The last time the Blue Devils and Cavaliers met, Virginia held a 10-point lead in the first half and didn’t relinquish it until 12 minutes remained in the game.
One might have thought the Cavaliers’ strong performance against Duke would be a sign of things to come for the rest of the season, but the path Virginia has since taken through conference play does not seem fitting of a team that put a real scare into the Blue Devils.
While Duke has won all of its ACC games since their previous meeting, the Cavaliers have lost five of seven during the same stretch and sit two spots away from the bottom of the conference standings.
Now Virginia (12-12, 3-7 in the ACC) will look to rekindle the spark that led it to early success against the Blue Devils (23-2, 10-1) a month ago, as the Cavaliers host No. 5 Duke at John Paul Jones Arena tonight at 7 p.m.
The explosion of Seth Curry over the past three games, in addition to the continued stellar play of Nolan Smith, has kept the Blue Devils at the top of the ACC, while Virginia continues to flounder, most recently losing away at Miami and Florida State—albeit by a combined total of nine points.
The Cavaliers’ meager offensive output of 62.7 points per game clocks in at last in the conference, and they are also the worst rebounding team in the ACC. The loss of senior forward Mike Scott due to an ankle injury has clearly hampered Virginia’s presence on the boards. Assane Sene leads the Cavaliers in rebounding at just over five boards per game—and no other member of the squad averages more than 3.7 rebounds per contest.
The lack of rebounding, on both the offensive and defensive ends, can be largely attributed to Virginia’s four-guard starting lineup. Leading scorer Mustapha Farrakhan plays at one of those guard spots and is one of the Cavaliers’ many sharpshooters.
Freshman K.T. Harrell, for instance, shoots better than 45 percent from beyond the arc. The only ACC team with a better overall 3-point field goal percentage than Virginia is none other than Duke.
Accuracy from downtown helped the Cavaliers maintain their lead over the Blue Devils for the majority of the game in the previous matchup Jan. 15, but Duke clamped down on the perimeter in the second half and held Virginia to just 1-for-7 shooting from 3-point range.
As a result of the inconsistent production from 7-foot center Assane Sene inside, the Cavaliers frequently live and die by the 3-point shot, so the Blue Devils’ success in tonight’s contest will hinge upon their ability to get through screens and close out shooters.
On the offensive end for Duke, the secret is out, as Seth Curry has cracked the starting lineup and emerged as a consistent third option for the Blue Devils behind Smith and Kyle Singler. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski praised Curry Sunday after the Miami game for his development and growing reliability.
“Everything about his game is quicker,” Krzyzewski said Sunday. “These last two games he’s been outstanding.”
Given the dangers posed by Curry on the perimeter, Virginia may have an even more difficult time defending Smith than it did Jan. 15, when the guard finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
“Seth has not only been shooting, he’s been handling the ball. And what [that] does is you can put in Nolan in different spots,” Krzyzewski said. “He can be off the ball, and then what happens when you’re off the ball is you can have what I call a second penetration. You can get it to [Nolan], and now he’s fresh, he hasn’t been zig-zagged coming down [the court], and he can make plays.”
Smith enters tonight’s game holding both ACC player of the week and Oscar Robertson national player of the week honors (given by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association). He hurt his eye in the first half of the Miami game but bounced back to lead the team in scoring in the final period.
“You could tell with the eye, the scratched eye, he wasn’t the same,” Krzyzewski said. “Then at halftime, god bless him, a lot of kids wouldn’t have been able to respond, but he gets 16 [points] in the second half.”
And if Smith can manage to produce those numbers when nursing an injury, the Cavaliers should be wary of what he can do when at full strength.
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