Bennett’s, UVA’s gift to Krzyzewski touched Duke coach’s heart

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Tony Bennett (Photo by Dan Grogan)

Intense rivals during ACC battles, Virginia’s Tony Bennett and visiting Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski shared a special moment before Wednesday night’s game at John Paul Jones Arena.

Krzyzewski, the Hall of Fame coach who is retiring at the end of the year, was presented a plaque from Bennett and UVA prior to tipoff of the nationally-televised game. Bennett took the microphone and delivered a heart-felt message to the longtime Duke coach.

“It was the right thing to do,” Bennett said after Duke handed his Cavaliers a narrow 65-61 defeat. “I appreciated our crowd being classy. [Krzyzewski’s] contributions are monumental to the game, to the modern game of basketball and college basketball, and when someone can last that long and do what he’s done. Again, it was the right thing to do.”

A media member asked Bennett if he had rehearsed his message or if it was just spoken in the moment.

“I don’t have a speech writer or anything like that,” Bennett jested. “I thought about that.”

Krzyzewski was impressed with the gesture.

“It was very, very good of Tony to do that,” Coach K said. “I’m not looking for a farewell tour or anything like that, but it is my last year and if there’s some way that we can celebrate the brotherhood that’s in the game, then that’s a good thing.

“We’ve got all this stuff going on with the handshake lines and all that, but tonight was beautiful. It showed the brotherhood in our league, the respect programs have for one another and that coaches have for one another and it meant a great deal to me.”

Krzyzewski said that the basketball gods have a way of sending messages, and his message when the plane landed in Charlottesville brought back memories of his first Duke teams facing Virginia’s Terry Holland and North Carolina’s Dean Smith.

He joked with his much-younger coaching staff that he had to coach against (Ralph) Sampson and (Michael) Jordan.

“I had a chance to touch Terry before the game,” Coach K said. Holland, who suffers from dementia, attends the home games with wife Ann, who is good friends with Krzyzewski’s wife, Mickie, who attended Wednesday night’s game and accompanied her husband into the postgame media room. Mickie Krzyzewski is related to a former familiar and popular face at UVA sporting events, the late Monk Bingler, her uncle.

Coach K pointed out that in the older days, coaches’ wives were all friends, a fact that most fans didn’t realize.

“That’s the ACC I know,” Krzyzewski said.

He joked about Virginia’s gift in a kind way, noting, “What they gave me weighs about eight hundred pounds,” Krzyzewski cracked. “I thought [Bennett] gave it to me and had me carry it so that I’d get a hernia right before the game.”

Krzyzewski: It would be a sin if Virginia isn’t in the NCAA tournament

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Photo by Matt Riley | UVA Athletics

Maybe the NET rankings and other analytics don’t believe Virginia deserves a bid to next month’s NCAA Tournament, but the all-time winningest coach in the game said the Cavaliers belong.

“There’s no question that Virginia is an NCAA tournament team,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after his team eked out a 65-61 win over the Cavaliers in Charlottesville on Wednesday night. “[With] so many of these numbers, you have to be careful. You need to give the eye test, too.”

Virginia dropped to 17-11 overall and 11-7 in ACC play, but all the computer analytics project the Cavaliers to be on the outside looking in unless they can make some magic in the ACC Tournament.

Krzyzewski, making his last stop at John Paul Jones Arena before he retires after the season, begged to differ.

“They’ve been playing as well as anyone in our conference right now and have been for about a month,” Coach K said about Cavaliers. “They had back-to-back Miami games and back-to-back Duke games. The two of us are two of the top four teams, record-wise, and they’re 3-1.

“It would be a sin if they’re not in the NCAA tournament. They have to be in. I mean, they’re that good. They’re that good. They really are that good and Tony [Bennett] is that good, too.”

Duke escapes with 65-61 win over Virginia in Krzyzewski’s last trip to JPJ

By Scott Ratcliffe

Armaan Franklin (Photo by Dan Grogan)

With Mike Krzyzewski in Charlottesville Wednesday for the final time as Duke head coach, Virginia was looking to send him out with the program’s first sweep of his Blue Devils since the 1994-95 season.

