By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Until the final seconds, an upset remained a possibility Wednesday night. No. 7 Duke refused to buckle late, however, and pulled out a 65-61 victory over Virginia before a capacity crowd at John Paul Jones Arena.
As disappointing as the outcome was for the Wahoos, who knocked off the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium early this month, they know they have to move on. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s postgame comments notwithstanding, the Hoos are not locks for the NCAA tournament, and they need more wins.
UVA has followed every loss with a victory this season, and senior point guard Kihei Clark is confident he and his teammates will bounce back again.
“Learn from it, watch film, but it’s over now,” Clark said of the loss to Duke. “We know we’ve got two big games ahead, and we just got to focus and lock into those games.”
Virginia’s final home game of the regular season is Saturday. At 4 p.m., UVA (17-11, 11-7) meets Florida State (14-13, 7-10) at JPJ. The game will be shown on ESPN2. The Cavaliers close the regular season March 5 at Louisville (12-15, 6-11), another ESPN2 broadcast.
“Each game is meaningful to us,” Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said.
A second straight victory over ACC leader Duke (24-4, 14-3) would have a valuable addition to the Cavaliers’ postseason résumé, and it was a taut affair most of the way, as has usually been the case when these teams have met during Bennett’s tenure.
“These games have been great, great games for the conference and for our two programs,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Just like the last game could have been ours, this game could have been theirs.”
On Feb. 7, Virginia edged Duke 69-68 in Durham on a last-second 3-pointer by sophomore guard Reece Beekman. UVa centers Francisco Caffaro and Kadin Shedrick combined for 24 points and 12 rebounds in that game, but their production dipped dramatically in the rematch.
UVA, which scored 52 points in the paint at Cameron Indoor Stadium, finished with only 20 in that category Wednesday. The Cavaliers stayed close to the Blue Devils anyway.
With four minutes to play, Virginia trailed by only three. At that point, AJ Griffin, one of several Duke players projected to be first-round NBA draft picks, was 1 for 8 from the floor. But Griffin hit a 3-pointer with 3:38 to play and then another at the 2:39 mark to help keep the Hoos at bay.
“Sometimes the game comes down to: Can you make a play?” Bennett said. “And they made some really impressive plays.”
Yet another Griffin basket, this one a leaner from the baseline, pushed Duke’s lead to five with 2:04 to play, and the 6-foot-6 forward closed the door on Virginia by making two free throws with 1.8 seconds left.
With a minute to play, the Cavaliers had possession trailing 60-57, but Duke freshman Trevor Keels turned a Clark turnover into a transition layup that made it a five-point game.
“When we had a breakdown, they made us pay, and that’s what good teams do,” Bennett said. “We had just a few too many.”
Sophomore guard Jeremy Roach scored 15 points, and Griffin and Keels had 13 points apiece for the Blue Devils. But nobody made more plays Wednesday night than the 5-foot-10 Clark. In front of a huge cheering section of relatives, he sank a career-high six 3-pointers and scored a career-best 25 points. He also had seven assists, six rebounds and two steals.
“He’s as good a guard as there is in the league,” said Krzyzewski, who also complimented Clark face to face after the game. “The shooting performance he put on in that first half, we had to change our defense.”
Clark made all six of his treys during a first half in which his teammates were a combined 3 for 15 from the floor.
“He kept us in it,” Bennett said.
“They were going in,” Clark said, “so I kept his shooting.”
Duke scored the final five points of the first half to take a 30-25 lead into the break. Clark’s teammates heated up in the second half––junior forward Jayden Gardner finished with 16 points and Beekman with 11––but the Devils never unraveled in front of the loudest crowd at JPJ this season.
“When Duke guards like that and plays like that and scores, you see their talent and their ability to be a really, really special team,” Bennett said.
Krzyzewski, who’s retiring after this season, is a legendary figure in the sport, and he answered unequivocally when asked about the Cavaliers’ postseason prospects.
“There’s no question that Virginia is an NCAA tournament team,” Krzyzewski said.
Analytics are important, he added, but “you need to give eye tests, too, and they are playing as well as anyone in our conference right now and happen for about a month.”
Krzyzewski noted that the Cavaliers went 3-1 against Duke and Miami, two of the ACC’s strongest teams, this month.
“It’d be a sin if they’re not in the NCAA tournament,” Krzyzewski said. “It almost makes me be like, What am I talking about? They have to be in. They’re that good. They really are that good, and Tony’s that good.”