Cavaliers stun No. 3 Blue Devils;
Mason, Hall power Virginia to 87-84 conference victory
By ANDREW JOYNER
Daily Progress staff writer
With its NCAA tournament hopes flickering and facing a 15-point deficit with
just more than eight minutes remaining, the Virginia men’s basketball team
somehow and some way fought back to claim an improbable 87-84 victory over No. 3
Duke on Thursday night at University Hall.
Virginia, which entered the game having lost seven of its last nine, trailed
76-61 with 8:01 remaining before it mustered a stretch of basketball it had not
been able to find all season.
The Cavaliers rattled off a 21-1 run over the next seven-and-a-half minutes that
lifted them to an 82-77 lead with 34.4 seconds remaining. From there, Virginia
nearly gave that advantage back as Jason Williams scored seven points in the
final minute and even had a chance to tie the game at 85 with 12.1 seconds left.
But Williams was unable to complete the three-point play with a missed free
throw.
Virginia rebounded the miss and made two of its final four attempts. The
frenzied Virginia crowd, however, was not truly able to celebrate until Chris
Duhon’s three-quarter court desperation heave fell short, igniting them to
rush the floor.
“In our four years here, this is one of the biggest wins if not the
biggest,” said UVa coach Pete Gillen, whose team is now 17-9 overall and 7-8
in the ACC. “We hadn’t been playing well ... I’m really happy for the
players. They’ve taken a lot of abuse and a lot of grief. ... Tonight, they
beat a great basketball team.”
Roger Mason Jr. led Virginia with 22 points while senior Adam Hall had 21 in
what could or could not be his final game at University Hall. Fellow senior
Chris Williams had 14 while Travis Watson, who was plagued by foul trouble and
eventually fouled out with 2:56 left, had 10 points.
It was Hall and freshman point guard Keith Jenifer who made the plays in
Virginia’s game-defining run.
The two combined for 14 points in the stretch as each made Virginia’s most
pivotal plays of the game. First was Hall’s personal five-point run with 3:15
remaining in which he hit a deep 3-pointer and then a dunk to make the score
77-76 Duke. Then it was Jenifer (career-high 10 points), who hit a runner with
1:08 left that gave Virginia a 78-77 lead, its first of the game and one it
would hold on to the rest of the way.
“Adam Hall missed 10 games this year and you can see we are a different team
with him,” said Gillen of his senior, who needed IV treatment after the game
to aid several ailments. “Adam played with a lot of courage and fight. ...
Keith made a big shot. He had the guts to take it. Not too many freshmen in the
country are going to take that shot in a big game on national television.”
Duke (25-3, 12-3 ACC), was led by Carlos Boozer’s career-high 33 points. Mike
Dunleavy added 16 while Jason Williams, harassed most of the evening by Hall,
had 14 points — seven of which came in that final minute.
“Tonight, we played for a stretch the way we are capable of playing. We can
score however many points on anybody,” said Mason, who said after the game
that as of now he intends to return for his senior season and will not test the
NBA waters. “Hopefully, we can take this momentum into the rest of our
games.”
Duke, which led by as many as 14 in the first half, led 44-38 at halftime.
Boozer had 21 points in the first half, many of which came as the results of
dunks or layups, as he took advantage of Virginia’s foul trouble on the
interior. Travis Watson picked up his fourth foul with 2:58 remaining before
intermission and just 54 seconds later UVa coach Pete Gillen and the UVa bench
received a technical foul. It was Gillen’s first technical in his four years
at Virginia.
Boozer made the subsequent two free throws and scored a basket on the ensuing
possession to give the Devils a 44-30 lead with 1:55 remaining.
The rare outburst from Gillen, however, seemed to ignite his troops as they
finished the half on a 8-0, including a tip-in in the final second by freshman
Jason Clark.
U.Va. rally stuns Duke
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia's
Travis Watson and Jason Clark had four fouls each, and Duke's Carlos Boozer was
roaming unchecked in the paint, on his way to a career night. The Blue Devils
seemed solidly in control, up 12 with just under seven minutes remaining
Thursday.
Then Virginia staged one of the more improbable comebacks of the ACC season,
holding No. 3 Duke scoreless for more than six minutes on the way to an 87-84
win, a giant step toward salvaging the Cavaliers' NCAA tournament hopes.
With Boozer, who scored a career-high 33 points, dominating inside, Virginia
appeared finished. But the Cavaliers scored 17 straight points in a stretch of
nearly seven minutes, as a capacity crowd of 8,392 roared louder and louder.
On senior night, a pair of freshmen, Keith Jenifer and Jason Clark, gave the
Cavaliers a lift down the stretch. Jenifer's runner with 1:13 left put Virginia
up to stay, 78-77, with 1:13 left. Clark, from Virginia Beach, shadowed Boozer,
denying him the ball. The 6-foot-9, 280-pound junior didn't score in the final
8:47.
Clark fouled out with 27.8 seconds left, but by then, Virginia had grabbed
control. Unlike Saturday, when the Cavaliers missed four straight free throws in
a loss to Georgia Tech, Virginia was confident and accurate at the line, hitting
nine of 10 in the final 50.6 seconds.
``In our four years here it was one of the biggest wins we've had, if not the
biggest,'' Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. ``We were on a down tick.''
Virginia, which had lost seven of its previous nine games, improved to 17-9,
7-8 in the ACC and picked up its first win of the season over a top ten
opponent.
Virginia had to sweat out the final seconds. The Cavaliers were up 85-82 when
Duke's Jason Williams made a driving layup and was fouled. But Williams missed
his free throw attempt.
Roger Mason Jr. made two free throws with 9.1 seconds left to push the lead
back to three. Williams rushed the ball up court but lost control and turned it
over. Mason was fouled again with four seconds left, and missed both attempts.
But a final Duke shot by Chris Duhon was short, and Cavalier fans stormed the
court.
Mason led Virginia with 22. Seniors Adam Hall and Chris Williams had 21 and
14.
Hall canned a 3-pointer with 3:49 left to cut the lead to 77-74, and followed
that with a dunk that cut it to one. Hall's energy seemed to ignite the
Cavaliers.
``You can't teach senior leadership, and that's what he brings,'' Mason said.
Hall missed 10 games with a foot injury, a period that more or less coincided
with Virginia's slide from a top 10 team to one that had seemingly played its
way out of the NCAA tournament. Virginia had become something of a laughingstock
for its slide, absorbing some of the harshest criticism of the Gillen era.