John Paul Jones Arena was loud, electric and decked out in orange for the nationally-broadcast rematch that once again lived up to the hype, but Duke freshman A.J. Griffin spoiled the party, scoring 10 points in the final 3:39 — including two game-clinching free throws with 1.8 seconds to go — and the Devils escaped with a 65-61 win.

Virginia senior guard Kihei Clark shot the lights out in the first half Wednesday with a whopping six 3-pointers, but his career-best 25 points ultimately weren’t enough as the Cavaliers fell to 17-11 on the season and 11-7 in ACC competition, missing out on an enormous opportunity for an NCAA Tournament resume-building victory.

UVA trailed by five points, 37-32, coming out of the first media timeout of the second half, shortly after clawing its way back to within one just a few minutes before.

An Armaan Franklin triple cut the deficit to two, and then the Cavaliers had a chance to tie the next trip down, but Francisco Caffaro couldn’t get an easy one to fall with 13:45 to go.

Duke (24-4, 14-3) extended its lead to seven before a Jayden Gardner basket with 12:54 left made it 42-37. Gardner, who had just 3 points at halftime, sank another midrange jumper just past the midway point of the half to make it a one-possession affair, 45-42.

Jeremy Roach drilled a 3-pointer with 6:45 to go, giving Duke its largest lead of the night, 52-44, but Reece Beekman, who nailed the game-winning triple to beat the Blue Devils earlier this month in Durham, knocked down a long ball to cut it to 52-49 as the game went under six minutes.

Clark’s basket moments later trimmed it to one, and his ensuing 3-point attempt would’ve given the Hoos the lead with 4:30 left, but it rimmed out. Gardner had a good look on Virginia’s next possession but couldn’t get his shot to drop, and Duke maintained a 52-51 edge with 3:49 to play.

Griffin sank a 3-pointer out of the ensuing timeout, but Franklin answered with a floater in the lane, and the Hoos were within a bucket as the game went under three minutes.

On the other end, Griffin struck again from deep, this time from a few steps further back, to push the Duke lead back to five, then scored again to give the seventh-ranked Devils a 60-55 edge with 2:05 remaining.

With UVA trailing by three, Kadin Shedrick forced what appeared to be a crucial steal, but the officials ruled it a held ball and Duke maintained the basketball with 1:24 on the clock.

Duke was unable to convert, but after Clark’s entry pass for Gardner was broken up, Trevor Keels drove to the hole and scored with 54 ticks left to push the lead back to five. Gardner answered with a basket 13 seconds later to keep the Cavaliers within striking distance, 62-59. After a Duke timeout, Keels was fouled by Shedrick with 15 seconds remaining and missed the first of his two free-throw attempts, but connected on the second.

Clark laid one in to make it a two-point game with 2.5 seconds to go, but Griffin sealed the contest from the line on the other end.

Virginia shot 44 percent (24 for 55) on the night and 40 percent (8 for 20) from long distance, misfiring on 8 of 12 shots inside the paint. Similar to the first meeting against Duke, the Hoos attempted nine fewer free throws than the Devils (17-8 Wednesday; 22-9 in Durham). UVA sank 5 from the stripe (63 percent), Duke finished with 10 makes (59 percent).

In addition to his career night in the scoring column, Clark dished out a game-high 7 assists, grabbed 6 rebounds and came away with a pair of steals. Gardner had 16 points and 4 rebounds, while Beekman added 11 points, 5 assists, two steals and a team-high 7 rebounds.

Duke shot 48 percent (24 of 50) from the field and 41 percent (7 of 17) from 3-point land, outrebounding Virginia, 33-31. Roach (3 for 3 from deep) finished with a season-high 15 points to lead the Devils, while Griffin and Keels each added 13. Mark Williams had 8 points, 10 boards and 4 blocks.

For the second time this season, the Cavaliers didn’t allow Duke’s other star freshman, Paolo Banchero, to reach double-figures scoring — the only two such instances in his college career — as he finished with 8 points on 2-of-13 shooting.

