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Virginia: The Cavaliers more than justified their No. 2 ranking and their status as the ACC’s team to beat by coming into Cameron and winning for the first time in more than two decades.

from B1

This certainly counts as the marquee road victory their resume perhaps may have lacked, and Bennett says his team’s lone loss — last month at No. 7 West Virginia — helped in preparing for this one.

“That’s why we play those West Virginia games,” Bennett said. “A West Virginia-type game, not finishing out, I think that all adds to a successful element today.”

Duke: The Blue Devils leaned heavily on their starters — using zero substitutes in the second half and playing two reserves, Javin Delaurier and Alex O’Connell, for a total of six minutes all day. It’s fair to wonder if they ran out of gas down the stretch. Bagley was the only Duke player to hit a field goal in the final 8 minutes.

“If we want to win something really big, your best players have to play a lot of minutes,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “And I think that’s what the regular season’s about, is preparing for — hopefully, we’re in it in March. So I think we learned a lot.” matchup that comes down to the final minute. As for the Cavaliers, well, they can’t climb too much higher than No. 2 but might have earned a few more first-place votes.