By Scott Ratcliffe

Saturday’s ACC Tournament final between No. 10 Virginia and top-ranked Duke came down to the final minute, in what turned out to be a back-and-forth slugfest for the conference trophy in Charlotte.

In a physical battle that featured a dozen ties and 16 lead changes, the Blue Devils took advantage of a few late UVA miscues and emerged with a hard-fought, 74-70 win in front of a loud, packed house at the Spectrum Center, despite misfiring on 9 of their last 12 field-goal attempts across the final eight minutes.

The Cavaliers (29-5) trailed by two points as ACC Player of the Year and projected NBA Lottery selection Cameron Boozer drew a whistle with 1:15 to go and stepped to the free-throw line with hopes of giving his team the cushion it needed to seal the game.

The talented freshman misfired on his first attempt, leaving the door open for Virginia, and then proceeded to miss the second as well, and the Wahoos came down with the defensive rebound and a chance to tie or take the lead as the scoreboard went under one minute to play.

UVA senior Malik Thomas was fouled with 51 seconds left and went to the charity stripe for a 1-and-1 opportunity, but couldn’t connect on the front end, as the Blue Devils (32-2) gathered the board and melted as much time as possible before head coach Jon Scheyer took a timeout with 6 seconds on the shot clock and 27.4 on the game clock.

The play in the huddle was drawn up for Cam Boozer, who drove to the hole on UVA’s 7-foot swat machine, Ugonna Onyenso — who had registered another record-breaking performance on the defensive end — and got a shot off, but couldn’t get it to drop. He was able to snag the offensive rebound, however, with about 20 ticks remaining, and kicked it back out to sharpshooting teammate Isaiah Evans, who was able to play keep-away from the Wahoos for nearly eight additional seconds before drawing a foul.

Onyenso had blocked a season-high 9 shots, with 7 of those coming after halftime alone in another absolute monster rim-protecting performance, but he couldn’t get his mitts on Boozer’s final shot attempt — nor the all-important rebound — in the waning moments.

If you want even more award-winning coverage on the UVA athletics department, including its nationally-ranked football and basketball programs, be sure to subscribe to “Cavalier Exclusive” to follow all of Virginia Sports Hall Of Famer Jerry “Hootie” Ratcliffe’s analysis and content. It’s the best in the business for Wahoo Fans!

Evans, a superb free-throw shooter, calmly sank both shots to make it a two-possession affair with just 12.3 to play, 72-68.

Thomas quickly hustled down the court, getting past his defender for an uncontested layup, cutting it back to two with 5.8 seconds left. The Hoos then let nearly two more precious seconds tick away, fouling Cam Boozer with 3.9 on the clock.

This time, the big man sank both, leaving Virginia to attempt a desperation heave and hope to get fouled to keep the game going, but Devin Tillis’ long ensuing inbounds pass was intercepted at halfcourt by Cayden Boozer, who then immediately kicked off the championship celebration as he dribbled out the final seconds to escape with the conference title.

Duke moved to 18-0 all-time against UVA when ranked No. 1 in the country, and will likely be rewarded with the NCAA’s top overall seed on Selection Sunday.

Knowing that an upset win could bump them up a notch or two on the seed line for next week’s Big Dance, the Cavaliers gave it everything they had left in the tank all the way to the final horn, but the valiant effort came up just short.

Thomas and Sam Lewis each hit some bigtime buckets throughout the contest, combining for exactly half of the team’s scoring total, but it ultimately wasn’t enough.

Thijs De Ridder did not have his best night offensively, finishing with just 5 points on 1-of-6 shooting across 29 minutes.

The stingy Duke defense only got 16 minutes out of foul-ridden starter Maliq Brown, the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, and were once again without the services of Patrick Ngongba II (10.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, team-high 1.1 bpg) and Caleb Foster (8.5 ppg), but the rest of the team stepped up when it mattered most.

The less-heralded Boozer brother, Cayden, had another memorable night, matching his career high (set the night before in the semifinals against Clemson) of 16 points, with all but two of those coming in the opening half.

Evans didn’t score until the closing minutes of the first half, but wound up leading all scorers with 20 points, knocking down 4 triples which all seemed to come when the Devils really needed a big basket.

UVA gained its largest lead of the night in the game’s opening minutes, as a pair of 3-pointers — one by Thomas and the other by Jacari White — made it a 12-6 contest with 14:40 until halftime.

Duke climbed right back into it behind the play of Cayden Boozer, whose breakout dunk late in the period gave the Devils a 36-29 advantage — the largest by either team all evening.

Virginia once again closed the first half on a positive note, using a 7-2 mini-run over the last 1:33 to cut it to two at the break.

Evans sank a 3-ball to open the second-half scoring, and neither school would lead by any more than five points the rest of the way. The Hoos answered with a 13-4 spurt — capped off by a Chance Mallory trifecta — to lead 49-45 at the under-16 media timeout.