``We got to our limit,'' Mason said. ``We heard all the bad stuff everybody
said about us. We knew we had to have this game.''
Boozer seemed determined to keep Virginia from getting it. He hit 12 of 13
shots and nine of 10 free throws, but didn't get a shot down the stretch. Duke
relied on jump shots and junior Mike Dunleavy went cold, missing his final three
attempts and throwing the ball away with 37.6 seconds left.
Boozer scored 21 in the first half as Duke built a 13-point lead. Watson
picked up his fourth foul with 2:58 left in the half, attempting to guard
Boozer.
Duke (25-3) fell to 12-3 in the conference, ensuring Maryland of the regular
season title and top seed in next week's ACC tournament. Virginia faces Maryland
in College Park Sunday.
By ED MILLER, The
Virginian-Pilot
© March 1, 2002
Multiple defections unlikely
By DOUG
DOUGHTY
Exclusive
to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Thursdays
Shortly after my arrival Saturday at University Hall, Charlottesville sportswriter Andrew Joyner informed me that the personal pronoun "I" had appeared 45 times in last Thursday's edition of UVa Insider.
Glad to hear he's counting ... and reading.
The funny thing is, the same thought had crossed my mind while writing the column, but I had left my battery charger in the press room at Florida State one night earlier.
Holed up in a motel room in Tifton, Ga., with about 30 minutes of battery power remaining in the computer, there was a choice between polishing the column and finishing it.
So, the "I's" had it.
POOR ED MILLER: Seated to my right at the Virginia-Georgia Tech game, Miller, the Virginia beat man for the Norfolk Virginian Pilot, had to listen to a 40-minute debate between Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Jeff White and me.
It was my contention that UVa was playing terrible defense because its full-court, pressing style was giving Georgia Tech open 3-pointers, which it was knocking down to a 15-for-25 tune.
White didn't question that Georgia Tech was getting open looks but pointed out that UVa had caused 24 turnovers, including 13 in the first half, and that was the reason the Cavaliers were able to get back into the game after falling behind 22-8.
Clearly, there was a tradeoff Saturday afternoon, but that has not been the case in recent games. Saturday's game was the third in a row -- all Cavalier losses -- in which a UVa opponent had shot 50 percent or better, but, in the other games, Wake Forest had committed 13 turnovers while shooting 57.9 percent and Florida State had committed 17 turnovers on a 51.1-percent night.
A wise, old coaching head -- no names, please -- recently reminded me that Gary Williams shared Pete Gillen's fascination with the 94-foot game when he came to Maryland in 1989, but Williams didn't enjoy his greatest success until the last five years, when the Terrapins have become a better half-court team.
It also helps to have players like Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter.
ALL ALONG, the questions have surrounded Virginia junior Roger Mason Jr. and whether he will apply for the NBA Draft after this season but, based on comments published this week in the Cavalier Daily, it seems almost certain that Mason will be back next year.
In recent weeks, however, I've heard questioned raised about three other UVa underclassmen: junior center Travis Watson, sophomore forward J.C. Mathis and freshman post man Elton Brown. Where there's smoke, frequently there's fire, but I would be careful to jump to conclusions.
Watson, the ACC's runaway rebounding leader, may see himself as a future NBA player. But, he isn't a lottery pick and wouldn't be a first-round pick this year, so where's the wisdom in leaving early? Maybe he's tired of college or frustrated with the Cavaliers' play of late, but what's the alternative?
"I haven't talked to him in a month," said Steve Smith, who coached Watson at Oak Hill Academy, "but I can't imagine [Watson leaving]. He'd be a senior, right? I think he'd be back."
Mathis has lost his starting job and he played a season-low four minutes with his family in the crowd Saturday against Georgia Tech. Brown didn't get a whole lot more playing time -- five minutes -- and he started. Spectators who sit near the UVa bench have heard him voicing his displeasure.
Spectators also overheard North Carolina coach Matt Doherty tell his players, "Let him shoot," when referring to Mathis. Mathis has not proven himself to be an ACC player and may fit in better at one of the mid- to low-major programs in the New York City area from which he hails.
Brown, on the other hand, has the skills to be a double-figure scorer in the ACC and Virginia should do what it can to keep him. It was interesting, after Brown scored 18 points in UVa's 71-67 victory over Georgia Tech in Atlanta, that the coaches gave up on him so quickly at home.
It should be noted that the only reason that Brown started was a virus that had prevented Watson from practicing the previous day. Gillen's rule is that a player will not start if he has missed an entire practice the previous day.
MY FORMER FRATERNITY brother turned prominent Lynchburger Mike Madden is among those who have written to question the Cavaliers' strategy in the final minute of the Georgia Tech game, but Madden was not referring specifically to the decision to foul Tony Akins.
Rather, Madden wondered why Gillen called a timeout with 28 seconds left, at which point the Cavaliers, ahead 80-77, had run more than 17 seconds off the 35-second clock.
The Georgia Tech staff seemed undecided on a strategy at that point -- and later admitted as much -- but there was no indecision following the timeout. The Yellow Jackets needed less than a second to foul Watson, who missed the front end of a one-and-one.
It was just one of many questionable moves by the Cavaliers dating back to the first half, when freshman point guard Keith Jenifer fouled Akins on a desperation 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds to go before halftime. The Yellow Jackets, who had fallen behind 43-36, were able to cut the deficit to 45-44 at the break.
I have not heard Jenifer's name specifically in regards to transfer talk, but opposing coaches have wondered how he will fit in next year if Majestic Mapp returns from a second knee operation, with 6-foot transfer Todd Billet available to play either guard spot.
WHEN GILLEN SAID on the ACC conference call this week that he did not second-guess his strategy in the final minute Saturday, he alluded to the recent Wake Forest-Clemson game, in which the Deacons' Taron Downey hit a 3-pointer to force the first of two overtimes.
Gillen's point was that Clemson, which led by 11 points with 1:02 remaining in regulation, should have fouled Downey prior to his basket with one second left. And, while Downey was streaking down the floor and would have been difficult to lay a hand on, few people would have questioned that strategy.
The difference in the Virginia-Georgia Tech game was that UVa's Jermaine Harper fouled Akins with 19.5 seconds left -- a virtual eternity at that point.
A SOURCE IN VIRGINIA'S football office said that the Cavaliers have not heard from Ingle Martin, nor has his name come up in conversation at recent UVa staff meetings. UVa was one of the finalists last year when Martin, a Parade All-America quarterback from Nashville, Tenn., signed with Florida.
