Virginia at No. 23 Duke, 7 p.m. ESPN
The Cavaliers played about as well as they possibly could have played at N.C. State on Saturday and came away with a dominating 76-45 win over the Wolfpack. UVa could do no wrong early and took a 21-4 lead and never looked back. Joe Harris notched 16 points, the most for him since 20 against Hampton in November. Mike Tobey had his best game of the season with 16 as well and Malcolm Brogdon added 13 points. Virginia is now 3-0 in the ACC and one of only three undefeated teams in the ACC, along with Syracuse and Pittsburgh. The Wahoos won by 12 at Florida State, 23 over Wake Forest at home, and 31 over N.C. State on the road. It's highly unlikely UVa will continue to increase its margin of victory tonight at Duke.
The Blue Devils are 12-4 and 1-2 in the ACC but have not lost at home this season. Still, this is not a typical Duke team. The Blue Devils have lost two out of their last three games, 79-77 to Notre Dame and 72-57 to Clemson. In between, Duke won at home, 79-57, over Georgia Tech, although that game was close at halftime, with the Devils leading, 34-33.
Out of the conference, Duke's best victories this year were over UCLA and Michigan. Duke lost to Arizona -- now the No. 1 team in the country -- by six -- and lost to Kansas by 11. The Blue Devils also beat Davidson, Eastern Michigan, Alabama, Florida Atlantic, UNC Asheville, Gardner-Webb,
Elon, and Vermont. The Vermont game was notable because the Catamounts came into Cameron Indoor Stadium only 1-4, but went toe-to-toe with the Blue Devils and nearly completed a comeback in the second half. The game was tied at 90 and with five seconds left, a Vermont player was whistled for a foul and Duke's Rodney Hood went to the line and sunk one free throw, which was enough to send the Blue Devils to a one-point win.
Allowing a 1-4 team to score 90 points in your home building probably tells you what Duke's biggest problem has been this season -- defense. Coach Mike Krzyzewski's teams are usually known for physical, strong defenses. But the Blue Devils have not had that this season. They are 138th in the country in scoring defense, giving up 68.7 points per game and are also not good at rebounding, ranking 227th in that category. One of the reasons for this is a lack of size. Amile Jefferson is the only player playing significant minutes who is over 6-foot-8 and he is just 6-foot-9.
This Duke team can still fill it up pretty good on the offensive end, though. The Blue Devils rank 21st in the country in scoring (82.7 ppg) and 27th in field goal percentage (48.4). The Blue Devils are tops in the ACC in 3-point shooting (40.8 percent) and are shooting at a good clip from the free throw line as well (73.6, fifth in the ACC). Duke is led by a trio of scorers who are all averaging more than 13 ppg: 6-foot-8 freshman forward Jabari Parker (19.5), 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Hood (18.6), who transferred from Mississippi State, and junior guard Quinn Cook (13.6). Parker is considered by many the best freshman in the country and is expected to be the No. 1 choice in the NBA Draft after this season. His production has slipped a little lately, however. He scored more than 20 points in the first seven games of his collegiate career. Since then, he has topped the 20-point mark just three out of his last nine games. Notre Dame held him to seven points on 2 of 10 shooting from the field. Three other players score more than six ppg: senior guard Andre Dawkins (nine), sophomore guard Rasheed Sulaimon (7.2), and sophomore forward Jefferson (6.3).
The best rebounders on the team are Parker (7.6 rebounds per game) Hood (4.7 rpg), and Jefferson (6.3 rpg). Cook dishes out a team-high 6.1 assists per game, which ranks second in the ACC.
I would feel pretty good if this game were at home. The Cavs are playing really well and Duke is struggling. But Duke is a different team in Durham and will have a few things going for it. One, Virginia beat Duke last year in the teams' only meeting, 73-68, in a nationally televised game when Duke was ranked No. 3 in the country. Joe Harris scored a career-high 36 points to lead the 'Hoos. No doubt, the Blue Devils and Coach K will be looking for some measure of revenge. If you remember after that game, Wahoo fans rushed the floor and Krzyzewski made a comment following the game about how unsafe court rushes were, drawing the ire of many UVa fans, who thought Coach K was just crying over sour grapes. I'm sure he will relish trying to beat down the 'Hoos at Cameron Indoor.
Two, Coach K should have his players' attention. The Blue Devils are coming off a double-digit loss at Clemson and Virginia has won its last three games by increasingly larger margins. The Devils should not have a problem focusing. A bad loss and a team coming to your place hitting on all cylinders will do that to you.
Three, and maybe this is whining on my part, but lots of opposing teams' fans say it when their teams visit Duke: Virginia will likely be battling the refs tonight as well as Duke's players. You have to think, whether intentional or not, the refs will give more close calls to Duke tonight than UVa. A win for the Wahoos would make Virginia 4-0 in the ACC and Duke 1-3. I don't think that is something that the ACC at large would want to happen. For better or for worse, the ACC gets more attention when Duke or UNC is good and right now, UNC isn't very good, so Duke is carrying that load currently. And for some reason, I think the refs think the Blue Devils are bigger, faster, and stronger at home, and give them the benefit of the doubt more when they play there. Virginia last won there on Jan. 14, 1995, 91-88, in double overtime, to go to 4-0 in the ACC. UVa has lost 15 consecutive games at Duke.
Whatever happens, I think we are looking at a good game tonight. One team is playing its best basketball of the season and one is looking to recover from a loss by playing at home against a team it has dominated there over the years. I don't expect Duke to fold on its home floor if the going gets a little tough early. And Virginia has shown me enough to believe that it has what it takes to possibly pull this off.
