#12 Duke beat #14 UVA at its own game, holding the Cavs to a season-low in a 65-55 win Wednesday night.
The Blue Devils (21-5, 9-4 ACC) have won six straight after a 3-4 start in conference play. Virginia (18-7, 8-5 ACC) have lost three of four to fall back in the pack in the ACC standings.
The difference-maker was Jayson Tatum, who had 26 points on the night, hitting six of his seven shots from three-point range, including five of his six after halftime.
UVA had led 25-21 at the break, but Duke hit its first five shots from the field, taking the lead at 28-27 with 18:24 to go on Tatum’s first three of the half, and never trailed again.
The Cavs couldn’t get anything from its big two – London Perrantes and Marial Shayok were a combined 7-of-22 from the floor.
But it was still a four-point game, at 48-44 Duke, with 3:28 to go, before Tatum daggered Virginia with a pair of threes to push the lead to 10 with 1:56 left.
Perrantes finished with 14 points to lead UVA. Freshman Ty Jerome had 13 on 5-of-8 shooting in 18 minutes off the bench.
The Duke backcourt combo of Luke Kennard and Grayson Allen was a combined 5-of-20 from the floor. Kennard finished with 16 points, the bulk of that coming in the final 1:33 as he hit 7-of-8 at the line to help close out the game.
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Chris Graham
