Duke Gets Revenge on Virginia with 65-61 Victory at JPJ

The Blue Devils outlasted the Cavaliers on Wednesday night to avenge an earlier loss to UVA from just over two weeks ago

Author:
Matt Newton
Updated:
Feb 23, 2022 10:52 PM EST
Original:
Feb 23, 2022

Just 16 days separated the two regular season meetings between Virginia and Duke. While the outcome was the same, with the road team winning in a close battle, nearly everything else was different. Kihei Clark caught fire from three-point range in the first half, but Duke dominated in the paint and beat back every attempt the Cavaliers made to retake the lead in the second half. No. 7 Duke avenged the 69-68 loss in Durham with a 65-61 win over Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena on Wednesday night.

Virginia had multiple lengthy scoring droughts in the first half, but Kihei Clark singlehandedly kept the Hoos afloat with a shocking display of lethal shooting. Clark knocked down six three-pointers in the first half, including a personal 9-0 run that turned a 17-13 deficit into a 22-17 Virginia lead and sent the sea of orange at John Paul Jones Arena into a frenzy. Clark's hot shooting was surprising, given the fact that the Cavaliers had made just two three-pointers in the entire game against Duke in the first meeting.

Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, no one else could score, as Clark was responsible for 18 of the team's 25 first-half points. Other than Clark's six three-pointers, Virginia was 3/19 from the floor in the first half. Coach K called a critical timeout after Clark's sixth three-pointer and Duke closed the half on a 13-3 run after that and the Blue Devils held a 30-25 lead at halftime.

In the first meeting, Virginia had a 52-28 advantage in points in the paint and Kadin Shedrick (16 points) and Francisco Caffaro (8 points) delivered strong performances. This time around, the Blue Devils commanded the painted area and both of UVA's centers had off-nights, as Shedrick scored two points and Caffaro had zero, missing multiple close-range layups in the second half. Duke had a 28-20 advantage in points in the paint in the win.

Clark finished with 25 points, six rebounds, and seven assists, but Duke did a much better job of guarding Clark at the three-point line in the second half and he attempted only two three-pointers after halftime, missing both.

UVA scored four straight points to start the second half on baskets by Reece Beekman and Jayden Gardner to cut it back to a one-point game. But, another Coach K timeout stalled Virginia's momentum and Duke responded by scoring the next five points, including a three-pointer from Jeremy Roach, who went 3/3 from downtown and led the Blue Devils with 15 points off the bench.

Virginia kept it close throughout the second half, as Duke's largest lead was a brief eight-point spread with just under seven minutes to play, and it seemed that the Cavaliers were just a couple of plays away from overtaking the Blue Devils. Every time UVA came close to tying the game, Duke responded by making a basket, or more frequently, by drawing a foul and extending the lead at the free throw line. Duke attempted 17 free throws as compared to just eight for Virginia. The Blue Devils went just 10/17 from the charity stripe, but in a game in which mistakes were few (UVA had 6 turnovers and Duke had 8) and possessions were low, that disparity in free throws proved to be a crucial difference.

After Duke went up by eight, Jayden Gardner, who finished with 16 points, made a jumper which sparked a 7-0 UVA run to make it a 52-51 game with just over five minutes remaining. Then, AJ Griffin took over the game.

Griffin, the ACC's leader in three-point shooting, was held to just two points and 0/2 from beyond the arc in the first meeting. In round two, Griffin tallied 13 points, 10 of which came in the final four minutes of the game. He made two three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to push the Duke lead back to five points. After a layup by Gardner, Griffin drove on Kody Stattmann and scored to put the Blue Devils up 60-55 with two minutes to play. A pair of Beekman free throws made it a three-point game, but Duke forced a UVA turnover and Trevor Keels, who finished with 13 points, scored a transition layup on the other end.

Gardner scored again to make it 62-59 and Keels went 1/2 at the free throw line to make it a four-point game with 15 seconds remaining. Gardner missed a corner three and Clark got the offensive rebound and drove to the rim for a layup, but it took too much time off the clock as just 2.5 seconds remained. Virginia fouled Griffin, who punctuated his clutch performance with a pair of free throws to ice the game.

Each of the last 14 meetings in the series have been decided by 10 points or less as Virginia-Duke has become one of the premier and most competitive rivalries in college basketball.

Virginia battled from start to finish, but came up just short of completing the season-sweep over No. 7 Duke. The Cavaliers fall to 17-11 overall and 11-7 in ACC play. Just two games remain in the regular season and UVA's NCAA Tournament hopes now entirely rely on finishing the season with two wins and then delivering a very strong performance in the ACC Tournament. At this point, it's possible that Virginia's only chance of qualifying for March Madness is to win the ACC Tournament and secure the conference's automatic bid.

Virginia hosts Florida State on senior day on Saturday at 4pm at John Paul Jones Arena.

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