Virginia (13-13, 6-9 ACC) fell to No. 3 Duke (23-3, 15-1 ACC) on Monday night at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Blue Devils defeated the Cavaliers 80-62. Read below for our takeaways from the game.

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Both teams came out on fire to start the game, each shooting 71% on their first seven shots. Virginia came out strong with Isaac McKneely and Andrew Rohde both knocking down early threes alongside a dunk by Blake Buchanan after a steal by Rohde. A jumper by Dai Dai Ames kept the Hoos in the game early with Duke leading 13-12 at the 14:41 mark in the first half. Despite the strong start, it was unsustainable for the Hoos as out of the first break, the Blue Devils raced out to a 14-2 run, a lead they never looked back from. The Cavaliers may have been playing their best basketball heading into tonight, which showed in the opening stages of this contest, but were purely outmatched against the team from Durham on Monday night. 

The story of the first half was Duke’s dominance on the boards as the Blue Devils outrebounded the Cavaliers 23-7 in the first half, giving the Blue Devils constant second and sometimes third-chance opportunities to score. The failure to rebound made it impossible for Virginia to create scoring runs, as the prolonged Duke possessions usually ended with points. The rebound battle finished 41-21 in favor of the Blue Devils. Rebounding has been a problem at points this season, so although it can be challenging to truly assess strengths and weaknesses against the No. 3 team in the country, Virginia’s ability to rebound should be noted moving forward. 

Despite all of the struggles on the defensive side of the ball, Anthony Robinson blocking Cooper Flagg was the Hoos best play all night. 

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The Blue Devils speed on the offensive end prompted Virginia to constantly switch on picks, leaving brutal matchups that Duke exploited immediately, whether it was Dai Dai Ames getting caught down low or one of the Virginia big men getting stuck with Kon Knueppel. With these shaken-up matchups, the Blue Devils were creating wide-open shots from range for themselves or allowing Cooper Flagg easy drives to the basket. Duke finished 39% from three and 53% from the field as the Blue Devils found open shots for their stars to drain throughout the game.