ACCT Preview: #1 Duke Blue Devils (31-2, 17-1 ACC) vs. #10 Virginia Cavaliers (29-4, 15-3 ACC)
Saturday, March 14 • 8:30 p.m. ET
Spectrum Center (20,200) • Charlotte, N.C. • ACC Tournament Final
TV: ESPN
Radio: Blue Devil Sports Network from LEARFIELD
The Blue Devils face the Virginia Cavaliers in the ACC Tournament Finals at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC
Broadcast Information TV
TV ESPN
Play-by-Play Dave O’Brien
Analyst Cory Alexander
Reporter Molly McGrath
Producer Kim Belton
Director Michael Griffin
Broadcast Information Radio
Radio Blue Devil Sports Network
Play-by-Play David Shumate
Analyst John Roth
Engineer John Rose
In Durham 96.5 FM & 620 AM
SiriusXM check listing & SiriusXM app
History
Overall Duke leads, 127-54
In Durham, NC Duke leads, 61-11
at Cameron Indoor Stadium Duke leads, 56-10
In Charlottesville, VA Duke leads, 44-36
at John Paul Jones Arena Duke leads, 8-4
Neutral Sites Duke leads, 22-6
Last Meeting @Duke 77, Virginia 51 (Feb. 28, 2026)
About Duke
Duke Jon Scheyer (Duke ‘10)
Career Record / at Duke 120-24 (4th) / same
vs. Virginia 4-1
ACC Tournament 73rd Appearance
Overall Record 115-47 (.710)
Tournament Titles 23 (last in 2025)
In Charlotte, NC (Titles) 26-8 (6 – last in 2025)
Virginia Cavaliers
In a resurgent season for Virginia, Ryan Odom has taken his Cavaliers to a 29-4 record and an ACC record of 15-3. They are currently on a 4-game winning streak and are 5-1 on neutral floors this season. Virginia has won 13 of its last 14 games, with its lone setback coming at Duke, 77-51, on Feb. 28. The Cavaliers lead the nation with 6.3 blocks per game. They top the ACC in total rebounds (40.5) and offensive rebounds (13.3)—13th and 17th in the nation, respectively—and rank second in the ACC in rebound margin (+8.0).
Thijs De Ridder, a 6’9 forward out of Belgium, leads the Cavaliers in scoring and rebounding at 15.8 and 6.2 per game. Senior guard Malik Thomas, a 6’4 guard out of California, is 3.5 points behind De Ridder at 12.3 points per game. Sam Lewis rounds out the double-figure scoring for Ryan Odom’s team at 10.6 points per game. Chance Mallory leads Virginia in assists off the bench at 3.5 per game. Ugonna Onyenso is second in the nation with 92 blocks.
Last Time Out:
In what was expected to be a close game, No. 2 seed UVA overwhelmed No. 3 seed Miami 84-62 in the first ACC semifinal Friday night (March 13) at Spectrum Center. And now the Wahoos, who are ranked 10th nationally, are a win away from securing the fourth ACC title in program history and first since 2018.
Duke Blue Devils
The Blue Devils are No. 1 in NET rankings and own 16 Quad-1 wins, the most in the country. (Mar. 13) Duke has secured 11 top-25 victories, the most in the regular season in ACC history and tied for the most in a regular season in AP poll history. The Blue Devils are the top-rated defense in the nation. (KenPom) Duke is the only team ranked in the top-four nationally in both offensive efficiency (127.9, 4th) and defensive efficiency (88.6, 1st) ratings. (KenPom) Duke is ranked second in the nation in scoring margin (+19.8). The Blue Devils rank third in the nation and first in the ACC in scoring defense (62.9 ppg). They top the conference and ranks sixth in the country in rebounding margin (+10.9).
Cameron Boozer is the nation’s eighth-leading scorer with 22.8 points per game and is tied for fourth in the nation with 19 double-doubles, while topping the ACC in rebounding (10.3 rpg), is 12th in assists (4.1 apg), 13th in steals (1.5 spg) and third in field goal percentage (.579). Isaiah Evans is averaging 14.7 points per game and is coming off of a career high in points with 32 in Duke’s quarterfinal game against Florida State. Duke is without the services of injured starters Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba II.
Last Time Out:
The top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Duke men’s basketball team advanced to the 2026 ACC Tournament title game with a 73-61 victory over Clemson on Friday, March 13 at the Spectrum Center. The Blue Devils (31-2) stifled the Tigers (24-10) in the first half, to the tune of just 22 points allowed, while receiving career games on the offensive end of the floor from freshmen Cayden Boozer and Nikolas Khamenia.
Stats Comparison
| G | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke | 33 | 40.0 | 28.7 | 58.2 | .493 | 19.6 | 32.3 | .608 | 9.1 | 25.9 | .352 | 16.0 | 22.1 | .722 | 12.2 | 28.0 | 40.3 | 17.0 | 7.8 | 3.3 | 10.6 | 15.8 | 82.5 |
| Virginia | 33 | 40.8 | 28.1 | 60.7 | .463 | 17.9 | 32.5 | .553 | 10.2 | 28.3 | .360 | 14.5 | 20.1 | .723 | 13.3 | 27.2 | 40.5 | 16.8 | 6.5 | 6.3 | 10.8 | 17.5 | 81.0 |
Stats Comparison Conference
| G | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke | 18 | 40.0 | 28.4 | 57.6 | .494 | 19.7 | 32.9 | .598 | 8.8 | 24.7 | .355 | 15.3 | 20.7 | .739 | 10.3 | 25.5 | 35.8 | 16.4 | 8.3 | 2.5 | 9.3 | 14.6 | 80.9 |
| Virginia | 18 | 41.4 | 26.9 | 61.4 | .439 | 16.9 | 31.1 | .544 | 10.1 | 30.3 | .332 | 13.3 | 17.6 | .757 | 11.2 | 25.4 | 36.6 | 16.7 | 6.1 | 6.1 | 10.8 | 17.4 | 77.3 |
Projected Starters
Duke Blue Devils
G Caleb Foster 6’5, 205lbs Jr.
G Isaiah Evans 6’6, 180lbs So.
G Dame Sarr 6’8, 190lbs Fr.
F Cameron Boozer 6’9, 250lbs Fr.
C Maliq Brown 6’9, 225lbs Sr.
Virginia Cavaliers
G Dallin Hall 6’4, 197lbs Gs.
G Malik Thomas 6’5, 215lbs Gs.
G Sam Lewis 6’7, 210lbs Jr.
F Thijs De Ridder 6’9, 238lbs Fr.
C Johann Grunloh 7’0, 238lbs Fr.
Final Thoughts
Duke is obviously shorthanded against the Cavaliers and, in my opinion need to pick and choose when to run. I’d expect Duke to play more in the halfcourt as much as possible, and I expect Virginia to try to push pace to tire out the Blue Devils, who will only have 7 bodies to play. I also expect UVA to press and trap Duke guards as well as force the ball into the paint to put pressure on Duke’s thin frontcourt. I don’t think the factors for Duke have changed much since the beginning of this tournament.
- Perimeter defensive communication has to be tight and right
- Keep turnovers to a minimum
- hit free throws
- good shot selection
- stay out of foul trouble