Duke wasn’t supposed to do this. Not down two starters. Not with just seven players. Wasn’t supposed to happen.
But it did. Duke knocked off Virginia in a taut, 74-70 win that took everything the depleted Blue Devils had. We’ve said all year that this team has a winners’ mentality, and we really saw that against Virginia, because Virginia came to play.
Duke started the game off well, going up 4-0, but Virginia quickly made it clear that a cavalier effort by the Blue Devils would not be enough, and
sure enough, the first half proved to be a dogfight.
The Wahoos defended inside brilliantly, with Ugonna Onyenso blocking 8 shots, and a total of 20 in the tournament. He was incredible. Virginia limited Cameron Boozer to 2 first-half points, and we’re not sure if anyone has done that all season.
But, as Yoda said: there is another.
And this was a great night for Cayden Boozer.
He racked up 14 first-half points, nearly a third of Duke’s total points before the break, and you could almost see his confidence surging.
Other than some sloppy ball handling, both teams played well in the first half. Duke only shot 27% from deep, but 50% overall. Virginia shot 29% from behind the line and 46% overall.
Cayden Boozer was the only player on either team to reach double figures by halftime.
The intensity was pretty high already, but both teams just cranked up in the second half. Onyenso was blocking shots like his family was in danger – he had 6 of his 8 after halftime. And, like we saw at Michigan, Duke kept taking it at the shot blocker, but it didn’t work and they didn’t get him in a bit of foul trouble. He finished with just one in 22 minutes (by the way, that works out to a block every 2.75 minutes).
Who the hell told him he got to wear a cape?
Down the stretch, the game was incredibly tense. Virginia took the lead at 46-44, then again at 60-58 on a pair of Chance Mallory free throws, but Cameron Boozer tied it on a layup and converted the three-point play to put the Devils back up, 61-60.
After Boozer hit a pair of free throws, Malik Thomas tied it at the line with his own, 63-63. And then it was Showtime Slim, as Isaiah Evans nailed a three to put Duke back up, 66-63.
At this point, it was clear this was a heavyweight fight.
Thomas came back down and hit a shot in the lane to cut the lead to one, then Thijs De Ridder hit a free throw to tie it at 66.
And then…Cayden Boozer struck again. Evans shot a 26-foot three-point attempt, which missed…but just like we saw against Florida State, Boozer snuck in and got an easy follow shot, and that put Duke up, 68-66.
And this is why we said that guy who we talked about the other day, who said Boozer should be playing D-3 ball was such a moron: you can’t teach a winning mentality. You can nurture it, you can make people better about it, but both Boozers just know how to win, and like we saw against FSU, that kid is a winner. Zion Williamson said killers kill, which was a good line, but you know what’s just as good?
Winners do winning things.
And Cayden Boozer did that several times in Charlotte, and he had one more trick in his bag, too, which we’ll get to in a minute.
Virginia put Evans on the line, where he’s deadly, and he hit both to put Duke up, 70-66. Virginia scored on an Onyenso follow shot, and then we were really shocked when Cam Boozer went to the line and missed both.
But on the other hand, he played heavy minutes for three straight days and came up against a great shot blocker. Anyone would get tired.
Evans went back to the line and hit his shots, then Thomas made an uncontested layup with 0:06 left on the clock. Virginia fouled Cameron Boozer again, and this time, he hit both.
And while the Cavaliers’ chances were very slim with just 0:03 left on the clock, Cayden Boozer slammed that door shut with a steal.
Look, every ACC Championship is special, but this one came with great difficulty. Cameron Boozer sat for just 9 minutes in Charlotte, and Duke is down to a seven-man rotation. Duke managed to win despite Boozer shooting just 3-17, Evans shooting 6-14, and Maliq Brown playing just 16 minutes.
And they managed to overcome a Virginia team that showed almost as much heart as did Duke.
For our Virginia fans, you lost this one, but your program is not just heading in the right direction. This is a team that could make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. That was a highly impressive outing.
It’s just that it was more so for Duke. We weren’t sure what to expect honestly, but consider: this is the second straight ACC Tournament that Duke had a major injury issue (last year, it was Cooper Flagg), and still managed to win the whole thing.
The Blue Devils won this on grit and heart, and if you’re at all like us, this has become one of our favorite Duke teams of all time.
It’s also worth noting that Duke has now won ACC Championships this year in football, women’s basketball, and now, men’s basketball. That’s an amazing run by any standard.
Aside from being ACC champs, Duke is assured of being the #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and they got huge improvements from Cayden Boozer, Nik Khamenia, and Darren Harris, who came through as well. If they can at least get Patrick Ngongba back soon, they’ll be in even better shape. Their confidence is going to be through the roof after this.
Notes – Although Onyenso had a brilliant defensive performance, the key for Virginia was the play of Sam Lewis and Malik Thomas…they combined for 35 points…Thijs De Ridder had just 5 points…Dallin Hall was held to 7 on 2-6/1-5…Virginia got 66 minutes from their four bench players, while Duke got 44, all from two players…there have surely been ACC Championships that were more aesthetically pleasing, but not many have been more intense…Jon Scheyer has now won three championships in his first four years…
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