No. 7 Duke holds off Virginia on the road, 65-61
Posted February 23, 2022 7:51 p.m. EST
Updated February 24, 2022 1:54 p.m. EST
 7Duke Blue Devils |
65 |
 Virginia Cavaliers |
61 |
| Final | |
Five of the last six meetings between Duke and Virginia have been decided on the last possession, and this one was no different as No. 7 Duke (24-4, 14-3 ACC) hung on to win at Virginia, 65-61.
The win for Duke was the Blue Devils' fourth in a row since losing to Virginia at home on February 7 and their sixth straight road win.
Virginia (17-11, 11-7 ACC) had 52 points in the paint in their win in Durham but mustered just 20 this time around. Eighteen of those came in the second half as Duke held Virginia to two paint points in the first half, leading 30-25 at the break.
The only reason Virginia was hanging around at halftime was senior point guard Kihei Clark, who had 18 of his career-high 25 points in the first half. He got some help in the second half from his teammates as the Cavaliers shot 50% in the second half, but it was not enough.
Duke shot 48% for the game and 50% for the second half, making 7 of 17 from beyond the arc. Virginia shot 43.6% for the game and was 8 of 20 from 3.
Duke led the whole second half, but the biggest lead was eight, which Duke had with 6:48 to play on a Jeremy Roach 3-pointer.
Virginia went on a quick 7-0 spurt to cut Duke's lead to one point, and Virginia would have the ball twice down one without scoring. The Cavaliers would have the ball on four possessions with Duke up by just one point and fail to score on all four in the second half.
Duke's A.J. Griffin started out shooting 1 of 8, but he made his final three shot attempts and scored all 10 in the final 3:34. All of his second-half points put Duke up at least four points.
Virginia kept flighting late, but Griffin had two free throws with 1.8 seconds to go that sealed the 5-point win for Duke.
Roach's 15 points led Duke, and he was 6 of 7 shooting and made all three of his 3-pointers. Griffin had 13 and Trevor Keels had 13 as well. Duke's Paolo Banchero had a tough time against Virginia's defense in the first meeting and did again in this one, finishing with eight points on 2 of 13 shooting (he did have a team-high five assists, though).
Clark's 25 points led all scorers, and he added six rebounds and seven assists. Jayden Gardner, who was born in Durham and led Virginia with 23 points in the win at Duke, had 13 of his 16 points in the second half. Reece Beekman, who hit the game-winner against Duke, had 11 points.
Duke will travel to play Syracuse on the road on Saturday.
