DEJA-HOOS: Duke’s men’s basketball upsets 7th Virginia to keep NCAA tournament hopes alive

The stage was set for a upset victory by Blue Devil.

Just over five years ago, an unranked Duke shocked Virginia No.7 at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Grayson Allen hitting an acrobatic one-handed bank shot to win it to the buzzer.

And on Saturday night, in the same field, the Blue Devils did it again, beating the Cavaliers 66-65, seventh.

With Duke holding a one-point advantage and with less than a minute left in the competition, the Cavaliers took to the ground and looked for Sam Hauser to try and give them the advantage. The star forward missed a three-tipped catch-and-shoot with 37 seconds left, but senior Jay Huff in the red shirt got the offensive rebound to give Virginia a second chance. Huff passed out to Kihei Clark, but the junior guard missed a float with 14 seconds left.

The Cavaliers had another chance when Duke goaltender DJ Steward missed his first free throw one-on-one. But the Blue Devils defended Clark perfectly once again, forcing him to an imbalance of three on the buzzer that was far from the basket.

“It’s sad that the fans weren’t in this game. It was an epic game,” said head coach Mike Krzyzewski. “This [was] a great basketball game tonight. Every possession was fought – sometimes felt like every dribble. [Virginia is] an exceptional team and program. They are veterans and they played like that. They are so ready and they are playing great defense. And our kids also played great defense tonight and had some really big plays. “

Virginia looked like she was gaining control with eight minutes remaining, Hauser coming out of a screen and draining two deeps to break a 51-51 draw. Just over a minute later, Clark hit the lane and hit a face-off while absorbing the foul, sinking the free throw to put the Cavaliers ahead 56-51.

But the Blue Devils didn’t let Virginia escape, with one jumper Wendell Moore Jr. and Steward three tying the game again.

From there, the score swung back and forth, with the two teams continuing to swap buckets in a classic Duke-Virginia game. Two free throws from Huff put the Cavaliers in front 65-62 with three minutes left, but Steward responded back with a jumper to shoot Duke in one.

Then, when Clark received the inbound pass that followed, the Blue Devils slapped the ground in unison, a hallmark of the program. Virginia would not score the remainder of the game.

On that possession, Jaemyn Brakefield escaped a Clark layup attempt, and on the other end hit a reverse layup on his own to give the Blue Devils a 66-65 advantage in what ended by being the final score.

“We knew that once they got on we had to stay calm and stay in the game,” said Brakefield. “We knew we were still in the game. Just making these games, that’s why you come to Duke, man – just to make games like that. And it’s Duke basketball.”

Duke (10-8, 8-6 at ACC) led 39-36 at the end of halftime, but Virginia (15-5, 11-3) opened the second half with a vengeance. Well, specifically, Huff opened the second half with a vengeance. The 7-foot-1 forward slammed three consecutive dunks to open the period, quickly regaining the lead from the Cavaliers.

But Hurt continued to feature his “Larry Bird-esque” shot, as ESPN’s Jay Bilas so eloquently put it, draining a quick jumper and three to keep him close.

The Minnesota native entered the contest hot, shooting 18 of 21 from the field and 9 of 11 from deep in his last two games, Blue Devil’s two wins. And the sophomore continued that hot streak into the first half on Saturday, draining his first three shots, all from beyond the arc.

Hurt finally finished with a high of 22 points on 8 of 13 shots from the ground, including 5 of 8 from distance.

“I think my teammates and my coaching staff have done a great job of giving me confidence,” Hurt said of his recent hot streak. “There were a few games where I wasn’t playing well, but my coaching staff and teammates – they believe in me… I’m just trying to be aggressive and try to win, mostly. Us. won., and that’s all I care about. “

Still, Virginia held a narrow edge throughout most of the first half thanks to a few quick moves inside Huff, Clark’s cunning, and Hauser’s sharp shot. The trio totaled 54 of the Cavaliers’ 65 points in the evening.

But then Brakefield decided that enough was enough.

The native first-year forward scored seven straight points on his own via a layup, breakaway slam and a three, turning a 25-22 Duke deficit into a 29-25 lead five minutes from the end.

Brakefield finished with 11 points, five rebounds and four blocks in 29 minutes, a career-high.

“The experience of playing at the college level, at that level with physicality, it’s a learned experience,” Krzyzewski said. “You can only learn it by playing these games. And now that we’ve played a number of them, we’ve learned by losing and losing close matches. But at least we learned from it – not just losing, but why and what we needed to improve. These children did what we asked them to do. And Jaemyn is a prime example. “

The Blue Devils were quickly No. 20 after batter on Allen’s ringtone to defeat Virginia in 2016, remaining in the top 25 every week for nearly five years until last January. It remains to be seen when Duke can return to that top 25 at some point this season. But after three straight ACC wins, one thing is certain: The Blue Devils’ NCAA tournament chances are still alive.

Duke has a quick turnaround from the huge win, facing Syracuse on Monday at 7 p.m.