Duke held Virginia scoreless in the final 3:09, got a go-ahead bucket from Jaemyn Brakefield with 1:59 to go, then held on for a 66-65 win Saturday night.
The Blue Devils (10-8, 8-6 ACC) got 22 points from sophomore Matthew Hurt, who was 8-of-13 from the field and 5-of-8 from three.
His last make was a two with 3:27 to go that got Duke to within one, at 63-62.
Jay Huff, who had 20 points and 12 rebounds to lead Virginia (15-5, 11-3 ACC), converted both ends of a one-and-one to push the lead back to three with 3:09 left.
That would be it for UVA, though. Kihei Clark had a layup blocked at the rim, then Casey Morsell rushed a contested jumper that missed.
Sam Hauser missed a contested three with 37 seconds left, but Huff rebounded to give Virginia a second-chance opportunity.
Clark missed an end-of-shot-clock three, and Duke ended up with possession on a held ball.
D.J. Steward missed the front end of a one-and-one with nine seconds left, giving UVA the chance at a final shot.
Clark let himself get caught up in traffic at the top of the key, and his shot inside of two seconds to go was partially blocked by Hurt, and Huff threw it through the rim just after the buzzer expired.
Hauser had 19 points and eight rebounds, and Clark had 15 – but was just 5-of-15 from the floor, and had only two assists in 38 minutes.
More Postgame
- UVA-Duke: Make-or-miss game comes down to late Virginia misses
The 66-65 final score didn’t scream NBA, but the shot-making you saw from #7 Virginia and Duke Saturday night in prime time on ESPN sure did. - Breaking down the play: Should Tony have called a TO?
Some of you are wondering why UVA coach Tony Bennett didn’t call a timeout after Duke’s D.J. Steward missed the front end of a one-and-one with nine seconds left. - Reality check: The ceiling isn’t the roof for this Virginia team
You were looking forward to this Virginia basketball season. Preseason #4, ACC favorite for the first time since the Ralph Sampson era. It’s time for a reckoning.
Postgame Notebook
Team Notes
- Virginia fell to 15-5, 11-3 ACC
- UVA is 6-3 in true road games (all in league play).
- UVA shot 60 percent in the first half, but trailed 39-36
- UVA outrebounded Duke 32-22
Series Notes
- UVA is 52-122 all-time vs. Duke, including an 11-59 record in Durham
- Five of the last seven meetings have been decided by two points or less
- Head coach Tony Bennett is 4-12 all-time against Duke at UVA
Player Notes
- Double Figure Scorers: Jay Huff (20), Sam Hauser (19), Kihei Clark (15)
- Huff matched a career high with 12 rebounds
- Huff has reached double figures in 15 games
- Huff (2 blocks) recorded his 15th multi-block game (42nd career)
- Huff recorded his eighth career double-double
- Hauser scored 12 points in the first half on 5 of 5 shooting (2 of 2 from 3)
- Hauser has reached double figures in 18 games
- Clark tied a career high with three steals
- Clark reached double figures for the 12th time
- Tomas Woldetensae missed the game due to contact tracing
Preview: Duke, Virginia meet in prime time on ESPN
AFP editor Chris Graham leads our live coverage as seventh-ranked Virginia (15-4, 11-2 ACC) travels to Duke (9-8, 7-6 ACC) for an ACC contest on Saturday with an 8 p.m. tipoff on ESPN.
That’s right, prime time, with Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas, and commercials for pizza, cars, other stuff you might actually one day buy.
But no Cameron Crazies, which, honestly, admit it, you’ll miss.
Chris will provide commentary and analysis in the Comments section below.
Duke comes in on a modest two-game winning streak, in a bit of addition by subtraction with the decision of freshman phenom Jalen Johnson to opt out of the remainder of the COVID-19 season to focus on preparing for the NBA Draft.
That means more touches for 6’9” sophomore Matthew Hurt (18.3 ppg, 6.4 rebs/g, 55.8% FG, 45.5% 3FG, 132.6 ORtg) and 6’2” freshman D.J. Steward (13.2 ppg, 4.4 rebs/g, 45.3% FG, 36.1% 3FG, 111.2 ORtg).
More Pregame
- What UVA Basketball fans need to know about Duke
Looking at the Duke COVID-19 season, there’s the before Jalen Johnson left, and there’s the after – and the after is a Duke team that is an order of magnitude better on D. - Duke game plan: Don’t let Virginia get set in its Pack Line D
Duke sophomore Wendell Moore knows the drill when it comes to playing Virginia’s Pack Line.
Duke can use a high-profile win. The Blue Devils are sitting at 60 in the NET, with just a 1-3 record in Q1 games – that one win being a 75-65 win at NET 65 Notre Dame.
Looking at the remainder of the Duke schedule, the only other chances at Q1 wins are road games at Georgia Tech (NET 62) and North Carolina (NET 51), neither of which you could hang your hat on as far as Selection Sunday would be concerned, considering that those programs’ own NCAA Tournament resumes are pretty thin right now.
Virginia could use a nice bounceback after the ugly 81-60 beatdown at Florida State on Big Monday.
The ‘Hoos are ninth in NET, but the 3-3 record in Q1 games could throw them down a seed line.
Pregame Notebook
- Virginia ranks second nationally in personal fouls per game (12.8), fourth in turnovers per game (9.5), sixth in scoring defense (59.9) and 3-point field goal percentage (39.8), 10th in free throw percentage (78.8%) and assist/turnover ratio (1.5) and 20th in field goal percentage (48.9%).
- Sam Hauser leads the team in scoring (14.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.9 rpg), and is shooting 50.7 percent from the field, 43.7 percent from 3-point range and 84.4 percent from the foul line.
- Jay Huff leads the team in blocked shots (2.4 bpg) and is second in scoring (12.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg).
- Trey Murphy III (11.6 ppg) leads UVA in free throw shooting (90.3%) and 3-point shooting (48.3%), and is second with 42 3-pointers.
- Kihei Clark, who has handed out six or more assists in six contests, has averaged 9.9 points and team-high 4.6 assists.
- UVA is 5-2 in true road games (all in league play).
- UVA is 52-121 all-time vs. Duke, including an 11-58 record in Durham.
- Virginia ended Duke’s two-game winning streak and three-game winning streak at John Paul Jones Arena with its 52-50 win over the Blue Devils last season.
- UVA is 2-3 in its last five games vs. Duke and 4-6 in its last 10.
- Four of the last six meetings have been decided by two points or less.
- UVA coach Tony Bennett is 4-11 all-time against Duke at UVA.
Story by Chris Graham
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