The Virginia Cavaliers (13-6, 5-2 ACC) and the Duke Blue Devils (18-3, 5-2 ACC) face off tonight at 9 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena. The game figures to be the biggest home game of the year for the Cavaliers. Duke and Virginia are currently fourth and fifth respectively in the ACC.
Duke comes in ranked No. 10 in the ESPN Top 25 poll. Interestingly enough, Arizona was ranked No. 10 as well when the Cavaliers defeated them Nov. 12. Duke has been ranked in the AP Top 25 poll when playing Virginia 21 of the last 22 meetings. Duke is ranked No. 8 in this week's AP Poll.
Since losing three straight gamesin early January, Virginia has won four straight, including Sunday's 64-63 nail-biter at No. 19 Clemson. Duke has won its last five games since losing two consecutive games in early January.
The Blue Devils have won nine straight over the Cavaliers. Virginia's last win against Duke was an 87-84 triumph Feb. 28, 2002 in Charlottesville. Duke holds an impressive 107-47 overall record against Virginia, but the Cavaliers are 32-34 all-time when playing Duke at home, including the 2002 win and a 91-89 victory in 2001.
The key to a victory for Virginia this year is the performance of its two guards, senior J.R. Reynolds and junior Sean Singletary, as it has been all season. Reynolds is averaging 22 points per game against ACC foes, while Singletary is close behind, averaging 17 points per game.
"It's becoming true even more than ... I want it to ... that we'll go as far as our two guards will take us," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.
Duke's prominent players are freshman Jon Scheyer (15 points per game in conference play), junior DeMarcus Nelson (14.6 points per game in conference play) and sophomore Josh McRoberts (13.7 points per game in conference play).
Duke likes to play a slower-paced game than Virginia. The Blue Devils are averaging 71.3 points per game in conference matchups while the Cavaliers are averaging 76.4 points per game. The largest disparity lies in team defense. Duke is only giving up 61.3 points per game in conference play while Virginia is giving up 72.4 points per game.
Though the Cavaliers are playing a high caliber team in Duke, they are used to this level of competition.
"We've already played teams who are considered the top three [conference] teams in Maryland, Boston College, and North Carolina," Singletary said. "We are just going to keep chuggin', keep moving along and try and play defense every night."
Another factor that could possibly be taken into consideration at this point in the season is fatigue.
"You get to this time in the year when managing fatigue is a tough thing, particularly when you have to chase guys around," Leitao said.
Big games always bring in the big crowds, and this game is no exception. An unofficial reported number of over 5,000 student tickets were requested for this game, and there are only 3,000 student seats. Despite threats of bad weather, the University-wide buzz appears to be very high for this game.
With a national television audience watching on ESPN, the Cavaliers are looking to displace another top-10 team.
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