CHANCE FOR UNANIMITY
After winning at Cameron last year, Cavaliers hope to reverse history vs. No. 1
Virginia’s Ty Jerome won’t soon forget last season’s breakthrough moment in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Yet, he also knows the heartbreak associated with giving up the game-winning basket two years ago when the nation’s No. 1 team muscled a victory away from the Cavaliers.
Saturday evening, Jerome and his teammates will combine a few of those elements in an event none of them has experienced. Yes, they’ve tasted success in Cameron Indoor Stadium with a 65-63 win last season that was aided by Jerome’s 3-pointer from nearly 25 feet away in the final minute, but this U.Va. group has never played at Duke when the Blue Devils were ranked No. 1 in the nation.
Though Duke likely won’t be at full strength, it’ll still represent one of the ultimate measuring-stick challenges for the Cavaliers (16-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). While U.Va., which won last season at Duke for the first time since 1995, is ranked No. 1 this week in the coaches poll and No. 4 in the Associated Press poll, the Cavaliers will have a legitimate shot to be ranked No. 1 in both polls if they win at Duke in what will be just the fourth matchup in NCAA history of
teams both ranked No. 1.
“Last year was definitely an awesome win, but it’s a whole new team,” Jerome said Tuesday after U.Va.’s 81-59 win against No. 9 Virginia Tech. “We know how crazy the environment is, so last year is completely out the window. It’s a fresh, new game, but we understand how crazy Cameron is. We understand how loud they get when they go on runs. We know how talented this team is, so we know we’re in for a real battle, but we’re ready for it.”
Duke (14-2, 3-1) probably will be without freshman starting point guard Tre Jones, a defensive stalwart who sprained the AC joint in his right shoulder Monday in the Blue Devils’ 95-91 overtime home loss Monday night against Syracuse.
Despite his absence, and Duke lacking an air of invincibility at home after Monday’s loss, the task of trying to extend its 12-game ACC road winning streak will be daunting for U.Va., which doesn’t have history on its side in matchups against No. 1-ranked teams.
U.Va. is 1-29 all-time against No. 1, with its only victory coming Jan. 30, 1986, in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers won 86-73 in University Hall that day against a North Carolina team led by Brad Daugherty and Kenny Smith.
Half of U.Va.’s games against No. 1 foes have come against Duke, with seven of those 15 games in Cameron. The last time U.Va. played at No. 1 Duke was in February 2009, when the 7-9 Cavaliers lost 79-54 in the last of Dave Leitao’s four seasons coaching U.Va.
“Obviously, some of these guys have played in that (Cameron) atmosphere,” U.Va. coach Tony Bennett said after the win against Tech. “(Duke is) so talented. …We know how good they are.”
U.Va.’s last outing against a No. 1-ranked team came in January 2017, when the then-No. 12 Cavaliers lost 61-59 to Villanova in Philadelphia. Jerome had a team-high 15 points off the bench, but he couldn’t keep Villanova’s Donte DiVincenzo from scoring on a tip-in with less than one second left.
As validating as last season’s win at then-No. 2 Duke was for U.Va., which got its first road victory against a top-five-ranked opponent since ’93 by virtue of that win, that version of the Blue Devils didn’t include freshman forwards Zion Williamson (21.2 points per game, team-high 9.4 rebounds per game, two steals per game), R.J. Barrett (teamhigh 23.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg) and Cam Reddish (13.3 ppg) — all of whom could be selected in June in the top five picks of the NBA draft. The trio is most responsible for Duke being No. 1 in the ACC and third-best in the nation in scoring offense (90.3 ppg).
Sophomore guard Alex O’Connell might end up getting the bulk of the minutes Jones would’ve played. O’Connell isn’t nearly the on-the-ball defender Jones is, but O’Connell (16 points, 4 of 8 3-pointers in 34 minutes against Syracuse) is arguably the best perimeter shooter (38.1 percent from 3-point range) on a team that doesn’t shoot particularly well from long range (31.8 percent).
As if Duke’s talent isn’t enough to test U.Va.’s pack-line approach, which has the Cavaliers atop the nation in scoring defense (giving up 51.7 ppg), there’s the ubiquitous Cameron Crazies element.
This week, the Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper, ran a two-page insert that simply featured the letters “UMBC” in blue — a reference to the school that beat U.Va. last season, becoming the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Those letters are sure to make more appearances Saturday in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“Wherever we are, we’re going to play the same game no matter what,” U.Va. freshman guard Kihei Clark said. “We’re going to go out there and execute our game plan and not worry about the atmosphere.”