Duke extended its winning streak to six games with a 77-51 rout of No. 11 Virginia on Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium, snapping the Cavaliers’ nine-game streak and clinching the top seed in the ACC Tournament.
It wasn’t quite the 44-point beatdown they gave Notre Dame earlier in the week, but the top-ranked Blue Devils (27-2, 15-1 ACC) were in control against the Cavaliers (25-4, 13-3) for basically the entire afternoon. After sinking eight three-pointers in the first half, they went into the locker room with a 41-26 lead. Meanwhile, the Cavs made just four field goals in the opening 20 minutes, including just two in the game’s first 10:27.
In the second half, Duke‘s lead wouldn’t drop below 14 points. The Blue Devils shot 53.6% while holding the Cavaliers to just 26.7% from the floor and 16.7% from three-point range. Virginia recorded just three field goals in the game’s final 10:34, at one point going over six minutes without one.
Duke’s Isaiah Evans led all scorers with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Much of that came in the first half, where he was 4-of-6 from three-point range. Cameron Boozer added 18 points, but was just 3-of-9 from the floor as 11 of his points came from the free throw line. He also added nine rebounds, coming just shy of a double-double.
Thijs De Ridder was Virginia’s top scorer with 16 points. No other Cavaliers player reached double digits.
Duke is back on the court on Monday as it travels to NC State. Tipoff from Lenovo Center is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. Virginia hosts Wake Forest on Tuesday, a 7 p.m. tip on the ACC Network.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
