Will Shedrick’s resurgence continue today against Blue Devils?

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Today’s ACC basketball warfare continues at what is expected to be the best crowd of the season at John Paul Jones Arena as Virginia fights to stay in the hunt for another regular-season title.

With legendary Dick Vitale in town to call the game, there’s no one UVA fans would rather beat than visiting Duke. With the Blue Devils limping into Charlottesville after getting blown out at Miami, Cavalier fans sense a little blood in the water.

Virginia is in a three-way tie with Clemson and Pitt heading into the weekend (see a complete breakdown of UVA-Duke in our Wahoo Preview here) and can’t afford a slip against Duke, which is attempting to remain in the ACC’s upper echelon heading down the homestretch.

Cavalier fans are hoping they witnessed the rebirth of 6-foot-11 Kadin Shedrick earlier this week when he came off the bench and clocked 26-plus minutes in Virginia’s lopsided win over one of the hottest teams in the ACC. UVA went up by 22 points against NC State before ending the Wolfpack’s four-game winning streak with a 63-50 victory.

State, the ACC’s highest-scoring team, averaging nearly 80 points per game, needed a 3-pointer in the final minute of the game to reach the 50-point mark.

Tony Bennett’s team turned in a dominating defensive performance in that game, as UVA’s guards took the Wolfpack backcourt completely out of its game. State’s Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner were a combined 9 of 34 shooting in that game.

That’s the kind of guard domination that wins big in NCAA Tournament play, perhaps giving Wahoo fans a glimpse of what may come in March.

But the defensive domination didn’t stop in the backcourt. After not seeing the floor in UVA’s predictable loss to a desparate Virginia Tech team in Blacksburg days before, Shedrick’s game came alive against the Wolfpack.

With a little help from his friends, Shedrick handcuffed a bigger D.J. Burns in that showdown. By comparison, Shedrick at 6-11, 230, is a stick figure when leaning against the 6-9, 275 (at least) Burns, whose style of play in the paint is somewhat reminiscent of a poor man’s Zion Williamson with less finesse.

Burns, who had put up some big numbers (31 points, 9 rebounds vs. Wake Forest) against several ACC opponents coming into Charlottesville, was expected to dominate in the paint. However, Shedrick, whose playing time had diminished in recent outings, double-teamed Burns with Jayden Gardner or Ben Vander Plas in an attempt to limit the big man’s movements.

Shedrick drew six fouls against NC State in the game, including three offensive calls against Burns, who tried to bump and bull his way inside the paint. Burns was saddled with foul trouble early and was very ineffective in his 21 minutes of playing time, scoring 8 points and pulling down 8 boards.

“D.J. never really got into the flow, and they did a good job of taking him out of the game,” State coach Kevin Keatts said afterward. “When he’s out of the game, we become a very perimeter-oriented team, and I thought we took a lot of shots and that’s not what I expect.”

Keatts meant bad shots, impatient shots, which is what Virginia’s defense can make you do.

In terms of Burns, Virginia had a smart approach with its gameplan in making him catch the ball further away from the basket. That made Burns, who is a good passer, throw longer passes to teammates than he was accustomed. UVA wisely had a defender, sort of playing centerfield in anticipation of the big man having to force uncomfortable passes, leading to six Burns turnovers in the game.

Virginia will likely have to change its strategy against Duke today, although Shedrick may be pressed into action again. The Blue Devils have twin towers in seven-footer Kyle Filipowski and 7-1 Dereck Lively II, neither as bulky as Burns, both more mobile.

It will be interesting to see how Virginia chooses to defend the two big men, with a smaller, quicker lineup and post traps or whether Shedrick can stay with his assignment.

Either way, there should be a rabid atmosphere in JPJ today in the first post-Mike Krzyzewski era visit by Duke to Charlottesville.