WATCH: Dereck Lively, Mark Mitchell celebrate Duke's ACC Tournament title
Duke freshmen Dereck Lively and Mark Mitchell had the perfect reaction after the Blue Devils defeated Virginia 59-49 to win the ACC Tournament on Saturday. The two first-year players, donning their championship hats and t-shirts, soaked in the moment together as the team cut down the nets.
“Yes sir! ACC champs baby!” Lively said in a video posted to Duke’s Twitter. “We put the work in. We don’t listen to nobody. All the haters, we don’t care. Duke.”
That’s when Mitchell jumped into the action with a simple yet emphatic celebration of his own.
“Duke, baby!” he said. “Duke!”
Lively was big on the defensive end in the win with two steals and two blocks. He also had four points, four rebounds and two assists. Mitchell managed just two points but came away with six rebounds and three assists.
With the win, the Blue Devils earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. They were projected as a No. 5 seed entering the day according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, and it will be interesting to see whether the conference tournament title moves them up at all.
The Blue Devils will find out their first-round opponent when the field is announced at 6 p.m. ET on the NCAA Selection Show on CBS.
Duke defeats Virginia to win ACC Tournament
No team headed to Greensboro hotter than Duke, winning its final six games of the regular season. The goal was simple from the get-go — win the ACC Tournament and make an attempt to significantly improve NCAA Tournament seeding. The Blue Devils were able to do exactly, that, knocking Virginia off on Saturday night.
As you might expect in a game played against Virginia, there was a slow pace throughout and not too many points were scored. Duke was able to put 20 on the board with Kyle Filipowski being the second-leading scorer. The freshman has been the best player for head coach Jon Scheyer all season long and continued on the biggest stage to this point.
Experience played a factor as well. Point guard Jeremy Roach put on an offensive clinic and was just ahead of Filipowski in the scoring department with 23 points. He is one of the few currently on the roster with experience in the postseason. It came up in a huge spot on Saturday.
Duke winning the ACC Tournament is nothing new. They were able to secure recent titles in 2017 and 2019, doing so under Mike Krzyzewski. This is an unfamiliar feeling for Scheyer though, taking home a trophy during his first season in charge in Durham.
A quality achievement Jon Scheyer will have something to hang his hat on for some time. He will be looking for a national championship as well. And with how well Duke is playing at the moment, Scheyer will have his players believing they will be good enough to cut down the nets in Houston.
On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.