No. 1 Duke proves too much for No. 11 UVa in 77-51 win
Whether due to the weight of the matchup or the raucous crowd inside Cameron Indoor Stadium, No. 11 UVa fell decisively to No. 1 Duke 77-51 on Saturday afternoon while scoring the least number of points its up all season.
Isaiah Evans led all scorers with 19 points and was followed closely by Cameron Boozer with 18 despite shooting just three field goals to go with a game-high 9 rebounds. Patrick Ngongba added 11 points for the Devils (27-2, 15-1 ACC)
Thijs De Ridder led the Hoos with 16 points but was the only Cavalier to score in double figures. Chance Mallory came up just short with nine.
UVa (25-4, 13-3) struggled mightily all game, putting up 10 fewer points than its previous season-low of 61 in its win against Florida State on Feb. 10. The Hoos shot just 16-for-55 (29.1%) from the field and 7-for-35 (20%) from 3, struggling against Duke’s defensive switches but also missing plenty of open looks.
“When you’re wide open and you don’t knock it down, that hurts even more,” head coach Ryan Odom said postgame, “because they’re gonna get you to the end of the clock and a lot of the other ones, and so it just puts that much more pressure on the open shot.
UVa managed to keep the Blue Devils to 44 shooting in the first half, but eight of those makes were 3s on 13 attempts. Evans led Duke with 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting, 4-for-6 from 3, in the first 20 minutes. Boozer didn’t make a field goal in the first half but still finished with 11 points on free throws alone. The Blue Devils led 41-26 at the break.
Boozer opened the second half with a 3 and what started as a fairly back-and-forth second half got worse for the Cavaliers after a 7-0 Duke run. The Blue Devils led by 21, their largest lead at that point, before UVa once again stemmed the bleeding.
The Hoos managed to cut the lead to 16, but another costly scoring drought, this one lasting over five minutes, led to Duke extending its lead to as many as 27, before taking its largest lead of the game with just over two minutes to go.
It was an especially tough day for Malik Thomas and Sam Lewis, who shot a combined 0-for-14 from the floor. Jacari White made one his six 3-point attempts, his lone FG of the day. The Cavaliers were only able to get nine offensive rebounds, which led to just eight second-chance points.