Starting quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Rex Grossman returns for the Gators, but the two players behind him on the 2001 season-opening depth chart have transferred, Brock Berlin to Miami and Chris Stephens to North Carolina. Martin should go into spring practice as the No. 2 quarterback, with the chance that Grossman could pass up his final season of eligibility and turn pro after the 2002 season.
Comeback Cavs
CHARLOTTESVILLE - They had no room for error. The Virginia Cavaliers absolutely, positively had to beat third-ranked Duke last night to have any shot at an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
Against all odds, they succeeded. The unranked Cavaliers, who trailed by 15 with 7:40 left, floored the defending national champion Blue Devils with a 17-0 run and held on for an 87-84 ACC victory before an ESPN audience and a frenzied crowd of 8,392 at University Hall. In its previous game at U-Hall, Virginia had blown a six-point lead in the final minute and lost to Georgia Tech.
"I knew what type of team we had," junior guard Roger Mason Jr. said. "Through all of this, the most important thing is we never lost faith in ourselves."
U.Va. (7-8, 17-9), which had dropped out of the Top 25 this week, snapped a three-game losing streak and won for only the third time in its past 10 games. SportsCenter and other national media outlets had called Virginia, which was ranked No. 4 in December, the biggest disappointment in Division I. The criticism stung.
"I'm really happy for our players," said Pete Gillen, who in the first half collected his first technical in four seasons as U.Va.'s coach. "They caught a lot of abuse, a lot of grief."
On a night when Virginia had numerous heroes, including seniors Adam Hall and Chris Williams in what they hope was their final game at U-Hall, perhaps the most surprising was Keith Jenifer. The freshman point guard, erratic all season, hit a runner with 1:12 remaining to put the Cavaliers ahead to stay. That was their first lead of the game.
Jenifer finished with a career-high 10 points and added six assists, two steals and only two turnovers. Other standouts included Mason, who led Virginia with 22 points, and Hall, who had 21 points and three steals. Williams (14) and center Travis Watson (12) also scored in double figures, and freshman forward Jason Clark had six key points in the first half.
Still, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, it was "difficult to single out one play when you see character being displayed over a period of time. It wasn't one kid's character. It was the character of the team. They should be applauded for that. We missed some shots, but they were terrific."
The loss by Duke (12-3, 25-3) clinched the ACC regular-season title for Maryland (14-1, 24-3). Virginia closes the regular season Sunday night at Maryland in the final game at Cole Field House.
The Blue Devils, who went up 76-61 on Mike Dunleavy's field goal with 8 minutes left, didn't score again until All-America guard Jason Williams made two free throws with 27.8 seconds remaining. That pulled Duke to 82-79, but Mason's two free throws made it a five-point game with 27.1 seconds left.
After its losses to Maryland and Georgia Tech at U-Hall, the last thing U.Va. wanted was more drama in the final seconds. But Jason Williams converted a three-point play to make it 84-82. Hall then made 1 of 2 foul shots for an 85-82 lead, but Williams answered. He scored on a follow shot and was fouled at :12.1.
With a chance to tie the game, however, Williams missed his free throw. Mason rebounded, was fouled and hit both free throws for an 87-84 lead. Chris Williams then knocked the ball away from Jason Williams, and Mason was fouled after coming up with the turnover.
Hall and Chris Williams "were spectacular," Gillen said. "It couldn't have ended any better for them."
Mason missed both free throws with 4 seconds remaining, but sophomore guard Chris Duhon's desperation heave from beyond midcourt missed as time expired. U.Va. students stormed the court, much as had they after last year's two-point victory over Duke.
The Cavaliers shot 51.7 percent from the floor. The Blue Devils, despite making only 3 of 18 attempts from beyond the arc, shot 50.8 percent. Credit Carlos Boozer. The 6-9, 280-pound junior center made 12 of 13 shots from the floor and scored a career-best 33 points. Boozer didn't score, however, in the final 8:45.
"He's a monster," Gillen said.
Win salvages season on the brink?
Gracious.
Sakes alive.
Or, to put this another way: Wow!
If you were in the vicinity of University Hall last night, you may have been hit by a chunk of falling debris. That would've been a piece of the roof. It blew off in a major way around 11:15. The reverberation from the blast was felt from the Rotunda to the Albemarle County line. And maybe beyond, to where members of the NCAA's selection committee dwell.
Virginia beats Duke?
No, Virginia beats Duke!
Emphatically.
And no, this is not a misprint.
On the ropes, on life support, on a seven-losses-in-nine-starts bender, the Cavaliers found redemption and a new reason to tune in to Selection Sunday last night. They came from 15 points down to nip Duke 87-84. The same Duke that came to town a two-touchdown favorite. The same Duke that's basically owned the ACC for five years. The same Duke that throws Jason Williams at you, and Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer and Coach K's snarl.
The same Duke that, five days ago, reeled off a - get this - 35-1 run against St. John's.
The same Duke that Virginia outscored 21-1 in a magical 6½-minute burst that ended, fittingly, with Adam Hall sinking a couple of free throws for an 82-77 cushion the Cavs milked the rest of the way.
Hall is a senior. Ditto Chris Williams. Four years ago, they arrived at U.Va. along with Pete Gillen and helped mightily in bleeding a 14-16 record from a cast that included only six scholarship players. Last night, they stepped front and center again as their crew stopped the bleeding from the wound its late-season tailspin had created.
Hall, in a word, was magnificent - "the reason why we won," as Roger Mason Jr. put it. The numbers alone - 21 points, 11 of them in the 21-1 surge, plus three steals - were eye-catching enough. Bigger even was the defensive job he performed against Jason Williams, the leader in the clubhouse for player of the year. Jason Williams entered U-Hall with a 21.6 scoring average and 26 apiece in his past two outings. He left with a stat sheet that showed him with 14 points, eight turnovers and 1-for-7 scattergunning from 3-point range.
And when Jason Williams somehow evaded Hall, Chris Williams was their to cover for him. This occurred with the clock winding down after Mason's two foul shots for the final margin, and here came Jason Williams speed-dribbling upcourt, looking for bonusland and the shot that would deadlock this baby and force overtime.
Except Chris Williams flicked the ball from behind. And U.Va. regained possession. And even though Mason, of all people, missed a couple of times from the line after being fouled, that final turnover sealed the deal.
"One of the biggest things in life is proving people wrong," said Chris Williams, who also contributed 14 points. "Everybody counted us out."
Not that the deck didn't seem stacked against these Cavs. Duke was coming off that 42-point blowout of St. John's. U.Va. was coming off a descent into purgatory. Duke has national championship on its to-do list. Virginia was searching for smelling salts and a neutral corner.
