No. 13 Virginia will try to put aside a lopsided loss at No. 1 Duke and finish the regular season with two more wins in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers still are in solo second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference after Saturday’s 77-51 setback against the Blue Devils. Virginia (25-4, 13-3 ACC) now looks to improve its 14-1 home record starting Tuesday night against Wake Forest (15-4, 6-10).
Virginia’s other defeats this season were a triple-overtime thriller at Virginia Tech, a seven-point loss to Butler on a neutral floor and a five-point home setback to then-No. 22 North Carolina.
A 26-point blowout at Duke is new territory for the Cavaliers, who tried to find a silver lining.
“We haven’t really got our butts kicked before,” forward Devin Tillis said. “We’re 25-4, but we kind of need something like that to learn, especially going into March. Those are the teams we have to beat and compete against. So, I think it was a good experience for us, no matter how it went.”
Virginia shot just 20.0% from 3-point range (7 of 35) and 29.1% from the field (16 of 55) and never led at Duke, snapping a nine-game win streak.
“We will learn from it,” point guard Dallin Hall said. “That’s what this team has done all year. They’ve responded after adversity. It’s hard. There’s a lot of emotion right after a game, so we’ve got to really look at the tape and dial in on the things that we need to improve on, but we’re definitely going to get better from it.”
Thijs De Ridder averages 16.0 points and 6.2 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers, who have won 12 of the last 14 meetings with Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons are 2-6 on the road and 0-6 against ranked opponents this season.
Wake Forest halted a two-game slide with an 88-83 home victory against Syracuse on Saturday. Myles Colvin scored 32 points on 9-of-12 shooting while missing only one of his eight attempts from 3-point distance.
“Myles Colvin is a testament to resiliency and belief in yourself,” Demon Deacons head coach Steve Forbes said. “I think he was one for 16 in the last two games coming in here, but the shot quality today was pretty good. He’s got a tight spin on that thing. He’s got confidence. He missed one three, and that was at the end when he was wide open, What a great comeback for him.
The Demon Deacons trailed the Orange 46-42 at the half but pulled away thanks to sizzling 57.9% shooting from the field (33 of 57), including 9 of 16 from behind the arc.
“I felt good once we got the lead,” Forbes said. “I wasn’t feeling good in the first half when we were struggling to get stops, but in the second half we got more things going defensively. Once we got the lead, we never looked back.”
Wake Forest finishes the regular season against Cal on Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C. Virginia has a rematch at home against rival Virginia Tech on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
