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Live Blog: #7 Virginia at Duke in ACC basketball action

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uva-duke-headerAugusta Free Press editor Chris Graham leads our live blog as #7 Virginia (20-4, 9-3 ACC) travels to Duke (18-6, 7-4 ACC) on Saturday.

 

For Openers

  • Virginia looks to end its 16-game winless streak at Duke.
  • UVA’s last win at Duke was a 91-88 double overtime win at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 14, 1995.
  • Virginia has a seven-game winning streak, including three consecutive true road wins.
  • As of Feb. 12, UVA is second in the ACC at 9-3 and Duke is sixth at 7-4.
  • As of Feb. 11, UVA ranks third nationally in scoring defense (59.6 ppg), ninth in field goal shooting (49.5%), 13th in 3-point field goal shooting (40.5%), 14th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.53), 20th in free throw shooting (75%) and 30th in scoring margin (11.8).

 

Broadcast Information

  • The Virginia-Duke game will be televised on ESPN, streamed online at WatchESPN.com and broadcast on the Virginia Sports Radio Network, Westwood One Sports, VirginiaSports.com and Virginia Athletics mobile app on iTunes or Android.
  • Live statistics will be located on VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Sports app.

 

Virginia Ranked No. 7 in Latest Polls

  • UVA is ranked No. 7 in the latest Associated Press and USA Today Coaches’ polls.
  • UVA has been ranked in the top 10 in the AP poll on three different occasions this season (10 weeks overall).
  • UVA was ranked in the top 10 in 25 consecutive AP polls from March 3, 2014 to Nov. 16, 2015, its longest span since 49 straight from 1980-83.
  • The Cavaliers’ No. 6 preseason ranking was UVA’s best since a No. 1 ranking to start the 1982-83 season.

 

Highlights From The Seven-Game Winning Streak

  • UVA has allowed 55.9 points per game during its seven-game winning streak.
  • UVA has held four straight opponents (Louisville, Boston College, Pitt and Virginia Tech) to 50 or fewer points.
  • The Cavaliers have limited opponents to 38.6 percent field goal shooting and 33.3 percent 3-point shooting.
  • The Cavaliers scored 18 points, including Darius Thompson’s game-winning 3-pointer, in the final 1:16 to defeat Wake Forest 72-71.
  • UVA handed Louisville its worst defeat (63-47) at KFC Yum! Center since the building opened in 2010.
  • UVA is shooting 50.6 percent from the field and 42.4 percent from 3-point range during the winning streak.
  • Malcolm Brogdon has five 20-point games during the streak, averaging 20.3 points, 54.8 percent field goal shooting, 51.5 percent 3-point shooting and 97.1 percent free throw shooting.

 

All-Time vs. The Blue Devils

  • UVA meets Duke for the 168th time overall and 67th time in Durham in a series that dates back to 1910-11.
  • UVA is 50-117 all-time vs. Duke, including a 10-56 mark in Durham.
  • UVA is winless in its last 16 games against Duke in Durham.
  • Duke defeated Virginia 69-63 last season in Charlottesville.
  • UVA is 2-3 in its last five gameS vs. Duke and 2-8 in its last 10.
  • Head coach Tony Bennett is 2-7 all-time against Duke at UVA.
  • Malcolm Brogdon is Virginia’s current career leading scorer against Duke, averaging 15.5 points in four career games.
  • Mike Tobey is averaging 6.0 points and 3.5 rebounds in four games against Duke, while Anthony Gill has averaged 6.0 points and 3.7 rebounds.
  • London Perrantes has averaged 5.3 points and 3.6 assists in three career games vs. the Blue Devils, while Isaiah Wilkins had seven points and five rebounds in one game against Duke in 2014-15.

 

Last Time vs. Duke

  • Tyus Jones scored 17 points, Quinn Cook had 15 and both made critical 3-pointers in the closing minutes, fueling a game-ending 16-5 run that gave then-No. 4 Duke a 69-63 victory against then-No. 2 Virginia, ending the Cavaliers’ 21-game home winning streak.
  • Virginia started the second half with a 16-4 burst and led by 11 with just under 11 minutes to play.
  • Malcolm Brogdon had 17 points and Justin Anderson added 11.
  • Duke’s Justise Winslow had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
  • Duke shot 50.9 percent from the floor, ending Virginia’s streak of holding 44 straight ACC opponents under 50 percent.
  • Virginia out-reboundedDuke 35-34, but shot 26-63 from the floor including just 3-13 from 3-point range.

