Beyond the Arc: Duke basketball vs. Virginia

No. 7 Duke could not find a way to score down the stretch as it lost 72-63 to No. 6 Virginia in the ACC tournament championship game. The Blue Devils leaned on a big second-half performance from Jabari Parker, but ultimately lost out to the superior Cavalier defense.

Revisiting the three keys to the game:

• Score more than 60 points. Duke managed to score 63 but Virginia didn't make it easy. While they were hot from outside—the Blue Devils shot 8-of-14 from beyond the arc—the team struggled from the rest of the field. Duke finished the afternoon shooting 38.1 percent and struggled to get to the line, as it attempted only 11 free throws compared the the Cavaliers' 38.
• Get the guards involved. The Blue Devils struggled with this key the most, as their guard play was turbulent to say the least. Quinn Cook had an decent day, managing five points, five rebounds and six assists, but his fellow guards could not say the same. Rasheed Sulaimon and Tyler Thornton were both non-factors offensively throughout the game, as both were in foul trouble all day. Thornton finished with zero points, one assist, two turnovers and four fouls as Sulaimon finished with two points, one assist and fouled out late in the game on a technical foul.
• Withstand a second-half surge. After both teams struggling from the floor in the first half, the two offenses began the second half firing on all cylinders. The Blue Devils managed to keep the game close until the final two minutes when fouling became necessary. Ultimately, the loss was not because of a big scoring surge but was due to the fact that Virginia was granted too many second-chance opportunities and Duke failed to keep the Cavaliers off the free throw line.

Three key plays:

• 3:53, first half: After scoring only three points in the first 16 minutes of the contest, Parker finally found the bottom of the net as he connected on a tough step-back 3-pointer. The shot tied the game at 19 and completed an early comeback for the Blue Devils, who had trailed since the 18:25-mark.
• 10:00, second half: If you missed the N.C. State game and your friends were raving about the big dunk by Jabari and you didn't watch any highlights, don't worry. Parker executed nearly the same dunk as he picked off a pass, drove the length of the court and took two long strides before flushing down dunk of the afternoon. Less than a minute later, Parker would convert on a 3-pointer to give Duke the lead for the first time since it was 2-0 with 19:43 left in the first half.
• 2:00, second half: With the Virginia advantage at four, Joe Harris secured the lead with a cold-blooded transition 3-pointer to send the Cavalier bench into a frenzy and push the lead to 64-57. Behind its strong defensive play and frequent trips to the charity stripe, this was enough to give Virginia enough breathing room to hold off the Blue Devils in the final two minutes.

Three key stats:

• Duke shoots 30.0 percent from the field in the first half. Hood and Parker had their fair share of shooting woes early on, as the pair combined for 14 points on 4-of-18 shooting—22.2 percent. The fact that it was a three-point game at halftime is more a testament to Duke's defense than it was any individual offensive performance—the Blue Devils forced the Cavaliers to shoot 34.8 percent from the field in the first half.
• Jabari Parker scores 15 points in the second half: After struggling in the first half, Parker came out on fire in the second half. He put forth an efficient 7-of-14 shooting performance and really kept the Blue Devils in the game. However, he didn't score in the final 6:46, and Duke had nobody else step up to fill the void.
• Virginia shoots 25-of-38 from the free throw line. Duke was aggressive on defense all afternoon, but it came back to bite them late in the game. With Hood, Jefferson, Sulaimon, Thornton and Parker all saddled with four fouls in the final four minutes of the game, the Cavaliers were able to attack the basket more often as the game clock dwindled down and draw fouls, giving them more than three times as many free throw attempts as the Blue Devils mustered. Anthony Gill alone shot more free throws than the Blue Devils—he was 10-of-17 from the charity stripe on the day.

And the Duke game ball goes to...Jabari Parker

Although it wasn't enough to give the Blue Devils the victory, Parker's second half performance secured him the game ball. When Duke needed offense in the second half, Parker was the go-to man. After shooting 20 percent in the first half, he found his groove in the final 20 minutes, scoring 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting to bring his total for the game to 23 points and eight rebounds.

And the Virginia game ball goes to...Joe Harris
Harris showed why he was the Cavaliers' senior captain, as he continued to fuel the Virginia offense throughout the second half. He scored 15 points in 37 minutes of action and contributed several of the game's biggest momentum-swinging plays, including an acrobatic spinning layup with 7:42 left and the victory-sealing 3-pointer. Harris was the heart of the team and it showed down the stretch.