Home Instant classic: Virginia outwills Duke down the stretch to pull the upset
Sports

Instant classic: Virginia outwills Duke down the stretch to pull the upset

Scott German
tony bennett
Tony Bennett. Photo by Dan Grogan.

Reece Beekman’s 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left gave Virginia a huge 69-68 win over Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday.

As pleasant of a night Duke’s 20-point win over North Carolina was two nights earlier, the Cavaliers made life miserable for the Blue Devils tonight.

Beekman’s game-winner came after Virginia had missed a couple of shots that would have tied the game in the last minute and change.

Jayden Gardner’s miss in the paint with seven seconds left was rebounded by Duke’s Theo John, and the Cameron Crazies could sense victory.

Not so fast. Virginia’s Kihei Clark, all 5’10” of him, jumped in and forced a held-ball situation. The possession arrow favored the Cavaliers, and the final seven seconds was textbook in offensive execution.

During the ensuing Virginia timeout, trailing by two at 68-66, the Cavalier coaching staff seemingly wanted no part of a potential overtime, electing instead to draw up a play for a game-winning three. Beekman’s game-winning shot was only the second three-pointer of the night for Virginia, but it proved lethal to Duke.

Duke could not carry any momentum from the victory in Chapel Hill into the game. Virginia led by as many as 12 in the first half, before the Blue Devils closed to within 34-29 at the break.

After trailing the entire second half, sophomore guard Jeremy Roach gave Duke the lead at 64-63 with a bank shot at the four-minute mark. Duke increased the lead to three at 66-63 on a put-back shot by Trevor Keels.

Trailing by three, the first of two critical plays occurred as UVA forced a turnover with a shot clock violation at 2:04.

Beekman’s basket with 1:47 to play tied the score, but 19 seconds later Keels hit two free throws with 1:26 left to give Duke its final lead of the game.

Duke’s coach Mike Krzyzewski, coaching his final game in Cameron against Virginia, was animated on the sideline. With his trademark slapping the floor with one hand, Coach K almost magically willed Duke to a defensive stop. The Duke defense blocked Kihei Clark’s shot to get the stop – but the Blue Devils let the ball escape out of bounds.

Virginia devoured Duke in the paint in the first half. The Cavaliers scored 26 points inside during the first 20 minutes. Duke, in foul trouble, was forced to switch from a man-to-man defense to a zone for the final minutes of first-half action.

Virginia found the shots against the Duke zone. Leading 25-20 with 5:28 left in the first half, the Cavaliers went on a 7-0 run, making four of their next six field goal attempts, to open a 12-point, 32-20 advantage. The four Virginia baskets came from four different scorers: Gardner, Caffaro, Franklin and Shedrick.

Gardner and Franklin led Virginia with eight points each in the first half. It was Franklin’s 3-pointer from the deep corner with 2:16 left that put Virginia ahead 32-20.

Shedrick may have turned in one of the most memorable performances ever by a Cavalier at Duke. Shedrick, a 6’11” sophomore from Holly Springs High School, a suburb of Raleigh, scored 16 points on a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor,

Both teams got off to slow starts in the first few minutes, but Virginia seized the early lead. Armaan Franklin scored the Cavaliers’ first four points, helping build an early 8-2 lead. Duke struggled to convert from the floor against Virginia’s highly touted pack line defense.

The early Virginia surge forced Krzyzewski to take an early timeout, as the Cavaliers served notice that they weren’t going to be easy fodder for the Cameron student body.

The capacity crowd in venerable Cameron Indoor Stadium may have mostly gone home stunned and disappointed, but they can take solace in the fact they watched one already Hall-of Fame coach match wits against an almost future Hall-of Fame coach.

Story by Scott German

Scott German

Scott German

Scott German covers UVA Athletics for AFP, and is the co-host of “Street Knowledge” podcasts focusing on UVA Athletics with AFP editor Chris Graham. Scott has been around the ‘Hoos his whole life. As a reporter, he was on site for UVA basketball’s Final Fours, in 1981 and 1984, and has covered UVA football in bowl games dating back to its first, the 1984 Peach Bowl.