Out of the break, Onyenso racked up 5 rejections in a span of just under three minutes to keep the Hoos in contention. His 21 blocks across the team’s three games in Charlotte demolished the previous tournament record of 14, set by Wake Forest legend Tim Duncan way back in 1995.

From there, it was a nip-and-tuck ballgame all the way to the final seconds, with neither side giving an inch of leeway. Lewis nailed a huge 3-pointer to knot the score at 58-apiece with just over eight minutes remaining, and then Thomas connected on a pair of tough, important buckets in traffic to keep Duke from running away with it, the latter of which made it a 66-65 ballgame with a little over four minutes to play.

Onyenso was there underneath to clean up a miss and stick it back home with 1:46 left, trimming the lead back to just two leading up to the exciting conclusion.

Cam Boozer finished with 13 points on just 3-of-17 shooting (1 for 5 from deep). The star forward, who finished with game highs of 8 rebounds and 8 assists, went 6 for 9 from the foul line.

Dame Sarr and Nik Khamenia each added 9 points for the Blue Devils, who shot 38 percent from the field (25 of 65), 32 percent from long range (8 of 25) and 80 percent from the foul line (16 for 20), outrebounding the Hoos by 10, 41-31.

Virginia shot at a 44-percent clip (24 for 54) from the field and 33 percent from 3-point land (8 for 24), knocking down 14 of 16 free throws (88 percent).

Thomas posted a team-high 18 points, while Lewis added 17, sinking 3 of 5 from beyond the arc. Onyenso finished with 6 points, a game-best 8 rebounds and the eye-popping 9 blocks, just one short of Cherokee Parks’ single-game ACC Tournament record. It was also one off of Onyenso’s single-game career high of 10 blocks, set as a Kentucky Wildcat in 2024 against Ole Miss.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• No. 10 Virginia fell to 29-5
• UVA is 1-33 all-time vs. top-ranked opponents
• UVA is 13-4 away from home, including a 5-2 mark on neutral courts
• UVA used a 7-0 lead to gain a 43-41 lead
• UVA used a 10-0 run to gain a 12-6 lead
• Duke used 18 points in the paint to gain a 38-36 halftime lead
• UVA is 3-3 when trailing at halftime
• UVA tied a season high with 12 blocked shots (9 by Ugonna Onyenso)

All-Time in the ACC Tournament

• Virginia was the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament for the sixth time (1982, 1983, 2007, 2016, 2023) and first since 2023
• UVA has posted a 10-6 mark as the No. 2 seed in tournament, advancing to the ACC Tournament final five times (1982, 1983, 2016, 2023 and 2026)
• The Cavaliers are 49-68 all-time in the ACC Tournament and 10-16 in Charlotte, reaching the title game in 1990, 1994 and 2026
• UVA captured ACC Tournament titles as the No. 6 seed in 1976, No. 1 seed in 2014 and No. 1 seed in 2018
• UVA is 3-8 all-time in the ACC Tournament final

Series Notes

• UVA met Duke for the 182nd meeting overall and 21st time in the ACC Tournament in a series that dates to 1910-11
• UVA is 4-17 all-time vs. Duke in the ACC Tournament, including a 1-2 in the tournament final and 1-4 mark in Charlotte
• Virginia is 0-18 against Duke when the Blue Devils have been ranked No. 1

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Malik Thomas (18), Sam Lewis (17)
• Thomas has reached double figures in 25 games (80 career)
• Lewis surpassed 1,000 career points (1,015 points in 98 career games)
• Lewis has reached double figures in 20 games (53 career)
• Ugonna Onyenso (9 blocks) has multiple blocks in 23 games
• Onyenso’s nine blocks are the second-most in ACC Tournament single-game history
• Onyenso’s 21 blocks shattered the record for most blocks in a single ACC Tournament (14, Tim Duncan, Wake Forest, 1995)
• Onyenso has four or more blocks in 12 games
• Onyenso has 204 career blocks
• UVA started Johann Grünloh, Dallin Hall, Thijs De Ridder, Lewis and Thomas for the 33rd game
• Onyenso and Lewis were named to the ACC All-Tournament first team, while Thomas and Thijs De Ridder were named to the second team

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will be watching the NCAA Selection Show tomorrow evening (6 p.m., CBS) to find out their tournament seeding, region and opening-round opponent, along with when and where they will be competing next weekend.

If you want even more award-winning coverage on the UVA athletics department, including its nationally-ranked football and basketball programs, be sure to subscribe to “Cavalier Exclusive” to follow all of Virginia Sports Hall Of Famer Jerry “Hootie” Ratcliffe’s analysis and content. It’s the best in the business for Wahoo Fans!