(5) Duke (24-4) at Virginia (14-12)
Sunday, February 28th, 7:45 p.m. (et)
FACTS & STATS: Site: John Paul Jones Arena (15,219) -- Charlottesville, Virginia. Television: FSN. Home Record: Duke 16-0, Virginia 11-4. Away Record: Duke 4-4, Virginia 3-7. Neutral Record: Duke 4-0, Virginia 0-1. Conference Record: Duke 11-2, Virginia 5-8. Series Record: Duke leads, 110-48.
GAME NOTES: The fifth-ranked Duke Blue Devils continue their quest for the ACC regular season title and top seed in the NCAA Tournament, but they must avoid an upset tonight as they take on the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville.
Duke took a break from league play on Thursday to post a 70-52 decision over Tulsa. The Blue Devils are 24-4 overall, and they remain atop the ACC standings with an 11-2 record. Maryland is the only team with a realistic shot of denying Duke the outright regular season crown, and those teams will meet on Wednesday in a much-anticipated showdown.
As for Virginia, it has lost six consecutive outings after a promising ACC start. The Cavaliers are now 5-8 in the league, overshadowing a respectable 14-12 overall record. On Tuesday, the club dropped a 74-62 decision to Miami on the road.
Duke owns a commanding 110-48 series lead over Virginia, which includes three straight wins over the Cavaliers.
Duke is not a deep team by any means, as the squad only has three players averaging more than 5.8 ppg. Fortunately, the club does possess one of the nation's truly elite trios. Jon Scheyer leads the group with 18.8 ppg, and the ACC Player of the Year candidate also contributes 5.4 apg. Nolan Smith checks in with 17.9 ppg, and Kyle Singler adds 16.9 ppg and 7.2 rpg. The Blue Devils are generating 79.7 ppg through 28 outings while limiting opponents to 62.1 ppg on 40.5 percent shooting. Duke connected on only 34.9 percent of its field goal attempts against Tulsa on Thursday, but the Blue Devils did earn a 47-37 rebounding advantage and limited the Golden Hurricane to 32.8 percent shooting. The fact that Coach K's club only committed five turnovers also contributed to the win. The "big three" played well as usual, and Smith led the way with 18 points.
Sylven Landesberg is the only player to start all 26 games for Virginia this season, and he is averaging 17.4 ppg to go along with his team-high 74 assists. Mike Scott contributes 12.8 ppg and 7.2 rpg for the Cavaliers, who are netting 67.0 ppg while allowing 63.2 ppg. Virginia only shot 35.1 percent from the floor against Miami last time out, and the club was also outrebounded by a 39-31 margin. The Cavs only trailed by one point at intermission, but they were completely ineffective at the offensive end in the second half. Landesberg did all he could to keep his team close, as he nailed 6-of-8 three- pointers and tallied 27 points. Jerome Meyinsse added 13 points in the setback, and Jeff Jones scored 11 points. Scott missed all seven of his shots and didn't register a single point.
There is no reason to believe that Duke will slip up tonight. This team has a veteran nucleus that is too wise to look past the Cavs and on to the Maryland game.
Predicted Outcome: Duke 79, Virginia 66