And scored, instead, a knockout.
The first half was frenetic and slightly weird. Jason Williams finished it with one field goal, seven missed shots and four turnovers. Gillen got a technical foul for squawking to the refs and a demerit for leaving Watson on the floor to pick up his fourth personal. Boozer battered anyone who challenged him down low for 21 points - three more than his per-game average. Duke never trailed. Virginia never disappeared from view.
The Cavs, in fact, rang up the closing eight points of the half to close to 44-38, fell behind by double digits again, rallied again. They held Boozer without a basket - without a basket, even - the final 8½ minutes. They sank huge shots and free throws, made key steals, snared rebounds, earned as big a win as they could imagine.
"You can't look back," Mason said. "We showed everybody how capable we are of playing, but you can't look back. You have to look to the future."
As of last night, Virginia still has one.
Devils freeze up
21-1 run lifts UVa past Duke
By LUCIANA CHAVEZ, Staff Writer
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. -
Virginia looked all but dead, having lost seven of its last nine games before
its ACC regular-season rematch and home finale with No. 3 Duke.
But the most dangerous guys in a fight are the ones backed into a corner.
Needing to escape, the Cavaliers fought their way out in dramatic fashion
Thursday night.
Virginia outscored Duke 21-1 over a seven-minute stretch late in the second
half to upset third-ranked Duke 87-84 at University Hall.
Roger Mason Jr. and Adam Hall made a combined 8 of 10 free throws in the
final minute to seal it for the Cavs.
"There are a lot of teams who have lost seven of nine who don't have
that character; we knew Virginia wasn't one of those teams," Duke coach
Mike Krzyzewski said. "Don't try to lump them in with some of the other
teams. They're not lumpable."
Duke (25-3, 12-3 ACC) fell two games behind Maryland in the ACC standings
with one game remaining. Pride and momentum will have to be regained against
North Carolina on Sunday and in the ACC Tournament next week.
Virginia (17-9, 7-8) has a chance to finish at .500 in the ACC but would have
to beat Maryland in the Terps' final game at Cole Field House on Sunday.
Duke lost its feet during that long scoreless stretch late in the second
half, but still had a chance to steal a victory at the end. Seven of Jason
Williams' 14 points came in the final 27.8 seconds and all of his touches down
the stretch proved critical.
The 21-1 run finally ended when Williams hit two free throws with 27.8
seconds left to cut Virginia's lead to 82-79.
After Mason hit two free throws on the other end, Williams drove, hit the
bucket, drew a foul, then hit a free throw to trim the Virginia lead to two,
84-82.
Hall made one of two free throws after getting fouled by Duke guard Dahntay
Jones with 21 seconds on the clock. But when Duke got the ball back, Williams
drove the length of the court, missed a shot, grabbed his own rebound, and hit
the put-back as he was fouled again.
With a chance to tie the score and 12.1 clicks left on the clock, Williams
missed the free throw.
Mike Dunleavy, who missed several shots in the last minute and a half, fouled
out by fouling Mason, who hit one of two free throws.
The miss gave Williams one last chance to pull a miracle.
Dribbling across halfcourt at full speed, he lost control of the ball, with
help from Hall, and fouled Mason while chasing after the loose ball.
Again Mason, who led his team with 22 points, hit the first and missed the
second and Chris Duhon's attempt on the other end from half court failed to hit
the rim.
"We finally defended in the last three or four minutes and our kids
played with a lot of courage," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said.
Junior Carlos Boozer led Duke with a career-high and game-high 33 points, but
Virginia adjusted in the second half by double-teaming him and he didn't touch
the ball during that big Duke drought.
"We were trying to front him in the end, to try to keep it away from
him," Gillen said. "He was great. He was a pro. He is certainly an NBA
player."
Hall, who missed a big chunk of the season with a foot injury, did not miss
Virginia's biggest win of the season. In just his second start since returning
to action on Feb. 20, Hall scored a season-high 21 points including a big 3 to
cut Duke's lead to 77-76 with four minutes left in the game.
Duke tried to put Virginia away early and had a good start on that by leading
by 14 before Virginia closed the gap just before halftime. Boozer scored 21
first-half points by making a living off of Williams' drives to the hoop.
But on the other sideline, Gillen was re-living the nightmare of Virginia's
loss at Duke when the Cavs couldn't even get out of the blocks against the Blue
Devils because of severe first-half foul trouble.
Then Gillen was tagged with a technical foul that allowed Duke to go up 44-30
on Boozer's two free throws on the technical and a driving assist by Williams to
Boozer on the ensuing possession.
Ironically, Virginia came alive at that point. Chris Williams and Mason hit
3s on consecutive trips down the court. Following a player-control call on
Jones, Jason Clark put back a Keith Jenifer miss to bring the Cavaliers to
within six points at the half.
Cavaliers Raze the Devils
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, March 1, 2002; Page D01
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Feb. 28 -- Down 15 with 7 1/2 minutes left, Virginia boosted its NCAA tournament hopes by storming back to shock No. 3 Duke, 87-84, at University Hall. The Cavaliers' victory sent second-ranked Maryland its first regular season ACC title since 1980.
Virginia closed with a 26-7 run, then survived Chris Duhon's half-court heave at the buzzer. As soon as the shot missed, Cavaliers fans swarmed the floor.
Duke (25-3, 12-3 ACC) rallied late after blowing its big lead. Blue Devils point guard Jason Williams (14 points) missed a free throw that would have tied the game with 12.1 seconds left, but Virginia's Roger Mason Jr. (22 points) pushed the lead back to three with a pair of free throws.
The Cavaliers (17-9, 7-8) had trimmed a 77-61 deficit to 77-71 when swingman Adam Hall (21 points), one of three Virginia seniors honored tonight before their last regular season home game, nailed a three-pointer from the corner. On the next possession, Hall released early on Mike Dunleavy's missed three-point attempt and easily finished a fast-break dunk to pull the Cavaliers to within one. Hall scored 12 points in U-Va.'s final charge.
He made a steal seconds later and had another fast-break basket in his sights, but he lost the ball under pressure from Duke's Dahntay Jones. Virginia's Travis Watson picked it up, but knocked over Dunleavy (15 points) in the process and was called for his fifth foul.
After the teams traded missed threes, the Cavaliers took their first lead when freshman Keith Jenifer, who had a career-high 10 points, sank a floater in the lane with 1 minute 13 seconds remaining.
