Second-ranked Duke (22-3, 14-1 ACC), of course, is the prohibitive favorite, but UVA Basketball (13-12, 6-8 ACC) has opportunity staring it in the face tonight.
The Big Monday game tips sometime after 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Forecast
- KenPom: Duke 73-58
- BartTorvik: Duke 71-58
- EvanMiya: Duke 76-58
- Haslametrics: Duke 72-58
- ESPN BPI: Duke +16.3
Starting lineup
Ron Sanchez is sticking with this recent starting frontcourt combo: Jacob Cofie at the four and Blake Buchanan at five.
The backcourt is as it has been of late: Isaac McKneely, Andrew Rohde and Dai Dai Ames.
First half
First media timeout: Duke 13, UVA 12, 14:41/1st
One defensive stop per team: both teams are 5-of-7 from the floor.
Duke has the fourth-ranked defense (KenPom), so it will be hard for Virginia to keep this scoring rate up.
Second media timeout: Duke 21, UVA 14, 10:22/1st
Here’s a number that stands out: Duke has 10 rebounds, Virginia has one.
Duke has four offensive rebounds, and six second-chance points.
Third media timeout: Duke 27, UVA 14, 7:52/1st
The difference in this game is rebounding: Duke has a 14-2 advantage, has six offensive rebounds, and nine second-chance points.
Virginia started 5-of-7 from the floor; has shot 1-of-7 since.
McKneely has one shot attempt in 11 minutes. Need to look for him, and he needs to look more for his shot.
Fourth media timeout: Duke 39, UVA 25, 2:46/1st
Duke: 19 rebounds. Virginia: five rebounds.
Duke has seven offensive rebounds, and a 12-0 margin in second-chance points.
A fan sitting in one of the expensive seats at center court was thrown out of the game by one of the refs.
Half: Duke 43, UVA 29
It’s a 14-point game at the half, and Duke has a 14-3 advantage in second-chance points.
Virginia finally got a second-chance basket at the buzzer on the three by Ames.
Duke was 5-of-8 on second-chance shots (12-of-24 on first-chance shots).
Virginia was 1-of-1 on second-chances (9-of-25 on first-chances).
Duke had a 24-8 advantage on the boards. It was 8-7 on their offensive end when they missed in their favor.
This had been something that UVA had fixed of late. I had it at a 77 percent defensive-rebound rate over the last seven.
Cooper Flagg has 10 points (5-of-10 FG) and 11 rebounds.
Kon Knueppel has 10 points (3-of-7 FG, 2-of-3 3FG).
Rohde has 11 points (3-of-5 FG, 2-of-2 3FG, 3-of-4 FT) for UVA.
Second half
UVA timeout becomes media timeout: Duke 49, UVA 29, 18:14/2nd
Duke obviously started the half on a 6-0 scoring run.
It’s hard to win games when you can’t get defensive rebounds.
The regular under-16 media timeout: Duke 51, UVA 33, 15:59/2nd
Hey, if nothing else, we got ourselves some good work out of Anthony Robinson, who scored on a nice post move, then blocked Flagg on a dunk attempt at the rim.
Robinson needs to be the guy getting the bulk of the minutes at the five spot, not Buchanan.
Under-12 media timeout: Duke 60, UVA 35, 11:53/2nd
Virginia started 5-of-7 from the floor: has shot 8-of-30 since.
This is why Duke is the fourth-rated defensive team in the country.
Under-eight media timeout: Duke 70, UVA 43, 7:18/2nd
Not much to report here. Virginia has 31 points on 11-of-37 shooting in the 27:26 since the first media timeout.
What sets this group of one-and-dones apart from the last several at Duke is: defense.
The 2022 Final Four team ranked 49th in KenPom in defensive efficiency, for instance.
The profile of this team – third on offense, fourth on defense – is title contender.
Final media timeout: Duke 75, UVA 54, 3:53/2nd
Rohde has 15 (5-of-10 FG, 2-of-4 3FG, 3-of-4 FT), five boards, five assists (two TOs).
Ames has 15 (6-of-11 FG, 1-of-3 3FG, 2-of-3 FT), three assists (one TO).
McKneely has 12 (4-of-9 FG, 4-of-7 3FG).
One thing we learned tonight: Jacob Cofie can’t guard mobile fours on the perimeter. Holy crap, he’s bad at that.
Cofie: 17 minutes, no points, no rebounds, eaten alive on defense.
Final: Duke 80, UVA 62
Nothing too remarkable here. Duke gets the 80-62 win, with projected #1 overall pick Cooper Flagg posting a double-double (17 points, 14 rebounds), on 8-of-16 shooting (0-of-3 3FG).
Kon Knueppel, a former UVA top recruiting target, also had 17 (5-of-12 FG, 3-of-6 3FG, 4-of-4 FT).
Knueppel is also a projected lottery pick.
Isaiah Evans, another freshman who is a projected second-round pick, had 17 off the bench.
Duke dominated the boards (41-21) and points in the paint (42-18).
The bulk of that came at point-blank range: 16-of-25 at the rim.
This is a good Duke team that has a win over the current #1 (Auburn).