Duke 57-44, 1:19 remaining in the SECOND HALF: Singler, Smith, Zoubek checks out for the Devils as Virginia's chances of making a comeback shrinks.
Duke 57-44, 2:32 remaining in the SECOND HALF: With lay-ups from Duke's Big Three, the Blue Devils suddenly find themselves with a comfortable 13 point lead. Duke can now let the clock work to its advantage.
Duke 52-44, 4:19 remaining in the SECOND HALF: Virginia's Farrakhan made it a two-point game with a three but Duke's tough defense has kept the Cavs from scoring easily in the paint. Zoubek's presence around the post has made it a lot tougher for the Virginia's guards to drive to the basket, forcing them to take 3-point jumpers or tough lay-ups.
Duke 46-41, 6:38 remaining in the SECOND HALF: And it's a 5-point game and Virginia's ball after an offensive foul was called on Smith. Virginia's Farrakhan makes it a
Duke 46-39, 7:40 remaining in the SECOND HALF: Duke briefly extended its lead to double-digits, but two layups and several missed shots by Duke, the Cavaliers were able to bring it back to a 7-point game. An offensive foul was called against Virginia's Jontel Evans.
Duke 43-35, 12:13 remaining in the SECOND HALF: Duke is slowly pulling away here with a 10-2 run, with all 10 points coming from Singler. The Blue Devils' strong defense has kept Virginia from getting easy baskets, and Singler just nailed a 3-pointer to make it an 8-point game.
Duke 35-33, 15:16 remaining in the SECOND HALF: We're in for a close game ahead as the teams traded baskets in the opening minutes of the first half. Duke keeps its lead of 2 for now, but Virginia has tied the game 3 times already this half.
Duke 27-27, HALF TIME: Virginia's Mike Scott's two-point attempt from the baseline was perfectly balanced on the rim but rolled out to end the first half. Poor shooting from the Blue Devils this half as they shot 31% and Virginia was able to keep the game close shooting 33.3%. Duke's only got 2 offensive rebounds and generally did not get as many second chance shots. Poor rebounding can be attributed to only 5 minutes of play from Brian Zoubek as he got quickly got two fouls early in the first half. Smith has 11, Scheyer has 8 and Singler adds 4 points to make up 23 of Duke's 27 points. On the Virginia side, the Mike Scott came off the bench to lead the team with 10 points and Jeff Jones added 9, including two 3-pointers from the same corner on the baseline. Hopefully Duke will come out of the locker room with better offensive output.
Duke 27-27, 0:37 remaining in the FIRST HALF: We're tied at 27 and it's Virginia ball. Let's see what the Cavs will do to round out the half.
Duke 27-25, 1:16 remaining in the FIRST HALF: Jeff Jones makes another 3-pointer from the same corner to make it a one-point game. After a foul on Lance Thomas, Virginia's Mike Scott makes the two free throws and the Cavaliers took the lead for the first time this game. The teams traded leads for the next two possessions until Scheyer was fouled on a 3-point attempt and nails all three free throws to bring Duke's lead back to 2.
Duke 20-16, 3:56 remaining in the FIRST HALF: Cav fans are getting on their feet here after Jeff Jones was foul as he made the Cav's first 3-pointer and converted the free throw. But a 2-pointer by Miles Plumlee quickly put them back on their seats. Virginia is able to keep the game close due to the lack of offensive rebound output and second chance points from Duke's big men, which grabbed only 1 offensive board so far this half.
Duke 14-8, 7:51 remaining in the FIRST HALF: Not much to report as both teams missed all of their free-throw attempts so far. Nothing spectacular as both teams are just shooting poorly.
Duke 12-6, 11:20 remaining in the FIRST HALF: Virginia made a short run to bring the score to 8-6 but the Blue Devils made two quick baskets to make it a 12-6 game. Otherwise, both teams are not shooting great with the Cavaliers making only 3-of-13 and the Blue Devils scoring on 5-of-15.
Duke 3-0, 15:45 remaining in the FIRST HALF: Scheyer finally nails a three but Smith missed another shot off an inbound-steal from the Cavs. Poor shooting from both sides as Virginia missed its first 5 shots.
Duke 0-0, 16:39 remaining in the FIRST HALF: Cold shooting starts for both teams as Smith and Scheyer missed several shots and the Cavaliers are kept cold by a block from Zoubek.
MORE PREGAME: We're about 5 minutes away from tipoff here. Just a bit TMI for everyone out there: Duke is 30-15 overall at the Greensboro Coliseum and has won 10 of last 12 in Greensboro. The Blue Devils is seeded No. 1 in the ACC Tournament for the 17th time in school's history. Duke is the defending champion here and has won the title 17 times.
PREGAME: We're live here at he Greensboro Coliseum about 15 minutes before tipoff for No. 1 Duke's matchup against the 9th-seeded Virginia in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Virginia defeated No. 8 Boston College 68-62 last night. However, as Danny Vinik wrote in his preview, Duke handily beat Virginia 67-49 in an earlier match up this season. Expect the Blue Devils' "Big Three" to lead Duke again this afternoon. Should the Blue Devils prevail, they will face either Virginia Tech or Miami tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.
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