Duke called timeout, but Dunleavy missed a pull-up jumper at the foul line. The Cavaliers grabbed the rebound and this time -- unlike Saturday's collapse against Georgia Tech -- made their free throws.
Mason and Hall each hit a pair. Williams converted a quick three-point play to pull the visitors to 84-82 with 22 seconds left, setting the stage for the frantic final seconds.
The win improved the Cavs' flagging NCAA hopes. Entering tonight, they had lost seven of nine. They may still need another victory -- either Sunday in the regular season finale against Maryland in the final game at Cole Field House, or in next week's ACC tournament. The win also got Virginia either the fourth or fifth seed.
Junior center Carlos Boozer led the Blue Devils with a career-high 33 points -- 21 in the first half.
As in its 94-81 loss at Duke on Jan. 27, Virginia's front court was hurt by foul trouble. Watson picked up his fourth foul with 2:58 left in the first half and freshman forward Jason Clark earned three fouls in the first 14 minutes.
The Blue Devils used a 15-5 run midway through the first half to take a commanding 13-point lead. They led 25-22 when they began to find their rhythm on offense as Virginia faltered. Duke scored on eight straight possessions, taking a 40-27 lead when Boozer made a pair of free throws after Watson's fourth foul.
With the game slipping away in the final minutes before halftime, the Cavaliers' frustration began to boil over. With his team down 10 with 2:04 left, Virginia Coach Pete Gillen got as enraged as he has been on the sideline all season when officials gave the ball to Duke after a rough play under the basket.
Official Frank Scagliotta hit Gillen with his first technical foul in four seasons at Virginia.
The Cavaliers made their halftime deficit a manageable one with a pair of three-pointers and an inside basket. At the break, they trailed 44-38.
Duke took a 9-4 lead when Duhon hit a wide-open three in transition, but Mason answered on the next possession with a three.
The Blue Devils continued to create good scoring opportunities and spread the ball around, opening a 17-11 lead eight minutes into the game.
Virginia engineered a short run to pull to 18-16 on Watson's baseline jumper, but Duke freshman Daniel Ewing drove for a basket and Dunleavy hit jumper in the lane to push the visitors' lead to seven.
Again the Cavaliers responded. Clark twice put back misses to cut the margin to 23-20 with eight minutes left in the half. Tonight marked the final home regular season game for three Virginia seniors: Hall, forward Chris Williams and walk-on Jason Dowling, who did not play.
As the Virginia men's basketball team headed into last night's game against No. 3 Duke, everyone knew that the writing was on the wall. The team's three-game losing streak seemed destined to become four. There would be no partying on senior night for Jason Dowling, Adam Hall and Chris Williams.
The Cavaliers, however, had different ideas.
They were banged down low by Boozer, juked by Jason, dunked on by Dunleavy, but they hung together as a team to upset Duke at University Hall for the second straight season.
All five Virginia starters scored double-digit point totals, but the biggest story was the team's defense. Energized by a reinvigorated Hall, the Cavaliers rediscovered the swarming team defense that keyed last year's success to hold the Blue Devils to seven points in the last seven minutes.
In those seven minutes, Virginia's full court press forced three bad passes and two steals. In those seven minutes, the Cavaliers went on a 21-7 run. In those seven minutes, the Cavaliers played like a team for the first time since they lost to Maryland on Jan. 31.
Every single Virginia player knew what the pundits and naysayers were predicting. They had to come together as a team to prove them wrong.
Last night, no one player dominated like Carlos Boozer did for Duke. No one player came up with that one big play to win the game. No one player had to.
The Cavaliers played like the athletic team with interchangeable parts that they were meant to be. When Travis Watson fouled out with three minutes left to play, Williams stepped in - despite being an inch shorter and 39 pounds lighter. When Jason Clark fouled out with 27 ticks on the clock, Hall stepped up despite needing medication to combat his aching, cramping body.
"It wasn't one kid's character," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It was the character of the team."
Indeed, the Cavaliers finally displayed the character that they will need to obtain NCAA tournament success. Beating the Blue Devils is a good start, but it still is just a start. A win at Maryland tomorrow or a deep run into the ACC tournament should secure at least a spot in the Big Dance.
But Hall and Williams must be congratulated for inspiring Virginia to play with a never-say-die attitude last night. Both were determined to make their last home game a memorable one. It was senior night, after all.
Needless to say, they did not disappoint. Williams clinched the win by stripping Jason Williams of the ball with 5.5 seconds left to play. Hall played the game of his life and ended up sprawled on a locker room couch after the game, IV needle in his right arm, ice packs taped to his feet.
So Williams, Dowling and Hall, thank you for the last game of your Cavalier careers at home. Thank you for the most memorable game in the Pete Gillen era. Thank you for renewing the Cavaliers' NCAA hopes.
You did not fold when everyone thought you would. You did not stop believing that lightning could strike twice. You did not go gentle into that good night.
Up by 15 points with less than eight minutes left, the stage was set for No. 3 Duke to end the Cavaliers' senior night on a sour note.
However, Cavalier senior Adam Hall made sure that the Blue Devils would not spoil the occasion. Hall scored 12 points in a 26-8 Cavalier run that closed out the game to give the Cavaliers (17-9, 7-8 ACC) the 87-84 win over Duke (25-3, 12-3).
"It's a perfect ending to a great four years at Virginia," a physically exhausted Hall said after the game. The Cavalier co-captain had to receive an IV following the game as he suffered from dehydration and cramps.
"Tonight, he was the reason we won," junior guard Roger Mason Jr. said.
"He was a big spark," freshman guard Keith Jenifer said. "I wish we could've had him the whole season."
Hall totaled 21 points, three steals and four rebounds in his final game at University Hall. Included in his 21 points were a fade away three-pointer that cut the Duke lead to three and a slam that brought Virginia to within one.
Fellow senior Chris Williams didn't disappoint either, finishing with 14 points, four rebounds and one very valuable steal.
With Duke on the attack with less than 10 seconds left, Williams swiped the ball away from Duke's Jason Williams to help propel Virginia to the upset.
"I was able to get a hand in there and knock it out," Chris Williams said of his game-saving swipe.
"Chris definitely had the defensive play of the game," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "You could see Jason Williams going coast to coast, so Chris popping that ball out was big for us."
Center Carlos Boozer was the biggest Blue Devil threat in the game, scoring 33 points on 12-of-13 shooting.
"He was great," Gillen said of Boozer. "He's a pro. He's a monster, he mangled us in the first half."
Boozer scored 22 points in the first half to put Duke up by six at the break.