FIRST HALF

After the Hoos made just 2 of 12 from beyond the arc — including Beekman’s dagger with just 1.1 seconds left — in the win at Cameron, Clark came out hot from long range Wednesday. The Hoos jumped out to an early 7-2 advantage on a Clark 3-pointer, as Duke missed six of its first seven from the field.

The Woodland Hills native added two more from downtown by the 12:37 mark, but the Cavaliers then went scoreless for over six minutes and Duke used a 6-0 spurt to grab a 15-13 lead at the under-eight timeout.

After Clark ended the drought with his fourth 3-ball of the half, he gave the Hoos the lead back with his fifth — which set a new career high — just over a minute later, and then added yet another from the top of the key just 38 seconds later as JPJ went into a frenzy and Coach K called a timeout with UVA ahead, 22-17, with 4:29 on the clock.

The Devils once again responded with six more unanswered until Beekman beat the shot clock to briefly give Virginia the lead back, 24-23, with 2:05 to go, but Duke closed the half on a 7-1 run and led by five, 30-25, at halftime.

Banchero scored with 4.2 seconds to go, as Gardner was whistled for a foul despite taking a shot to the face as the star freshman turned toward the hoop. Gardner left the game and looked rattled, but obviously returned for the second half.

Aside from Clark’s six makes from downtown, the rest of Hoos combined for just three other baskets across the opening 20 minutes (9 for 25; 36 percent). After dominating the paint, 52-28, in the first meeting, Virginia was outscored on the inside 16-2 in the first half Wednesday (28-20 for the night).

Box Score

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia fell to 17-11, 11-7 ACC
• UVA is 10-5 at John Paul Jones Arena (6-3 in ACC play)
• UVA is 1-2 vs. ranked opponents
• Duke led 30-25 at the half

Series Notes

• UVA is 53-123 all-time vs. Duke, including a 35-41 home mark
• Six of the last eight meetings have been decided by two points or less
• Head coach Tony Bennett is 5-13 all-time against Duke at UVA

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Kihei Clark (25), Jayden Gardner (16), Reece Beekman (11)
• Clark scored a career-high 25 points
• Clark had career highs in made 3-pointers (6) and 3-point attempts (11)
• Clark scored 18 straight UVA points (all 3’s) in the first half
• Clark (7 assists) became the fifth UVA player with 1,000 career points and 500 career assists, joining John Crotty, Sean Singletary, London Perrantes and Donald Hand
• Clark reached double figures for the 15th time (49th career)
• Clark is the first UVA to make six or more 3-pointers since Sam Hauser made seven last season vs. Syracuse (1/25/21)
• Gardner reached double figures for the 23rd time (96th career)
• Gardner has an 11-game double figure scoring streak
• Gardner (4 rebounds) surpassed 900 career rebounds
• Reece Beekman (2 steals) moved into sixth on UVA’s single-season steal list with 54
• Beekman reached double figures for the 10th time (13th career)

UP NEXT

Virginia hosts its final regular-season contest Saturday, as Florida State visits (4 p.m. on ESPN2) on Senior Day. The Hoos then get a week off before closing at Louisville on March 5 (Noon, ESPN2).

Everything is on the line for Virginia against No. 7 Duke tonight

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Reece Beekman drains the game-winner at Duke. Photo courtesy UVA Athletics.

This is the one you’ve all been waiting for, Virginia vs. Duke, the rematch, the “orange out,” the game that will likely make or break the Cavaliers’ season.

When the No. 7 Blue Devils come to Charlottesville tonight (7 o’clock, ESPN), it will be the biggest game at John Paul Jones Arena since LeBron James came to watch Duke and Zion Williams against UVA in 2019. If you can get a ticket, grab it, because this could be another classic in one of the best rivalries in the ACC in recent years.

Six of the last meetings between Duke and Virginia have been decided by two points or less, and tonight projects as another thriller diller.

It will be Mike Krzyzewski’s last visit to JPJ. College basketball’s winningest coach in the sport’s history is retiring after the season with his team battling for an eventual No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Virginia is fighting for its postseason life and desperately needs the win to add to its resume (see related podcast on this site for more preview on tonight’s game).

While Krzyzewski has built Duke into a basketball powerhouse over the decades, Virginia has emerged under Tony Bennett.

