UVa.-Duke Live Blog
Join us here at TheSportsDominion.com for a live blog during tonight’s Virginia-Duke basketball game.
SportsDominion editor Chris Graham will provide commentary and analysis during the game – and you can join in with your thoughts as well.
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Key matchup – Sean Singletary/Greg Paulus
Key time – first five minutes
Mike Scott starting for UVa. – it’s about time!
Baker, too! Again, about time!
Good timeout by Leitao. If Virginia is going to do anything in this game, it’s going to need to get rebounds.
First four minutes – Duke up six, Singletary has two turnovers and looks lost against Paulus
I don’t know that the Cavs have earned their way back into the locker room yet. Leitao might want to consider locking them out of the one in Cameron, too, the way things are going.
If Duke is going to get that much pressure that far away from the basket on a consistent basis, then Virginia is going to have a hard time scoring.
Somebody backdoor!
Two threes off offensive rebounds … unacceptable.
High pick and fade works once, but c’mon, the same play twice! These kids did have to get into Duke.
Call timeout and make them run laps, Dave.
Duke 21-11, 11:47/1st
This is not the effort that I expected of a team that has been locked out of its locker room for lack of zeal and attention to detail. This is the effort that I expected of the team that struggled to get past Longwood, Hampton and Hartford and then got its doors blown off by Xavier.
Not one backdoor yet, incidentally.
Duke is trying to let Virginia back into the game. Will the Cavs let them?
Singletary just did the same thing that Nelson and Paulus have done three times – but guess who got called for it?
If a Duke perimeter player goes backdoor and gets knocked to the floor shooting a layup, my bet is that he is on the foul line shooting two.
I don’t know that Virginia has had one good look at the basket all night.
The Duke kids are not afraid. Our kids are. I hate to say that, but Virginia is playing afraid.
Bet – he doesn’t hit rim on the second of the two …
I was wrong.
SS commits his 100th turnover of the night …
It’s down to 10 … if they can get it to six to eight by the half, they can do something here.
Clearly not on the line or inside the line. J.J. Redick got three for shooting 17-footers. We get two for making them from 20.
Duke will go in up double digits – but it feels to me that Virginia is back in this game.
And Coach Kay leaves the court complaining to the refs. What the hell could he be complaining about? His guys have not been called for one travel on their regular bunny hops on the perimeter, they got two cheap charges in the lane, they knocked Baker to the ground on a layup and didn’t get called for it – and he’s complaining? The man is an embarrassment.
Analysis …
- Does Virginia have an assist? I’m sure they do, but it sure seems like the offense is catch-as-catch-can. Grab it and shoot it. No offensive continuity at all. Credit Duke for taking Virginia out of what it wants to do.
- On the other end, Virginia seems to be getting little or no pressure on the ball. Duke is getting plenty of open looks on the perimeter, and seems to be getting into the lane at will.
- I have no idea how Virginia is still in this game, but it feels like to me that they are. The first five minutes of the second half, of course, will have a lot to say on that topic.
Business as usual, indeed.
Three steps not called for travels. If one thing bugs me more than anything else about Duke playing in Cameron, it’s how their guys get that extra step on the perimeter.
Wonder why J.J. Redick is languishing in the NBA? Refs in the NBA don’t care that he played at Duke, and he doesn’t get that extra bunny hop before he gets his shot off.
Nelson just bunny-hopped again. Call it!
I can’t imagine that this is the effort that Leitao expected out of the guys.
I just looked up what Redick is doing right now, incidentally. He’s averaging 3.6 ppg and 8.9 minutes per game. And Coach Kay still has him on the Olympic roster?
For the record, he still is.
I’ve long since lost interest in analyzing this stinker of a game. Sorry for that. This is just too much for me to comprehend.
Can Leitao make the guys find their own way home after this one?
I don’t know what else he can do outside of keeping them locked out of the locker room for another week or two (or the rest of the season).
Pettinella gets to miss two more free throws.
How about making them bring their own basketballs to practice with?
He airballed that one. I was right (earlier).
Holy crap! Pettinella makes a free throw!
Seriously, how do you get an ACC scholarship and not be able to make more than 25 percent of your free throws!
Here’s this game in a nutshell. Duke went up 21-9, Virginia scored six straight to cut the lead to six, then Duke scored eight straight to go back up 14, and from that point, I don’t believe that it ever got back below double digits.
After the win at ‘Zona, it seemed that the sky was the limit for this Virginia team. Seton Hall was something that we could write off as an aberration – it was the fourth game in eight days after coming back from out West. Syracuse was another write-off – half the team had the flu or strep throat.
Xavier was a wakeup call – and tonight showed that the team has not prepared an answer yet.
This team looks completely overmatched right now. What I can’t figure out is why. The pieces are all there, but the team seems to have absolutely nothing in terms of confidence in itself.
Dave Leitao has his work cut out for him. The next two games are at home, against VT and BC, and both are must-wins if this team is going to have a shot at playing in March Madness.
Final – Duke 87 million and two, Virginia 65.