DURHAM, N.C. — Virginia was on a nine-game heater and four days removed from a 29-point demolition of NC State. Duke is college basketball’s top-ranked team and most recently punished Notre Dame by 44, the Fighting Irish’s worst-ever home defeat.
So in theory, Saturday was the most compelling UVA-Duke clash since January 2019, when the undefeated Cavaliers stood atop the coaches poll, the Blue Devils atop the Associated Press rankings.
Theory and reality were not remotely similar at Cameron Indoor Stadium, where Duke humbled No. 11 Virginia 77-51.
“I’m not worried about one game,” Cavaliers coach Ryan Odom said. “I’m worried about the mindset of our team. We can’t lose our confidence because we just lost to a really good basketball team.”
His concern is valid, for while defeat is not foreign to Virginia (25-4, 13-3 ACC), lopsided defeat is.
The Cavaliers’ previous setbacks, to Butler, Virginia Tech and North Carolina, were competitive throughout. Saturday was competitive for about five of 40 minutes.
Duke (27-2, 15-1) never trailed and led by double-digit margins for the final 27 minutes. The Blue Devils are taller, stronger and longer than most any team in the sport, and they bullied a UVA crew that is accustomed to bullying others.
“I think it took us a little too long to respond to their physicality,” guard Dallin Hall said.
Duke's Dame Sarr goes up for a dunk against Virginia's Johann Grünloh during Saturday's ACC game in Durham, North Carolina. (Grant Halverson/Getty)
Hall, forward Thijs De Ridder and reserve guard Chance Mallory were the lone Cavaliers who distinguished themselves. Indeed, De Ridder was his team’s only double-figure scorer, finishing with 16 points, despite foul trouble that limited him to 20 minutes.
Malik Thomas and Sam Lewis, Virginia’s Nos. 2 and 3 scorers on the season, were a combined 0 of 14 from the field. Jacari White, the Cavaliers’ best long-range shooter, was 1 of 7.
But with the nation’s most efficient defense, Duke does this to opponents, especially at Cameron, where it’s won 31 consecutive games. In fact, the Blue Devils’ aggregate victory margin in their past three ACC outings, 107 points over Syracuse, Notre Dame and Virginia, is a conference record.
And here’s another ACC regular-season record: Saturday was the Blue Devils’ 10th conquest of a ranked team.
The Blue Devils pestered UVA into a season-low points and season-low 29.1% shooting, the 27th time in 29 games Jon Scheyer’s team has held an opponent below its scoring average. Moreover, by protecting the paint with big men such as Cameron Boozer, Patrick Ngongba II and Maliq Brown, the Blue Devils baited the Cavaliers into hoisting 35 of their 55 shots from beyond the 3-point arc.
Duke's Maliq Brown tracks down a loose ball in front of Virginia's Jacari White on Saturday. (Grant Halverson/Getty)
Virginia made a desultory seven of those attempts, while Duke hit 12 of 24 from deep. Isaiah Evans, as usual, was the spark, with a handful of 3s and a game-high 19 points.
But Evans you expect. When secondary shooters such as Darren Harris, Dame Sarr, Ngongba and Brown are making 3s, as they did Saturday, Duke borders on unbeatable.
“Even though they’re a great defensive team,” Evans said, “teams break down, and we just took advantage of our opportunities.”
Then there’s Boozer, a 6-foot-9 freshman and the presumptive national Player of the Year. He finished with a season-low three field goals, but made 11 of 12 free throws, all of them in the first half.
“Our doubles (on Boozer) were way too slow,” Odom said, lamenting the undisciplined defense that sent Boozer to the foul line repeatedly in the opening 20 minutes.
This is Odom’s first season at Virginia, but 12th as a head coach, and after Saturday’s outcome, he shared with his players a similar moment from his 2018 season, when his UMBC squad lost at fellow America East contender Albany 83-39.
“That team went on to do something pretty special,” Odom said.
That UMBC team became the first No. 16 NCAA Tournament seed to defeat a No. 1 seed, stunning Virginia.
How this UVA group, largely a collection of transfers and European imports with no history together before this season, reacts to its first emphatic defeat will be fascinating to watch.
While Duke is assured of the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, Virginia still resides in second place entering home games versus Wake Forest and Virginia Tech next week to close the regular season.
“I’ve been in college for so long, said fifth-year forward Devin Tillis, a UC Irvine transfer. “I’ve had games like that where we’ve gotten smacked. … Having a game like that, although it sucks losing that bad, it’s probably beneficial to us to go back to the drawing board and fix some things going into March.”
David Teel, david.teel@virginiamedia.com
