-point range (5-17). Issaac McKneely made 2 of 5 attempts to lead the way there, but Duke generally made him uncomfortable as he posted 12 points on 3-11 shooting overall. He did go 4-4 at the free throw line to up his overall scoring total.
Uncomfortable is the right adjective to describe the Cavalier offense in general. They logged 12 turnovers and had difficulty breaking Duke down with the dribble or off-ball screening. Reece Beekman and Ryan Dunn were really the only ones that could create good chances, Beekman doing it with the dribble and Dunn doing it periodically slashing toward the rim. Dunn tallied 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots.
Beekman, meanwhile, led Virginia with 18 points on 7-15 shooting to go alongside 6 assists, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals. That last number helped him reach a personal milestone as he became UVA’s all-time steals leader with 223 now in his career, which overtook Othell Wilson with 222.
The rest of the roster had little success offensively. Jake Groves had 5 points on 2-5 shooting. Blake Buchanan had 2 points on 1-4 shooting. Dante Harris and Andrew Rohde both missed all 3 of their shot attempts, while Harris recorded 6 rebounds and Rohde had 3 assists. Jordan Minor did not score with only 1 shot attempt in 13 minutes. Taine Murray and Elijah Getrude both missed 2 shots in some late minutes on the floor.
UVA’s combined performance added up to another rough day offensively, which has become too much of a norm lately. Saturday marked the 4th time in the last 5 games that the Hoos scored in the 40’s. That’s concerning given the season’s late stage and a precarious position near the edges of the NCAA Tournament bubble. They get a week to regroup before the regular season finale against Georgia Tech next Saturday at the John Paul Jones Arena.
“We’ve been in this spot before. We’ve gotten blown out by a few teams and we’ve got a week now so you prepare as best you can because every game is important,” Bennett said. “We’re fighting like crazy to try to finish as high as we can in the conference, get the best seed we can, fight for an NCAA Tournament berth – all that stuff matters so as crappy as I feel right now, we’re still playing in meaningful games. This team still has what they’ve done so I look at that say OK keep trying to build on it. I will and they better keep swinging until the last tick on the clock. We have to do. And again, it’s meaningful. … It’s humbling. But you get back after it and push hard.”
Very meek team, especially inside. Gone is the swagger of Guy and Jerome, the toughness/audacity of Salt, Diakite, Huff, and the agility of Hunter, Hauser, and Trey. BTW all these guys later played for a pro team. Except for Reece and perhaps Dunn, no VA player today has the “right stuff.” It’s almost like a YMCA team in its road games.
Aside from Reece Beekman, they are horrible at the moment. At least Ryan Dunn made a three..