Duke began their season playing like a doddering old man and have slowly, continuously morphed into a team to be reckoned with in the post-season. The Blue Devils, who fell to Virginia in mid-February by 7 turned the tables in the ACC Men’s Basketball Championship title game by smothering any offensive effort the Cavaliers had in their back pocket.
The initial run by Duke set the stage for the win as they notched points and all the while keeping Virginia scoreless for the first 3 minutes of the game. At the half, the Blue Devils had delivered enough damage to keep the Cavaliers struggling to overcome the deficit for the remainder of the game. The score, though nothing to write home about, was 24-17 by the half. Defense was the key for both teams as the Blue Devils kept the Wahoos to a staggering low 33 shooting percentage for the run of the game.
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Duke
It wasn’t all one sided though. At one point neither team scored for almost 9 minutes. The stat sheet also pointed to a weak spot for Virginia with the team committing 12 turnovers, mainly due to lackadaisical passing. That weakness was effectively used as a counter-punch by first year coach Jon Scheyer’s team. Tony Bennett’s squad won’t always be able to set and maintain a slower pace on offense that can lead to these problems if they hope to move deep into the NCAA Tournament.
Jeremy Roach led the Blue Devils in scoring putting up an impressive 7-12, 2-2 from the arc and hitting all his free throws for 23. The ACC Tournament MVP, Kyle Filipowski notched 20 points and 10 rebounds. For Virginia, Reece Beekman came away with 12.
Though Virginia rebounded offensively in the second half, 32-35 the first half deficit of 7 was too much to overcome as Duke came away with the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament title, 59-49.
ACC All-Tournament First Team –
- Kyle Filipowski – Duke
- Isaiah Wong – Miami
- Jayden Gardner – Virginia
- Terquavion Smith – NC State
- Jeremy Roach – Duke
