Durham-bred Huff haunts Blue Devils with near-triple-double in UVA upset over No. 7 Duke

By Jerry Ratcliffe

There’s a photograph on the fridge back home in the Huff household in Durham of Jay Huff and Mike Krzyzewski. No one would recognize Huff except for his family. He was beardless back then as a high school basketball prospect.

Call him the one that got away. Correct that, the big one that got away. Huff and his dad used to attend games at Cameron Indoor all the time back in the day. He went to Duke basketball camp, was recruited … let’s say, lightly by the Blue Devils. He even attended Duke’s national championship banquet in 2015.

Huff ended up wearing a Virginia uniform and every time the Cavaliers have faced the Blue Devils, he’s been a little extra juiced for the opportunity to make his hometown regret not bringing him into its fold.

The old coaches say that revenge is a dish best served cold. Huff would dispute that because Saturday night he was red hot in Virginia’s 52-50 upset over the seventh-ranked Blue Devils.

How’s this for payback: 15 points (7 for 9 shooting), 10 blocks and 9 rebounds. One board short of a triple-double.

“I’m really hoping somebody got the stats wrong,” the seven-footer grinned after his gigantic performance. “I’m going to review it.”

Huff will no doubt enjoy watching this one closely over and over again, becoming the first player in the last 20 seasons with 10 blocks in a game against an AP Top-10 team.

“It feels great,” Huff chuckled. “Ralph [Sampson] apparently had 12, so it’s not that cool. But it was fun, really exciting. Some of it was timing, some of it was just being at the right place. But yeah, it was really cool.”

Huff’s timing was impeccable at game’s end with Virginia leading Duke, 51-50, when he blocked Vernon Carey’s layup attempt in the paint. It was the big man’s 10th block, but what made it more special was his ferocity in claiming the rebound amongst the scrum with only five seconds on the clock.

The sequence sent a jam-packed John Paul Jones Arena into bedlam as Huff was fouled, sending him to the free-throw line with a mere three seconds remaining. He missed the first, made the second for a 52-50 lead. Even a Krzyzewski time out to set up a last-shot strategy wasn’t going to steal Huff’s thunder. It was his night.

Tre Jones’ desperation heave from deep in the backcourt didn’t come close as Duke lost its third consecutive road game in the unpredictable ACC.

“In that moment (the last block/rebound), I don’t think I was thinking too much,” Huff said. “Looking back on it, I think it was good because if [Duke] had gotten possession again and put up a gimme little layup at the end, that would have been a really crappy way to lose.”

Instead, Virginia prevailed, beating Duke for only the fourth time in the Bennett era, and only the second time at JPJ under Bennett. With the win, the Cavaliers improved to 21-7 overall, moved into a tie with the Blue Devils for third place in the ACC (but own the tie-breaker), and continued their win streak.

UVA, one of the hottest teams in the country, has won six straight (five of those by a collective 11 points), and nine of its last 10 contests.

“Points were hard to come by,” Krzyzewski said. “Both teams played outstanding defense and the difference-maker for them was Huff. He had his best game today, and don’t get me wrong, he has had a lot of great games. Today he had his best game, especially in rim protection.”

Indeed.

Huff resembled a ceiling fan, whacking everything that came its way. 

🔟 Jay Huff blocks 💪
🔶⚔️🔷 #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/9AcNDnbO12

— Virginia Men’s Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) March 1, 2020

The 10 swats had statisticians reaching for the White Out to erase all sorts of previous highs in that category at UVA and around the country.

Here’s a few:

• 10 blocks tied for second in UVA single-game history.
• They were the most by an ACC player since NC State’s Beejay Anya (Nov. 20, 2014).
• He joined Tyrell Blair (Boston College) and Shelden Williams (Duke) as the only players with 10 blocks in an ACC conference game over the last 20 seasons.
• 10 blocks is tied for the most by any Division I player in a game this season.
• He is the second player to have 10 blocks in a game vs. Duke (Tree Rollins, Clemson in 1977).
• Huff’s 10 are the most blocks by a Cavalier since Sampson’s 10 against Old Dominion in 1979.

With all that noted, Huff was most delighted when informed that while Sampson held the school record with 12 blocks in a game, those dozen swats came against Army, meaning that Huff’s 10 were the most ever by a Wahoo against an ACC opponent.

“Yesssss!” Huff said, clinching his fist at the news. It was a playful celebration.

“Can I call [Ralph] real quick?” he quipped.

Sampson was actually there to witness the block party first hand. Huff spotted him before the game and has gotten to known the legendary Cavalier over time.

Still, Huff has a long way to go to approach Sampsonesque numbers. He has 81 blocked shots with games remaining during this, his junior year.

Ralph had 462.

No, that is not a typo.

Still, Virginia loves having the big rim protector on its team. Just as Ralph was back in the day, Huff is kind of a safety net in case anything goes wrong on the perimeter.

“If we do get beat, we just put our hands up and let Jay clean it up, up top,” said point guard Kihei Clark. “We try not to get any dumb fouls because Jay can prevent it. Jay does a great job of blocking shots, so when you have a force behind you like that, you can kind of get into the ball a little bit and pressure a little bit.”

That’s exactly what it was like back in the early 1980s when Virginia’s guards would take defensive risks on the perimeter, knowing that if their gambles didn’t work, then Sampson was always back there to erase their mistake.

Just like in those days, it’s all about doing what’s necessary to win games. Beating Duke (Ralph never lost to Duke) is a big deal in the Huff household, even if Krzyzewski is splattered all over the fridge.

“I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t get a little more amped up for Duke games,” Huff said.

After all, he’s the one that got away. The really big one.