Inside the Numbers: Another career night blitzes UVA

Jayson Tatum is just the latest opponent to have a career night against UVA this season.

Tatum had 28 points, 21 in the second half, and hit 6-of-7 from three-point range, to lead Duke to a 65-55 win at Virginia Wednesday night.

Tatum, a 6’8” freshman, is a known entity talent-wise, but the shooting effort we saw in JPJ isn’t his calling card.

He was a 31.9 percent shooter from three coming in, had gone just 8-of-25 from behind the arc in his past eight games and had connected on all of 19 triples all season.

Makes you feel better, doesn’t it, knowing that it was this guy who went bonkers?

Kinda reminds you of what Dwayne Bacon did to UVA way back on Dec. 31 in a 60-58 Florida State win. Bacon went for 26 in the second half, 10-of-13 from the floor, 5-of-7 from three, an outlier-type performance for a guy shooting 37.2 percent from three-point range on the season.

Then consider Jamel Artis, the Pitt senior who went 6-of-7 from three on a night that also had him going 6-of-12 at the free-throw line in an 88-76 OT win.

Artis, at least, is a 40.5 percent shooter from three on the season, but …

This nonsense is getting old.

 

Attacking the rim

Virginia was 10-of-16 on shots at the rim and 10-of-36 on jumpers.

Duke was 6-of-9 at the rim and 13-of-32 on jumpers.

UVA had a 26-16 advantage in points in the paint.

 

Tempo

Each team had 58 possessions. Duke beat Virginia, again, playing Virginia’s game.

 

Not much four-guard

The bigs combined for 74 minutes on the floor, meaning Virginia only went four-guard for six minutes.

Not much in terms of offensive production from the group for the time on the floor: 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting.

Isaiah Wilkins did grab nine rebounds, though he was just 1-of-5 from the floor, the one being a meaningless dunk in what was effectively garbage time.

Jack Salt had four points on 2-of-2 shooting with five rebounds in 17 minutes.

Mamadi Diakite had six rebounds in 17 minutes, and was 0-of-1 from the floor.

Jarred Reuter made his only attempt from the floor, and only logged five minutes.

Column by Chris Graham