UVA falls short in ACC Championship to Duke

Photo credit: ACC

Virginia fell short to the Duke Blue Devils Saturday night by a score of 74-70. A game where the 'Hoos and the Blue Devils went toe to toe all 40 minutes.

Isaiah Evans led Duke Saturday with 20 points, 12 of them off of threes. He started out the night slow, however, in the second half put up 13 points. Boozer was stellar for Duke as well Saturday, but not Cameron. Cayden Boozer rolled for Duke with 16 points 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Cameron Boozer has been a freshman staple for Duke and has been torturing teams all season long. Coach Ryan Odom was asked postgame about what goes into containing him, "It's brutal. He's just a special player. He has the ability to beat you in a multitude of ways, whether it's driving against a bigger guy, using his physicality as he gets closer to the rim, banging the shot from behind the arc, getting to the free-throw line or making the pass."

Cameron Boozer finished with 13, however, shot 3-17 from the floor. He did have 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Why was he not near as efficient offensively as he normally is? Simple answer, Ugonna Onyenso. Onyenso has already had a great tournament but made Saturday the icing on the cake. "It's just me being me. I know how to defend when it comes to possessing the rim like it was all about being mentally engaged with my teammates and being disciplined." Ugo finished with 9 blocks on his own, complimenting his 8 rebounds.

So, what was missing for the 'Hoos offensively? An easy answer could be Thijs De Ridder. While he still made nice plays off the stat-sheet, De Ridder finished a brutal 1-6 from the floor not contributing. Thomas got rolling early offensively, finishing with 18. "I give credit to my Lord and Savior. Without him, none of this is possible. I just felt like I just needed to be aggressive this game. Knowing that shots were going to come and go," Thomas explained, it was good to see the ball go to the basket." However, he went 1-4 from three and missed a pivotal one and one free throw in the final minute. "Disappointed in myself for not hitting that one and one free throw. I feel like that tying that game up would have changed the momentum of it and possibly going into overtime would have been good, but we just learned from it." Sam Lewis had another excellent game, making 17 points. However, Lewis was in foul trouble all night, leading to reduced minutes.

Lewis was not the only one in foul trouble, it was an issue for the Cavaliers all night. Virginia finished with 18 total team fouls. Lewis fouled out, Hall had 4, Thomas and De Ridder both had 2 a piece. "It's hard. You really got to pay attention to your hands and your body and making sure you try and not give the refs any idea or inkling to make a call," Hall said postgame, "But my teammates did a great job out there covering for me." Without a doubt, fouls made a difference as it forced Virginia to back off a notch defensively.

One final issue for Virginia tonight were turnovers. There were 12 total turnovers, 3 for De Ridder and Hall, 2 for Jacari White, and one a piece for Grunloh, Tillis, and Onyenso. Duke turned those turnovers into 11 points. On the flip side, Virginia did force 9 Duke turnovers. The defensive intensity was there for Virginia, just could not get it done in crunch time.

While of course there are no moral victories, one thing Virginia can certainly take away from this game is they just went toe to toe with one of the best teams in the country. Duke was without two starters but still have a very strong team. De Ridder said postgame, "Of course they were missing two important players and would rather have them in a full squad. But they're just an overall really good team and yeah, just came down at the last point tonight that falls in arena." Chance Mallory took a great perspective in saying this proves Virginia can compete, "We can compete with anybody. I feel like we proved that today. Number one team in the country, but obviously we lost. So, we got to go back to the drawing board and work on that and get it ready for next week." Malik Thomas also commented on this matter postgame, "Obviously we're sad about the loss. We want to win every game possible and the chance to compete for ACC champion as a first-year team is unbelievable. So, we're proud of that, but we know that we have another level to go to, and we just feel like learning from these details and learning from these situations is going to help us in March." Here is what Coach Ryan Odom had to say postgame, "The balance of stellar defense and timely offense, I thought the guys did a nice job overall. This is a tough tournament. It's hard to play three days in a row and play really well three days in a row. I think both teams weren't at necessarily their best, but they were competing against one another at a really high level. That's hard to do. Especially they're down a couple of guys and they're tough to play against anyway."

While the ACC Tournament may be over, Virginia will get a bid to compete in the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers will more than likely be a 4 seed and rumors are saying they will be competing in Portland for the first round. Selection Sunday is coming up tomorrow night, where the 'Hoos will officially find out who they will play, where, and when. Until then, maybe a little bit of rest before more preparation begins.