The Cavaliers took their first lead of the game with a running layup by Jenifer. The floater came with 1:18 left in the game and gave Virginia the 78-77 advantage.
"Coach said that if they overplay, I should go," Jenifer said. "They overplayed and I made my move."
"He made a big shot," Gillen said. "Not many freshmen on national television against the No. 3 team in the country are going to take that shot. To have the courage to take it and make it is special."
Jason Williams made it interesting at the end, scoring the last seven Blue Devil points. With 12 seconds remaining, Williams was fouled, but missed the game-tying free throw.
Mason, who shot 8-for-10 from the charity stripe, made two free throws with 9.1 seconds left to give the Cavaliers their final three-point lead.
"I'm very proud of my team," Gillen said. "Down big we kept swinging. I'm very proud of our courage to keep fighting. This is one of the biggest wins we've had since we've been at Virginia, if not the biggest."
This victory almost came without Gillen as he was given a technical foul for arguing with officials. The technical was the first ever for Gillen, and if not for junior Travis Watson who physically restrained him, Gillen might have quickly received his second.
"I was fighting for our players," Gillen said. "We thought things were going inappropriately so we tried to be appropriate."
Hopefully, Virginia will be able to sustain the momentum from its win over Duke.
"This is a big shot in the arm, beating a great team," Gillen said. "We certainly have a gigantic hurdle on Sunday."
The Cavaliers will have little time to celebrate as they turn right around and head to College Park to play the No. 2 Maryland Terrapins. The matchup this Sunday at 8 p.m. will be the last ever game at Maryland's Cole Field House.
Virginia stages miraculous comeback to beat No. 3 Duke
"I'm very proud of our team," said Virginia coach Pete Gillen, who did not want to even begin to think about Sunday's trip to No. 2 Maryland or next week's ACC Tournament. "We continued to fight."
Virginia trailed by 15 with eight minutes left in the game, only to surge back and find itself with an 82-77 lead with 34.4 seconds left. That set in motion a dramatic final stretch, as the Cavaliers allowed Duke's potential National Player of the Year, junior point guard Jason Williams, to twice drive in the lane for layups while drawing a foul.
Williams made the first 3-point play, getting the score to 84-82 with 22 seconds left. But his foul shot on the second, with 12 seconds left, which would have tied the game at 85, rimmed out, and Virginia guard Roger Mason Jr. rebounded. Mason, whose missed free throw set in motion last Saturday's dramatic collapse here against Georgia Tech, and Mason sank both foul shots.
Chris Williams then slapped the inbounds pass away, and Mason (22 points) picked up the loose ball and was fouled. Mason missed both free throws but time expired with Duke's desperation shot falling well short.
The Cavaliers had lost three straight games and seven of their past nine, dropping from a No. 4 ranking to all the way out of the polls this week. The last loss, blowing a six-point lead in the final minute to the Yellow Jackets, had left a particularly bitter taste in Virginia's mouth.
Virginia (17-9, 7-8 ACC) got its first lead of the night with 1:05 left, battling back from a 15-point deficit with a 17-1 run late in the game. Duke (25-3, 12-3 ACC), usually the most sure-shooting team in the conference, if not the country, repeatedly missed big shots down the stretch.
Virginia, for once, made them. Mason and Hall combined to make 9 of 10 as Virginia built its lead. Hall finished with an electrifying 21 points.
The Blue Devils, especially Mike Dunleavy, who shot 6-for-17 to score 15 points, were agreeable to the Virginia rally from the start. Dunleavy repeatedly missed shots at key moments and the Blue Devils turned the ball over as if on cue, let the Cavaliers rebound their own mistakes, and allowed Hall to work some magic on his senior night. Duke's usual dagger, the fast break 3-pointer, never left its sheath. The Blue Devils made just 3 of 18 3-pointers. And Williams, the league's leading scorer, had seven points until the final minute, and finished with 14.
Hall, who had missed 10 games in January and February with a foot injury, had shown some of his old above-the-rim flair with a pair of high-wire dunks in the first half. Then he really took over. After making a 3-pointer and breakaway dunk to cut the lead to one, Hall swiped the ball at Dunleavy, stopped short of the basket, and lost the ball, only to see it get to Cavaliers center Travis Watson. Watson moved towards the basket, knocking over Dunleavy in the process and getting called for the charge, his fifth foul, removing him for the stretch run.
But Williams and Chris Duhon each missed 3-pointers, and Hall got the rebound, giving Virginia a chance at the lead with two minutes left. Mason missed a 3-pointer, and Carlos Boozer rebounded. Dunleavy missed a runner that went to Jason Clark, and Jenifer hit a runner that gave the Cavaliers a 78-77 lead, their first of the night, with 1:05 left.
Boozer mauled Virginia for a career-high 33 points. He had 21 in the first half, including drawing the fourth foul on Watson with 2:58 left before halftime. Watson had picked up his third with 3:36 remaining, defending a slash by Dunleavy, and Gillen did not pull him. Two possessions later, the Blue Devils went to Boozer, who drew the fourth on a turnaround move to the basket.
On Duke's next possession, a contact foul drew Gillen's ire, and he picked up his first technical at Virginia for arguing with referee Frank Scagliotta with 2:04 left. Boozer sank both free throws and then got an easy lane to the basket for a 44-30 lead, the Blue Devils' largest of the half.
Virginia, fired up by Gillen, went on an 8-0 run, capitalizing on 3-pointers by Williams and Mason and a put-back by Jason Clark, getting within 44-38 at halftime.
Virginia's comeback shocks
Duke
Virginia made a stirring but improbable comeback for the ages last night in the bedlam of University Hall to shock Duke 87-84 and decide the ACC's regular-season championship.
Down 76-61 with 8:02 left, Virginia went on a 21-1 run to take an 82-77 lead with 34.4 seconds left. Virginia made just enough free throws to hang on in front of a crowd of 8,392, survived two mistakes by Adam Hall that fueled a Duke run, and put away the victory with a sharp defensive play by Chris Williams.Duke fell to 25-3 overall and 12-3 in the ACC to drop two games behind Maryland with only one game left for both teams. Maryland clinched its first regular-season title since 1980.
The Cavaliers improved to 17-9 and 7-8 and kept alive their chances of getting a bid to the NCAA Tournament. They had lost seven of their past nine and will play at Maryland in their regular-season finale on Sunday, seeking to firm its NCAA credentials again.
Coach Pete Gillen said the comeback and the victory were perhaps the biggest of his four seasons at Virginia.
