Beekman does it again; Virginia stuns No. 7 Duke at Cameron, 69-68

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia rolled into Duke’s famed Cameron Indoor Stadium Monday night as a double-digit underdog, but walked out with its most significant road victory in years over the first-place, seventh-ranked Blue Devils.

Sitting with foul trouble for most of the game, UVA sophomore guard Reece Beekman sank the biggest 3-pointer of his career with one second remaining to give his team a 69-68 win, as the Cavaliers fought off a late Duke rally to move to 15-9 on the season and 9-5 in conference play, while keeping their postseason hopes alive in the process.

Virginia was facing the Blue Devils (19-4, 9-3) for the final time in Durham with the legendary Mike Krzyzewski as Duke head coach, and the Wahoos didn’t seem to be fazed by the Cameron Crazies, despite the majority of the UVA players having never played there.

Duke held a 68-66 edge with under a minute to play, but star freshman Paolo Banchero lost the ball into the arms of Armaan Franklin with 36 ticks showing, giving the ball back to the Cavaliers.

Franklin couldn’t get the tying basket to fall with 10 seconds left, but the Hoos forced a held ball and had one last crack at it with seven seconds left, inbounding under their own basket.

Beekman inbounded to Kihei Clark, who kicked it back to his backcourt mate on the wing, and Beekman sank the game-winning dagger.

“🧅 𝙊𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨” – @reece_beekman

🔶⚔️🔷#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/WkviT1Q0p3

— Virginia Men’s Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) February 8, 2022

Banchero caught the ensuing Hail-Mary pass and hoisted a shot at the buzzer that hit the top of the backboard, and the Cavaliers began to celebrate just the program’s 12th win all time at Duke in 71 tries.

Beekman picked up his third foul just 48 seconds into the second half as Duke cut the Virginia lead to 36-33, but Jayden Gardner answered with a pump fake and three-point play that again made it a two-possession game.

With 15:05 to go, Duke center Mark Williams was whistled for his fourth foul after delivering an elbow into the grill of Kadin Shedrick.

Clark did a tremendous job of driving the lane and drawing defenders before dishing to teammates for easy buckets, most notably a wrap-around drop-off assist to Shedrick for a power dunk that gave Virginia a 51-47 advantage with 11:49 left.

Trevor Keels, who ultimately chose Duke over Virginia in his recruiting decision, sank a 3-pointer on the other end to cut it to one, but another Shedrick jam and a Clark floater pushed the UVA lead to 55-50 midway through the second half.

As the clock went under eight minutes, Clark delivered the highlight of the night with an alley-oop feed to Shedrick from the half-court stripe, and the Virginia lead held steady at 57-52 going into the TV timeout with 7:28 to play.

Duke chipped away from the foul line and took a 64-63 lead — its first since it was 17-15 — on a Jeremy Roach jumper with four minutes to play. Keels followed his own miss to give the Devils their biggest lead of the game, 66-63, with 2:49 to go.

Down by two, Virginia forced a shot-clock violation at the 2:05 mark, and Beekman initially missed, but stole the ball back and tied it up at 66-all with 1:47 to play. Keels put Duke back in front with a pair of free throws with 1:28 left, and Clark’s would-be, go-ahead 3-point attempt rimmed out with just over a minute remaining, setting up the nail-biting conclusion.

It was Virginia’s first road win over a top-10 squad since beating No. 8 North Carolina in Chapel Hill nearly three years ago (Feb. 11, 2019). Monday’s win was also Virginia’s third in a row and sixth in the last eight.

UVA shot 48 percent on the evening (31 for 65), including just 17 percent (2 for 12) from 3-point land, but one of those season-low two makes was obviously the difference.

The Hoos dominated the paint, 52-28, and forced 15 Duke turnovers which translated into 20 points on the opposite end of the floor, while committing just five giveaways of their own. Virginia recorded 10 steals and led for 30 minutes and 59 seconds of the contest.

Gardner, who was born in Durham, dropped a game-high 17 points and a team-best 8 rebounds to lead the charge, while Shedrick set a career high with 16 points on another perfect shooting night, converting all eight of his shot attempts (he was 3 for 3 last time out against Miami), adding 6 rebounds.

Franklin stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, 3 boards, 3 assists and a game-high four steals. Clark finished with 8 points, a game-best 9 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals, while Beekman had 7 points, 3 assists and a pair of steals in just 25 minutes, as he picked up his fourth foul with 7:28 left. Francisco Caffaro chipped in with 8 points and 6 rebounds.

