Preview: #3 Duke Blue Devils (22-3, 14-1 ACC) vs. Virginia Cavaliers (13-12, 6-8 ACC)

#3 Duke Blue Devils (22-3, 14-1 ACC) vs. Virginia Cavaliers (13-12, 6-8 ACC)

Game #26 • Road Game #9 • Monday, Feb. 17 • 8 p.m. ET

John Paul Jones Arena (14,593) • Charlottesville, VA

TV: ESPN

Radio: Blue Devil Sports Network from LEARFIELD

The Duke Blue Devils hit the road to Charlottesville, VA on a quick turnaround to take on the surging Virginia Cavaliers in John Paul Jones Arena. The Blue Devils hold a 125-54 series advantage over the Cavaliers, including a 43-36 margin in Charlottesville. Duke has won nine of the last 13 meetings with Virginia, including a victory (59-49) in the 2023 ACC Tournament Championship game and a win (73-48) in Durham last March.

TV/Video Stream ESPN
Play-by-Play Dave O’Brien
Analyst Cory Alexander
Producer Kim Belton
Director Adam Bryant
Radio Blue Devil Sports Network
Play-by-Play David Shumate
Analyst John Roth
Engineer John Rose
In Durham 96.5 FM & 620 AM
SiriusXM 84

Overall Duke leads, 125-54
In Durham, NC Duke leads, 60-11
at Cameron Indoor Stadium Duke leads, 55-10
In Charlottesville, VA Duke leads, 43-36
at John Paul Jones Arena Duke leads, 7-4
Neutral Sites Duke leads, 22-6
Last Meeting Duke 73, Virginia 48 (March 2, 2024)

The Cavaliers enter Monday on a 3 game winning streak and situated 9th in the ACC. They have an overall record of 13-12 and an ACC mark of 6-8 in Ron Sanchez’s first season at the helm. Virginia ranks second in the ACC in scoring defense (64.9), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.50) and fouls per game (15.0). The Cavaliers are the fourth-best three-point shooting team in the conference, making 37.7% from long range.

Isaac McKneely is positioned second in the league in 3-pointers per game (3.1) and three-point percentage (.417). McKneely is the Cavaliers’ leading scorer with 13.7 points per game, followed by Elijah Saunders at 11.1 points per outing. Forward Blake Buchanan leads the Hoos in rebounding at 5.7 per game and junior guard Andrew Rohde leads the Cavaliers in assists with 4.4 per contest.

Duke, currently leading the ACC, comes in with an overall record of 22-3 and an ACC mark of 14-1. The Blue Devils lead the country in scoring margin (+20.2) and rank fifth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.71), sixth in scoring defense (60.8), seventh in field goal percentage defense (.384), 10th in effective field goal percentage (.572), 14th in rebound margin (+7.8), 22nd in three-pointers per game (10.2) and 28th in assists per game (16.7) – all top marks in the ACC. Duke is the only team in the country ranked among the top-four in both offensive (3rd) and defensive efficiency (4th), according to KenPom. Duke is the only Division I team to score 80 points or more per game (81.0) and hold its opponents to fewer than 61 points per game (60.8).

Cooper Flagg, who turned 18 years old on Dec. 21, tops Duke in points (494), rebounds (187), assists (101), steals (40) and blocked shots (29). Flagg is averaging 19.8 points per game to lead Duke. Flagg ranks among the ACC’s top-10 in four of the five major statistical categories – scoring (3rd), rebounding (9th), assists (8th) and blocks (10th), and is 12th in steals. The Blue Devils boast 2 other double-figure scorers, with freshman Kon Knueppel coming in behind Flagg at 13 points per game. Junior Tyrese Proctor rounds out the double figure scorers for the Blue Devils at 12.2 points per game. Proctor has averaged 19.4 points in Duke’s last five games, while shooting 36-of- 65 (.554) from the field, including 18-of-37 (.486) from three-point range. In the last eight games, Sion James has distributed 32 assists to just six turnovers, a 5.3 assist-to-turnover ratio. James ranks third in the ACC in that category (2.8).

PG Sion James 6’6, 220lbs – Grad Transfer
SG Tyrese Proctor 6’6, 183lbs – Junior
SF Kon Knueppel 6’7, 217lbs – Freshman
PF Cooper Flagg 6’9, 205lbs – Freshman
C Khaman Maluach 7’2, 250lbs – Freshman

G Dai Dai Ames 6’1, 190lbs – Sophomore
G Isaac McKneely 6’4, 195lbs – Junior
G Andrew Rohde 6’6, 200lbs – Junior
F Jacob Cofie 6’10, 232lbs – Freshman
F Blake Buchanan 6’11, 227lbs – Sophomore

It’s no secret that the Cavaliers are a staunch defensive team. They rank second in scoring defense in the ACC. Duke unlocked the secret of in their last game of how to take down a good defensive team, take care of the basketball and rebound. The Hoos are going to try to limit Cooper Flagg’s ability to get other involved, much like Clemson did in the first half of their win over the Blue Devils. Virginia is going to be physical with Flagg and try to knock him off of his spots but with the onset of Cooper as both a distributor and a shot-maker it may have to be a pick your poison situation for Virginia. If stopping Flagg wasn’t enough Duke has a surging Tyrese Proctor and Khaman Maluach who should have a sizable advantage physically against UVA.

Defensively for the Blue Devils, it all starts with making sure Isaac McKneely doesn’t get going early. Forcing the junior marksman into tough, contested 2’s is a strategy that Duke can utilize. Duke is also going to have to limit the penetration of sophomore guard Dai Dai Ames. Ames is only averaging 7.8 points per game on the season, but his last 4 games he’s more than doubled that at 16.75 points per game with 2.5 assists. The sophomore is also shooting the ball much better this year, at 41% from beyond the arc. Virginia’s 3 solid at the guard spot, and they tend to open things up for their bigs to get easy looks at the basket. Duke will need to simply be sound defensively. I don’t see Virginia challenging the Blue Devils 1 v 1 so it’s a matter of following sound team defense, being there on the catch, fronting the post and being aware of cutting opportunities.