"I'm very proud of our team to keep swinging," Gillen said. "I was proud of our courage to keep fighting. We weren't defending for a good part of the game. They were scoring every time. We finally defended the last three or four minutes and that helped us."
The road proved hazardous to Duke once again. All of Duke's losses have come in opposing ACC arenas. After taking their 76-61 lead, Duke went 7:40 without a field goal.
Duke missed six shots, a one-and-one free throw and committed five turnovers until Jason Williams made two free throws with 27.8 seconds left to start Duke's last, desperate charge back.
The Blue Devils made too many mistakes to survive a close game on the road, even a game against a struggling team, according to forward Mike Dunleavy, who finished with 15 points.
"We gave them too much confidence," Dunleavy said. "I thought we defended them well at times and did a good job on (Roger) Mason and made his night tough. They got confidence from their crowd. They got a lot of energy. They were able to score and somehow keep us from scoring."
Carlos Boozer led Duke with 33 points, his career high, and grabbed 10 rebounds. He scored 21 points in the first half in sparking Duke to a 44-38 lead at halftime. Boozer didn't score in the final 8:47.
"It would be nice to get him the ball, but I thought they played him tougher, too," said Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke. "We had shots. We had plenty of shots but then they started putting more pressure on those shots."
Mason led Virginia with 22 points and Hall added 21. Mason and Hall combined to make nine of 12 free throws in the final 50.6 seconds to build Virginia's lead and keep comeback pressure on Duke.
Virginia took its first lead at 78-77 with 73 seconds left when freshman guard Keith Jenifer drove the lane, looked to the left, looked back to locate the basket and hit a soft eight-footer. The basket gave Virginia the final boost of confidence it needed to take the win.
Williams' free throws got Duke going again. He then scored on a three-point play, hitting a layup and drawing a foul from Hall that cut the lead to 84-82 with 22.3 seconds left. Hall was fouled a second later and missed the second shot to leave Virginia's lead at 85-82.
Williams went after Virginia again. He missed a layup but soared in traffic to grab the rebound and stuck in a follow shot. Hall tried to block the shot but only hit Williams for another foul. With 12.1 seconds left, Duke had its chance to force a tie.
Williams missed the free throw, however. Just as at Florida State on Jan. 6, in Duke's first loss, when he missed all six of his free throws, he could not get a crucial shot to go down. The shot was on line but a tad strong and rattled in and out of basket.
Mason made two more free throws with nine seconds left to end the scoring. Duke still had a chance to force a tie with a 3-point shot and Williams got the ball again. He was on the right side of the floor, turned and cut toward the middle and was heading toward midcourt when Virginia's Chris Williams reached in from behind and knocked the ball away.
Mason caught the ball and was fouled with four seconds left. He missed both shots and Duke rebounded, but Chris Duhon's heave from about 50 feet at the buzzer was well off target.
The game was over. Thousands of Virginia students flooded the floor in celebration. And in College Park, Md., another celebration began.
Ex-Virginia coach Jones making American history
By Erik Brady, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Jeff Jones was once basketball coach at Thomas Jefferson's university, where NCAA Tournament bids are commonplace. Now he coaches just a few miles from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., one of Jefferson's old addresses, at a school that has never been to the Big Dance.
One week from Friday, all that could change. Jones, the former wunderkind at the University of Virginia, is older and wiser and has no-name American University on the brink of its first NCAA Tournament bid and its first game on national TV.
"I guess," Jones says with a shrug, "there are a whole lot of things that haven't ever happened here."
Saturday, top-seeded American (16-11, 10-4) plays eighth-seeded Lehigh (5-22, 2-12) in the first round of the Patriot League tournament in Upper Marlboro, Md. If AU wins, it would play in one of Sunday's semifinals. A win there would put the Eagles in the league's championship game on their floor next Friday on ESPN.
This is the beginning of the week when the little guys take center stage. Lesser-known conferences across the land will play guts-on-the-floor basketball more meaningful than anything in the big-name tournaments. So much more is at stake. Duke and Maryland almost certainly will get top seeds in the NCAA Tournament no matter which one wins the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, or maybe even if neither does. But in the Patriot League, as in so many other little-guy tournaments this week, the withering style of the NCAA Tournament already has begun: Winners move on, losers go home.
Jones disappeared from the national radar screen four years ago. The Eagles need to win the conference tournament to get him on it again, even briefly.
"Getting to the NCAA Tournament would be great for our kids," he says. "It never gets old. It's a great feeling. But it would be a different feeling. There were times at Virginia when it felt great, but it was like a relief. Here it would be joy."
That's how it is in the Patriot League, the nation's 27th-rated conference of 31, according to the Ratings Percentage Index. American is a first-year member of the conference. In its 16 seasons in the Colonial Athletic Association, AU never so much as reached the conference tournament final, let alone won it.
What's more, when American won the Patriot League regular-season title, it was a first for the school since it won the Division II Mason-Dixon Conference in 1959-60, just a few months before Jones was born the son of a coach in Owensboro, Ky.
Jeff used to climb in the car for recruiting trips with his father, Bob, the coach at Division II power Kentucky Wesleyan. "We'd go up in the mountains in eastern Kentucky and stay in lousy hotels," Jones says. "I was maybe 10, and I just thought it was terrific."
So much so that when the son finished a stellar playing career at Virginia, he said he wanted to coach.
"When I told my Dad what I wanted to do," Jones says, "he told me I was crazy."
And there have been times when Jones has thought he must be crazy. But even after his dream job at Virginia turned into a nightmare, and he resigned under duress four years ago, he found he simply had to find a way back into the profession.
Birds have to fly. And coaches have to coach.
Answer to trivia question
When Jones was named Virginia's coach in 1990, he was 29 — youngest head coach in the land and youngest ever in the ACC.
He had played four seasons for the Cavaliers, during much of the glorious Ralph Sampson era. After graduation he was an assistant for eight seasons.
His tenure as head coach started so well. His first team went 21-12 and got to the NCAA Tournament. His second went 20-13 and won the NIT, making Jones the answer to a great trivia question: Who is the only man to win the NIT as player and coach?
His third team went 21-10 and reached the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. His fourth went 18-13 and reached the second round. His fifth team went 25-9, shared the ACC regular-season title and reached the Elite Eight, just one tantalizing step from the Final Four.
Jones had proved he belonged. He had won with talent he inherited, then won bigger with talent he recruited. His father won the Division II national championship at Kentucky Wesleyan in 1973; now he had worked Virginia into a position where it could challenge for the national title it had missed when he played.