“They’ve done more than emerged,” Krzyzewski said this week of Virginia. “They are securely planted as one of the top programs in the country, and Tony is one of the best coaches in the country. They play basketball at a really high level on both ends of the floor.”

Coach K is well aware of what Virginia is capable of, with the Cavaliers having won two of the last five meetings, including a 69-68 win at Duke just a couple of weeks ago.

“They’ve been good games because we’ve both had good teams,” Krzyzewski said. “The games have been played at an extremely high level and we expect the same Wednesday.”

After thinking about the rivalry for a second, Bennett acknowledged how close the games have been.

“We’ve had some really hard-fought games between two talented teams,” the UVA coach said. “Almost all the last few have been down to possession games. It comes down to can you execute and take care of the ball down the stretch?”

That’s exactly what Virginia did at Cameron Indoor in the last meeting. In an extremely physical game when tempers flared, the game was still up for grabs with 1:26 to go, Duke clinging to a 68-66 lead.

UVA’s Kihei Clark missed a layup with 1:17 to go, but the Cavaliers got the offensive rebound, only to have Clark miss a 3-pointer at the 1:03 mark. Duke called time out with 50 seconds to play, but turned the ball over 14 seconds later.

Armaan Franklin missed a jumper, but Virginia forced a jump ball and the alternating possession went to the Cavaliers with 7.2 seconds showing.

Virginia called a time out and Bennett watched as associate head coach Jason Williford did his work on the grease board, drawing up an inbounds play under the basket. The teams lined up, with the 5-9 Clark inbounding against Duke’s 6-10 Mark Williams.

UVA saw what Duke was doing, called another time out and Williford drew up another play, this time having 6-5 Reece Beekman inbounding. He got the ball inbounded cleanly, the ball getting kicked outside to Clark past the 3-point line.

Clark immediately noticed Beekman wide open on the wing because Williams failed to follow his man to the perimeter, taking full blame afterward for Beekman knocking down the winning 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds to play.

Krzyzewski was gracious in defeat, noting that “[Virginia] carved us up.”

Beekman became only the third visiting player in the last 20 years to make a game-winning field goal with two seconds or less on the clock at Duke.

You can bet the Blue Devils want to even the score and will come to JPJ with revenge in their hearts.

One of the key matchups in that game and in tonight’s game will be 6-6 Jayden Gardner on Duke’s 6-10 Paolo Banchero, a projected lottery draft pick, and a one-and-doner.

In the first meeting, Gardner, with some help in double-teaming the post in traditional “Pack Line” fashion, held Banchero to a mere nine points in 38 minutes and shut him out the second half. In fact, Banchero took but one shot after the break, the final shot of the game, which ended up on top of the backboard.

“[Gardner] did a great job on Paolo, but so did their defense,” Krzyzewski said this week, looking back on the game. “Gardner has pretty much had an All-ACC caliber year.”

Gardner has come on strong for the Cavaliers, averaging 18.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, while shooting better than 51 percent over UVA’s last eight games. He has also made 24 out of his last 25 throws, having made 31 in a row before missing at Miami.

Kadin Shedrick stood out in the game, too, taking some physical punishment that led to double technicals on the team benches. He was 8 for 8 from the field and was fierce on the boards and defensively, as was Francisco Caffero, who added eight points in 16 minutes against Duke’s frontcourt.

One of the most stunning numbers from that game was Virginia dominating the lane, outscoring the Blue Devils 52-28 in the paint, a mind-blowing statistic. You can bet Duke’s players have been reminded of that by Krzyzewski in their preparation.

UVA’s backcourt of Beekman, Clark and Franklin also more than held their own against Duke and will have to equal that performance tonight, particularly on the defensive end of the floor.

The Cavaliers scored 20 points off 15 Duke turnovers in the first meeting, while UVA committed only five turnovers, something Bennett believes is crucial to his team. With little margin for error in most ACC games, Bennett said that the little things probably mean more to this UVA team than other teams out there.

“[Ball security] was a key to that game,”  Bennett pointed out. “Specifically in that game, we were very good with the basketball.”

