Instant Takeaways From Virginia's 74-70 Loss To No.1 Duke In The ACC Title Game

Virginia fell for the second time this season to Duke, but had the Blue Devils on the ropes and nearly pulled off the upset win. Virginia Malik Thomas had a chance to tie the game up with less than a minute to go at the charity stripe, but couldn’t convert the first part of the 1-on-1. Isaiah Evans would get fouled and nailed clutch free throws to give the Blue Devils a comfortable lead. It would be the foul game from three, and Virginia would run out of time after a turnover and a steal by Duke Cayden Boozer ended it. Despite the loss, the Cavaliers nearly knocked off the No.1 team in the country. That is worth something, and they showed the committee on the big stage that they can hang with anyone and be a top team in the country. Let’s take a look at key takeaways from the game for the Cavaliers.

1. Virginia shuts down the best player in the Country Cameron Boozer

The Hoos played great team defense on Boozer throughout the game. On one hand, you can say fatigue, but on the other, the Cavaliers sent multiple bodies all game and never allowed Boozer to get comfortable. The defensive game plan was so good that the Blue Devils moved Boozer to the point guard position just to free him up and give him more opportunities, putting him on the ball. He had just two points on 1-5 shooting in the first half of the game. Despite Boozer hitting double figures in the game, the Hoos defense was superb and held him to just 13 points on 3-17 shooting. A lot of his damage came at the free-throw line, where he went 6-9 from the charity stripe.

2. Thijs De Ridder Underwhelms

It was a disappointing performance from the Cavaliers' best player, who managed just five points on 1-6 shooting and had three turnovers. He did grab six rebounds, but he was a virtual non-factor in the ACC title game. Every game isn’t going to be superb, but in one of the biggest games of the season, you need your best player to be a factor in the game and have a good performance. His teammates picked up the slack on Saturday night, but if the Cavaliers are going to go where they are capable of, they need De Ridder to be a factor and dominate opponents.

3. Sam Lewis carries Virginia and hits 1,000 points

After being scoreless in the first matchup and fouling up, Lewis avenged his performance on Saturday and had 10 points on 4-6 shooting at the beginning of the second half. He also made a major rejection in the second half of the game against Cayden Boozer, who had a breakout performance. Lewis finished with 17 points on 7-11 shooting, and he went 3-5 from three-point range. With the Cavaliers' star player struggling, Lewis picked up the slack and carried the day on offense. His hot shooting kept the Cavaliers in it and calmed things when Duke tried to increase their lead to double-digits.

4. Ugonna Onyenso continues to thrive in big games-

Onyenso was excellent on the defensive side of the ball for the Cavaliers in the ACC title game, pestering scorers and defending the rim. He finished with an ACC championship record of eight blocks on Saturday night. Onyenso already recorded an eight-block game. He had multiple rejections against Duke’s best player, Cameron Boozer and even forced Duke to change their offensve gameplan and put Boozer as more of a point forward. Onyenso got more minutes down the stretch of the game and gave head coach Ryan Odom a defensive stalwart who wasn’t going to allow Duke to dominate the paint. Onyenso can be the reason why Virginia makes a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

5. Virginia is a really good defensive team and can go toe-to-toe with the nation’s best

Yes, the Blue Devils were without two of their starters in Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba, but the Cavaliers were unrelenting all game long and made it tough for Duke to get going. They continued to pressure the basketball and defend the paint at a high level. After shooting 16-32 in the first half, Virginia held Duke to just 9-33 shooting in the second half. They also shut down Cayden Boozer, who had 14 points in the first half, to just two points on 1-4 shooting in the second half. Duke shot just 38% from the field in the game and 32% shooting from beyond the arc. Virginia finished with 12 blocks and three steals on Saturday night. Regardless of the result, coach Odom has something to hang his hat on with how good the team is defensively and their ability to block shots.