Duke hammers Virginia to wrap up share of ACC regular-season title

DURHAM, N.C. — It was the final seconds of the first half Saturday at Duke, and Virginia was setting up for a last shot.

But the Cavaliers never got one up. Duke’s Isaiah Evans first cut off Chance Mallory’s attempt at a drive, then hounded the freshman guard into losing the ball out of bounds.

It was that kind of day, more about relentless defense than splashy offensive plays, as the No. 1 Blue Devils topped No. 11 Virginia, 77-51, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

A week after beating Michigan in a marquee national game, the Blue Devils (27-2, 15-1 ACC) clinched the top seed in the 2026 ACC Tournament and at least a tie for the regular-season title.

“I couldn’t be more proud, to be able to win a share of the ACC, especially in this day and age where it’s not necessarily a balanced schedule all the time,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “We won’t take this for granted. With that said, we don’t like shares. We have more work that we want to do.”

Virginia (25-4, 13-3), in Ryan Odom’s first year as coach, came into Cameron with a nine-game winning streak, having won eight straight on the road. The Cavaliers limited Duke’s Cameron Boozer, the ACC’s leading scorer, to a season-low three field goals, but Boozer finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Evans, who had his shooting touch early, led the Devils with 19 points.

This was nothing short of a possession-by-possession defensive war. It was constant movement on defense, a fight for every loose ball and rebound.

“You’re going to take punches. This is a competitive sport.” Odom said. “We punch people and they punch us. They punched us a lot more than we punched them today.”

Good shots were hard to find for both teams. Open shots? Forget it.

Virginia didn’t find enough, shooting 29% from the field and going 7 for 35 on 3-pointers. Thijs De Ridder, the 6-9 freshman from Belgium, had 16 points for the Cavs, who were averaging 82 points a game.

“Our message was ‘Go out there and guard them’ and I feel like that’s what we did,” Boozer said. “I think there was like 5:40 left in the first half and they had like 12 points.”

On another first-half play, Duke’s Caleb Foster forced a shot-clock violation, refusing to allow Virginia’s Sam Lewis anything other than a hurried 22-footer well after the clock sounded.

Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, seated nearby at courtside, had a good view of that play and certainly approved of Foster’s effort, given Coach K’s defensive background.

In the second half, the Devils forced another rushed shot to beat the clock, Boozer grabbing the ball and making a long lead pass to Evans for a fast-break slam that really turned up the volume in Cameron.

“It’s been an evolution the whole year in playing defense and making it our identity,” Foster said.

Some observations from the game:

Evans’ shooting propelled Duke early

Odom couldn’t have liked what he saw early in the game from Evans.

Evans loaded up a 3 and knocked it down. Then, the sophomore did it again, clearly feeling it.

When the guy they call “Slim is “on,” it fuels the Duke offense. And with Boozer drawing so much defensive attention, it left openings for 3-pointers.

Evans had four makes early, scoring 12 of Duke’s first 18 points. Sophomore Darren Harris, coming off a 16-point game at Notre Dame, came off the bench for a pair of first-half 3s.

By halftime, with Duke leading by 15, the Blue Devils were 8 of 13 on 3s. Virginia, in contrast, was 4 of 17 and that after a couple of late 3-pointers in the half.

“We made shots, but I thought it was because we took good ones for the most part,” Scheyer said. “They’re very disruptive. They did some things that put us in some spots we haven’t been in, and I thought we did a good job of attacking it the right way.”

Wahoos hounded Boozer

Virginia was determined to make things miserable for Boozer when Duke had the ball and succeeded – to a point.

The Cavs often walled off Boozer inside with 7-footer Johann Grunloh and 6-7 Devin Tillis double teaming and getting more help. Boozer did not have a basket in the first half, going 0 for 4 from the field, despite making some strong interior moves.

But the fouls mounted. Boozer simply went to the foul line and converted, making 11 of 12 in the opening half. Boozer showed no frustration despite being poked in the left eye in the first half, briefly leaving the game.

“He’s such a force,” Scheyer said. “Teams have to be very physical trying to hold him up and he plays through it gets to the foul line. He just has a warrior spirit.”

Boozer did disagree with an offensive foul called on him in the second half, a hooking call as he made his move. A replay had Duke fans hooting the ref.

Boozer’s first basket – a 3-pointer from the wing — came with 18:19 left in the game.

Devils did the job on the boards

High on the priority list in Duke’s game-planning was limiting Virginia’s second-chance points. Virginia entered the game first in the ACC in offensive boards per game with 13.7.

The Blue Devils’ box-outs defensively got the job done. The Cavs had six offensive rebounds but just two second-chance points at halftime — mostly one and done on offense — and finished with nine offensive boards and eight second-chance points.

The Cavaliers destroyed N.C. State on the glass in taking a 29-point home win this week. But Duke limited the damage, much as the Devils did against Michigan’s huge front line.

Duke closed with a 37-29 rebounding edge in the game as the Devils did it by committee, with six players getting four or more boards.