Again, UVA’s guards are going to have to come through if the Cavaliers are to sweep Duke in the regular season for the first time since the 1994-95 season.

Franklin, who sat out most of the second half of the win at Miami, suffered from what Bennett described as a “kind of sprained or turf toe,” which he is hoping has improved. Bennett said Franklin could have played the second half but decided to rest it if possible.

“Hopefully it keeps getting better and better,” Bennett said. “It’s irritating but you can play through it.”

It may be important for Clark to get off to a good start. When he is aggressive early in games, Virginia benefits.

“Kihei had a real sound game (at Duke),” Bennett said. “We need everyone, but Kihei’s experience to manage the game along with Reese. Kihei’s experience and competitiveness, making shots and being who he is, will be really important for us.”

Podcast: Getting you ready for UVA-Duke, Part II

“The Jerry Ratcliffe Show” welcomes Chris Graham to help break down the key matchups ahead of Wednesday’s Virginia-Duke ACC hoops rematch.

Will a win over Duke put Virginia into NCAA consideration?

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Reece Beekman drains the game-winner at Duke (Photo: UVA Athletics).

Virginia’s chances to make the NCAA Tournament go directly through Duke, and that makes Wednesday night’s home game against the Blue Devils the biggest game of the year for the Cavaliers.

If the season ended today, UVA would not make the tournament, ending a long string of Tony Bennett appearances in the Big Dance. Virginia is No. 81 in the NET rankings, actually dropping from No. 80 after beating Miami.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers actually climbed in the kenpom.com rankings to No. 73.

Still, a glimpse at Barttorvik’s rankings and Virginia is No. 67, but holds only a 5-percent chance of making the NCAAs according to its projections.

We’re not sure how the NET works in comparison to the old RPI rankings and when selection-committee members gave credit for how teams finished. In those days, a team that got hot the last four or five weeks of the season would usually get a positive nod from the committee.

In that case, perhaps UVA AD Carla Williams should show committee members the Cavaliers’ progress. In November and December, Virginia was No. 110 in Barttorvik’s rankings. Since Jan. 1, the Cavaliers are No. 43. Since Feb. 1, they are No. 21.

Talking to Craig Littlepage, Terry Holland and Dick Schultz, all of whom chaired the NCAA Tournament selection committee over the years, members used to consider a team improving over the course of a season, especially if it was hot the last several weeks. Considering that UVA had little experience returning and had to incorporate two transfers in Jayden Gardner and Armaan Franklin, in addition to existing players stepping into new roles and learning the “Pack Line” defense, maybe the committee should bring that into consideration.

With Duke standing at No. 12 in the NET rankings coming into Wednesday night’s clash, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that if Virginia wants to make it to the NCAAs, then it’s going to have to beat the Blue Devils for the second time in two weeks. Duke has won its last five straight road games.

If the Cavaliers can win this game, they would own a 4-5 record in Quad-1 games. That should strengthen UVA’s argument, especially if it can beat Florida State and Louisville to close out the regular season. ESPN college basketball analyst Seth Greenberg said more than a week ago that in his opinion, Virginia needed to win four or five of its final six games. The Cavaliers have won two of three since then, beating Georgia Tech and Miami, losing to Virginia Tech.

Should UVA beat FSU and Louisville, it doesn’t appear that will be enough because neither of those help the Cavaliers in the NET rankings. Losing either would hurt.

Beating Duke is what matters.

There are essentially 21 teams fighting for 11 spots in the tournament, and very few of those, if any, have one win over Duke, let alone possibly two. In the history of the NET, no team ranked above 73 has ever made the tournament.

Barttorvik says that if UVA beats Duke, the Cavaliers’ chances jump from 5 to 16 percent of making the NCAAs. If UVA beats Duke, FSU and Louisville, the chances improve to 29 percent.

UVA could get some help from Providence (one of UVA’s Quad-1 wins) if the Friars can finish strong, adding to the Cavaliers’ resume.

Whatever the case, Virginia’s destiny is in its own hands. Beat Duke, and it would be difficult for the committee to ignore. Lose to Duke and the committee doesn’t have to look for an excuse to omit UVA on Selection Sunday.