The Cavaliers played about as well as they possibly could have played at N.C. State on Saturday and came away with a dominating 76-45 win over the Wolfpack. UVa could do no wrong early and took a 21-4 lead and never looked back. Joe Harris notched 16 points, the most for him since 20 against Hampton in November. Mike Tobey had his best game of the season with 16 as well and Malcolm Brogdon added 13 points. Virginia is now 3-0 in the ACC and one of only three undefeated teams in the ACC, along with Syracuse and Pittsburgh. The Wahoos won by 12 at Florida State, 23 over Wake Forest at home, and 31 over N.C. State on the road. It's highly unlikely UVa will continue to increase its margin of victory tonight at Duke.
The Blue Devils are 12-4 and 1-2 in the ACC but have not lost at home this season. Still, this is not a typical Duke team. The Blue Devils have lost two out of their last three games, 79-77 to Notre Dame and 72-57 to Clemson. In between, Duke won at home, 79-57, over Georgia Tech, although that game was close at halftime, with the Devils leading, 34-33.
Out of the conference, Duke's best victories this year were over UCLA and Michigan. Duke lost to Arizona -- now the No. 1 team in the country -- by six -- and lost to Kansas by 11. The Blue Devils also beat Davidson, Eastern Michigan, Alabama, Florida Atlantic, UNC Asheville, Gardner-Webb,
Elon, and Vermont. The Vermont game was notable because the Catamounts came into Cameron Indoor Stadium only 1-4, but went toe-to-toe with the Blue Devils and nearly completed a comeback in the second half. The game was tied at 90 and with five seconds left, a Vermont player was whistled for a foul and Duke's Rodney Hood went to the line and sunk one free throw, which was enough to send the Blue Devils to a one-point win.
Allowing a 1-4 team to score 90 points in your home building probably tells you what Duke's biggest problem has been this season -- defense. Coach Mike Krzyzewski's teams are usually known for physical, strong defenses. But the Blue Devils have not had that this season. They are 138th in the country in scoring defense, giving up 68.7 points per game and are also not good at rebounding, ranking 227th in that category. One of the reasons for this is a lack of size. Amile Jefferson is the only player playing significant minutes who is over 6-foot-8 and he is just 6-foot-9.This Duke team can still fill it up pretty good on the offensive end, though. The Blue Devils rank 21st in the country in scoring (82.7 ppg) and 27th in field goal percentage (48.4). The Blue Devils are tops in the ACC in 3-point shooting (40.8 percent) and are shooting at a good clip from the free throw line as well (73.6, fifth in the ACC). Duke is led by a trio of scorers who are all averaging more than 13 ppg: 6-foot-8 freshman forward Jabari Parker (19.5), 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Hood (18.6), who transferred from Mississippi State, and junior guard Quinn Cook (13.6). Parker is considered by many the best freshman in the country and is expected to be the No. 1 choice in the NBA Draft after this season. His production has slipped a little lately, however. He scored more than 20 points in the first seven games of his collegiate career. Since then, he has topped the 20-point mark just three out of his last nine games. Notre Dame held him to seven points on 2 of 10 shooting from the field. Three other players score more than six ppg: senior guard Andre Dawkins (nine), sophomore guard Rasheed Sulaimon (7.2), and sophomore forward Jefferson (6.3).
The best rebounders on the team are Parker (7.6 rebounds per game) Hood (4.7 rpg), and Jefferson (6.3 rpg). Cook dishes out a team-high 6.1 assists per game, which ranks second in the ACC.
I would feel pretty good if this game were at home. The Cavs are playing really well and Duke is struggling. But Duke is a different team in Durham and will have a few things going for it. One, Virginia beat Duke last year in the teams' only meeting, 73-68, in a nationally televised game when Duke was ranked No. 3 in the country. Joe Harris scored a career-high 36 points to lead the 'Hoos. No doubt, the Blue Devils and Coach K will be looking for some measure of revenge. If you remember after that game, Wahoo fans rushed the floor and Krzyzewski made a comment following the game about how unsafe court rushes were, drawing the ire of many UVa fans, who thought Coach K was just crying over sour grapes. I'm sure he will relish trying to beat down the 'Hoos at Cameron Indoor.
Two, Coach K should have his players' attention. The Blue Devils are coming off a double-digit loss at Clemson and Virginia has won its last three games by increasingly larger margins. The Devils should not have a problem focusing. A bad loss and a team coming to your place hitting on all cylinders will do that to you.
Three, and maybe this is whining on my part, but lots of opposing teams' fans say it when their teams visit Duke: Virginia will likely be battling the refs tonight as well as Duke's players. You have to think, whether intentional or not, the refs will give more close calls to Duke tonight than UVa. A win for the Wahoos would make Virginia 4-0 in the ACC and Duke 1-3. I don't think that is something that the ACC at large would want to happen. For better or for worse, the ACC gets more attention when Duke or UNC is good and right now, UNC isn't very good, so Duke is carrying that load currently. And for some reason, I think the refs think the Blue Devils are bigger, faster, and stronger at home, and give them the benefit of the doubt more when they play there. Virginia last won there on Jan. 14, 1995, 91-88, in double overtime, to go to 4-0 in the ACC. UVa has lost 15 consecutive games at Duke.
Whatever happens, I think we are looking at a good game tonight. One team is playing its best basketball of the season and one is looking to recover from a loss by playing at home against a team it has dominated there over the years. I don't expect Duke to fold on its home floor if the going gets a little tough early. And Virginia has shown me enough to believe that it has what it takes to possibly pull this off.
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