 

Last Time Out

  • Anthony Gill tallied 16 points and Isaiah Wilkins chipped in a career-high 14 points to lead No. 7 Virginia to a 67-49 win over in-state rival Virginia Tech on Feb. 9.
  • Malcolm Brogdon added 12 points and Mike Tobey had 10 points.
  • Justin Robinson led the Hokies with 16 points.
  • The Cavaliers scored 21 points off of 15 Virginia Tech turnovers.
  • UVA limited the Hokies to 35.6 percent field goal shooting.

 

Inside Duke

  • Bubble? The idea that the Blue Devils (18-6, 7-4 ACC) are in any kind of danger in terms of the NCAA Tournament is ludicrous. Duke is currently 19th in the RPI, and sure, that 2-5 record against the RPI Top 50 isn’t going to be good in terms of seeding, but … bubble? No way.
  • Grayson Allen is the linchpin. The sophomore scores 20.8 points per game (second in the ACC), shoots 49.4 percent from the floor and 43.9 percent from three-point range (third in the ACC). His offensive efficiency rating (134.8) is second-best in the conference. He gets Malcolm Brogdon in his shirt for the afternoon for his trouble on Saturday.
  • Brandon Ingram is a tough matchup for anybody, and will be for Virginia. Ingram, 6’9”, 190, shoots 47.6 percent from the field and 40.7 percent from three. He’s basically the four in a four-guard lineup. Isaiah Wilkins will have his hands full, to say the least, and if he gets in foul trouble, you may see coach Tony Bennett go four-guard to counter, with one or two from among Evan Nolte, Devon Hall, Marial Shayok or Darius Thompson trying to check him. Good luck with that.
  • Luke Kennard can either light you up (26 in a win last week over N.C. State, 30 in a loss at home on Jan. 16 to Notre Dame) or do literally nothing (0 in 28 minutes in a home loss to Syracuse on Jan. 18).
  • Duke basically goes with a six-man rotation, with freshman Chase Jeter getting a handful of minutes as the second guy off the bench. With the lack of depth and relative lack of experience, coach Mike Krzyzewski has mixed in some zone looks with his man-to-man, partly to steal some minutes and partly because Duke has been mediocre on defense (1.010 points per possession, 121st nationally, according to KenPom.com.)
  • Defense: Duke opponents score 71.3 points per game (10th in the ACC), shoot 43.6 percent from the field (11th in the ACC) and 35.0 percent from three-point range (10th in the ACC). Duke is also 14th in defensive rebound percentage (67.1 percent), though how much an issue that is against Virginia, which doesn’t hit the offensive boards as part of its effort to prevent breakouts, is a good question.
  • Offense: Duke is second nationally scoring 1.226 points per possession, and leads the ACC scoring 84.3 points per game. The Blue Devils shoot 47.7 percent from the field (sixth in the ACC) and 39.3 percent from three (second in the ACC).
  • Tempo: 69.3 possessions per game, 166th nationally.

 

Inside Virginia

  • Virginia (20-4, 9-3 ACC) did beat one pretty good, four-guard, tempo team, #1 Villanova, in a high-scoring game back in December, 86-75. You almost want to think that Bennett scheduled that game to get ready for this one. Funny thing about that one: Villanova had 62 possessions that night. Not a tempo game at all there, that one.
  • Malcolm Brogdon finally came back down to earth in Tuesday’s win over Virginia Tech, scoring a quiet 12 on 4-of-12 shooting from the field. For the season, Brogs averages 17.7 points per game, shoots 45.7 percent from the field, 40.2 percent from three and 87.3 percent from the line, and, as mentioned above, he will get the defensive assignment against Grayson Allen.
  • Anthony Gill had a nice bounceback game Tuesday, scoring a team-high 16 after back-to-back pedestrian efforts in wins over Boston College and Pitt. Gill is scoring 14.3 points a game on 58.4 percent shooting from the field and pulling down a team-best 5.9 rebounds per game.
  • London Perrantes leads the ACC in three-point shooting (53.4 percent) and is scoring 11.1 points per game and dishing out a team-best 4.3 assists per game.
  • Defense: Virginia has held its last four opponents to 50 points or fewer, and now leads the ACC in team defense, allowing 59.6 points per game. KenPom.com has UVA rated 10th nationally in points per possession (.927). Opponents shoot 41.5 percent from the field, third-best in the ACC, and 34.6 percent from three, ninth in the ACC. The Cavs lead the conference in defensive-rebound percentage (75.3 percent).
  • Offense: Virginia is 11th nationally in offensive efficiency (1.176 points per possession), leading the ACC in field-goal percentage (49.5 percent) and three-point shooting (40.5 percent).
  • Tempo: 61.9 possessions per game, the fewest in the country.

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.