Duke shot 42 percent from the field (22 of 52) and 35 percent (6 of 17) from long range, winning the rebounding battle, 39-32.

Williams led the Blue Devils with 16 points and 3 blocks, while Keels added 12.

Banchero, who many have as an NBA lottery pick, was held scoreless after halftime and finished with a career-low 9 points, his first collegiate game in which he failed to post double digits. Wendell Moore added 9 points and Roach had 7 in the losing effort.

Duke travels to face the Cavaliers on Feb. 23 in the regular-season rematch at John Paul Jones Arena.

FIRST HALF

A Beekman steal on Duke’s opening possession led to a layup on the other end by Franklin, who followed that up with a jumper to give the Hoos a quick 4-0 lead.

Virginia led 8-2 after a Clark steal resulted in a Caffaro putback, and Coach K had to call an early 30-second timeout with 16:40 on the clock. Duke responded with a 7-0 run over the following two minutes to take its first lead.

The teams traded blows over the next few minutes, with neither side leading by more than two points. The Cavaliers were efficient in the paint, scoring their first 10 field goals from inside the key while attempting just one shot from 3-point land.

Gardner’s first basket gave the Hoos a two-point edge on one end and then he took a charge from Banchero on the other to spark some momentum. The East Carolina transfer then scored two more buckets to cap an 8-0 UVA run, as Duke went over four minutes without a point and Virginia led 23-17 with 6:40 left in the period.

Bates Jones hit a corner 3 to end Duke’s drought with 5:45 remaining, but Virginia answered with another Gardner bucket and a finish by Caffaro on a sweet no-look lob from Clark, and the Hoos took their largest lead up to that point, 27-20, into the final media timeout.

Shedrick extended it to nine with a putback out of the break, and then a Franklin triple stretched it to double digits, 32-20, with 2:18 left before Moore converted a three-point play on the other end.

Across one stretch, Duke misfired on 10 of 11 field-goal attempts, including a few from point-blank range. The Blue Devils were able to trim it to five, 34-29, by halftime after knocking down two more from downtown, marking their largest deficit of the season through the opening 20 minutes.

Virginia led for 14:58 of the half, shooting 47 percent (15 for 32) while limiting Duke to 37 percent (10 for 27). The Hoos outscored the Devils in the paint, 26-12, and 11-0 off turnovers (Duke gave it away six times) in the first half.

Box Score

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Reece Beekman’s game-winning 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left won it for the Cavaliers
• Virginia improved to 15-9, 9-5 ACC
• UVA is 4-5 on the road
• UVA forced one shot clock violation (26 in 2021-22)
• Virginia is 1-1 vs. ranked foes in 2021-22
• UVA’s last top-10 road win was a 69-61 decision at then-No. 8 North Carolina on Feb. 11, 2019.
• Duke gained its first lead (17-15 ) at 10:48 of the first half
• Duke gained its second lead of the game at 64-63
• UVA went on an 8-0 run to gain a 23-17 lead and 9-0 run to lead 32-20
• UVA led 34-29 at the half
• Duke’s 29 first half-points were its second lowest in a first half this season (27 vs. Notre Dame)
• Duke’s 29 first half-points ties for its third-fewest in a half this season
• UVA had a season low three turnovers (4 season low)
• UVA had a 52-28 advantage in points in the paint
• UVA had 20 points off 15 Duke turnovers

Series Notes

• UVA is 53-122 all-time vs. Duke, including a 12-59 road mark.
• UVA is 10-54 all-time at Cameron Indoor Stadium
• Six of the last eight meetings have been decided by two points or less
• Head coach Tony Bennett is 5-12 all-time against Duke at UVA

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Jayden Gardner (17), Kadin Shedrick (16), Armaan Franklin (11)
• Shedrick had a career-high 16 points on 8 of 8 field goals
• Gardner reached double figures for the 19th time (93rd career)
• Gardner has 1,809 career points
• Shedrick reached double figures for the seventh time (9th career)
• Beekman (2 steals) extended his steal streak to 14 games
• Franklin reached double figures for the 17th time (31st career)
• Franklin tied a career high with four steals

UP NEXT

UVA hosts Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon (ESPN2). Tipoff at JPJ is set for 4 p.m.