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

By Scott Ratcliffe

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).