And then it all turned to dust. Two of his last three teams had losing records and missed the postseason. The middle one was 18-13, snuck into the NCAA Tournament and got walloped in the first round.
Worse, several players got arrested. Two were convicted of shoplifting. One served time for slashing a Virginia football player in the face with a box cutter at a pickup basketball game. Another was convicted of assaulting a girlfriend.
"We had two losing seasons in three years," Jones says. "Then you look beyond that at the incidents of players getting in trouble, and that was pretty much it."
His personal life unraveled simultaneously. Jones and his first wife, the mother of his three children, got divorced. The school where he had spent 22 years as a player and a coach didn't want him anymore. "It was," he says, "a very hard time all around."
The next season, 1998-99, was his first one out of basketball since the fifth grade.
"Having the summer off was fantastic," he says. "But then as the leaves started to change colors, and football season became preseason basketball, I needed a fix."
So Jones used his forced sabbatical to study various hoops philosophies, spending time with coaches and programs around the country — twice at Utah with Rick Majerus, at Maryland with Gary Williams, at Kentucky with Tubby Smith, among several others.
"It was fun, and I learned a lot," Jones says. "The truth is, you wouldn't want to do it under the circumstances I did, but I would recommend it to any coach."
Jones applied for head coaching jobs the next year but got hired as an assistant at Rhode Island instead. He was back in the fold.
Last season, he took the job at American just as the school readied to take a competitive step down from the Colonial Athletic Association to the Patriot League. Star forward Patrick Doctor and others talked of transferring. Jones talked them into staying, and AU went 7-20 in its last season in the CAA.
No-fly league
The aristocratic ACC and the plebeian Patriot are leagues apart.
"We bus," Jones says. "We had one plane trip where we flew to Nashville, then Tallahassee and then back. That was it. Everyplace else we take the bus. Our driver is an old Marine named Bulldog, and we just kind of jump in and he takes off and when we get there he lets us know."
Patriot League players rarely reach the NBA, as often happens in the ACC. "They might be an inch short or a step slow," Jones says. "But a lot of these kids can play."
The Patriot League was founded on the idea of admitting athletes who are academically representative of their class. John Feinstein championed the league in his book The Last Amateurs. He wrote an earlier book, A March to Madness, on a season in the ACC when Jones still coached in it.
"Jeff is a good coach," Feinstein says. "It takes a mind-set adjustment to go from ACC to the Patriot, and he's done it well."
Jones is not the only coach in the Patriot League who toiled first in the big time. Don DeVoe of Navy coached Tennessee and Florida, and Ralph Willard of Holy Cross coached Pittsburgh. "Jeff has done a great job learning the league," says Willard, the only coach to beat AU twice this season. "My hat's off to him."
AU's record this season fell to 3-6 with a blowout loss to Vanderbilt. Next up was an ACC foe. The Eagles turned around their season in a 75-70 upset of Florida State, on the same floor where the Seminoles later beat then-No. 1 Duke.
Jones and his staff met with each player individually before that game. Jones felt some players did not understand their roles. Doctor was benched. He scored 18 points as a reserve in the upset. "At the time I felt hurt after starting for four years," Doctor says. "But I did some soul searching. That was a wakeup call for me."
The ship was righted before the conference season began. But winning the regular-season title makes the Eagles only a mild favorite in the tournament; they nipped last-place Lehigh 70-67 on Feb. 16.
"That's scary for us," Jones says. "This is a very balanced league."
The Patriot League will hold the first two rounds of its tournament in an arena with 5,700 seats; good ones are still available. The ACC Tournament sells out annually; good seats go to big donors at member schools. But for all of that, there is a way in which the leagues are not all that different.
"The things that are the same are the reasons that I coached then and the reasons that I coach now: The relationships with the players and being part of a team that is working toward a common goal," Jones says. "That's something that has been in my life every year but one since fifth grade, whether as a player, coach or assistant coach.
"And I missed that. I missed it a lot. Being part of a unit, of a team, that's what is the same — at this level, at that level, at any level. That's why we coach."
Bob Jones understands this as well as anyone. He is coming in from Kentucky to see his son try to make American University history.
"I still say he's crazy," says father of son. "But he's a good coach."
No catching these thieves at University Hall
NCAA Tournament still possible after shocking Duke
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Things were going wrong, dreadfully wrong, for Duke. Virginia was in the middle of scoring 17 straight points when Mike Dunleavy snapped, spending most of a 30-second timeout bawling out teammate Dahntay Jones for a defensive lapse.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski watched, letting Dunleavy excoriate Jones in the huddle, hoping his players could right whatever was wrong.
They couldn't, and now maybe, just maybe, Virginia is going to the NCAA tournament. If and when they get there, the Cavaliers might just notice Duke doesn't have a No. 1 seed.
Both scenarios, however unlikely on Thursday afternoon, gained momentum that night when the Cavaliers stunned No. 3 Duke 87-84 in ACC basketball.
"They were terrific, and I congratulate them," Krzyzewski said of the Cavs. "I could say this shot or that shot (was the difference), but really, their character won the game."
Virginia (17-9, 7-8) still must embellish its NCAA tournament resume with something other than a one-and-done in the ACC tournament, but now it has the kind of signature victory the NCAA selection committee notices.
Duke (25-3, 12-3) clearly remains a front-runner for a No. 1 seed, but another defeat between now and Selection Sunday -- especially if it comes to anyone but Maryland in the ACC tournament championship game -- could open the door to Oklahoma, Cincinnati and/or Alabama.
All of it's possible -- Virginia rising, Duke dropping -- thanks to a 21-1 Cavs run that turned a 76-61 deficit into an 82-77 lead.
In the midst of that run, Virginia freshman Keith Jenifer missed two free throws. However, another Cavs freshman, Jason Clark, rebounded the second miss.
Seconds later, Virginia senior Adam Hall found himself alone in the corner, dared by Jones to shoot. Hall took Jones' dare, his three-pointer cutting Duke's lead to 77-74 and producing Dunleavy's angry sideline outburst.
Dunleavy missed three shots in the final 3 minutes, 25 seconds, including a lane jumper that would have given Duke a 79-78 lead with 51 seconds left. On Duke's next possession, he threw the ball out of bounds.
Virginia led 82-77 after two Hall free throws with 34.2 seconds left.
Last season, Duke rallied from 10 points down in the final 54 seconds to beat Maryland. Thursday, the Blue Devils had their hands on an equally torrid -- if half as long -- comeback.
This one ended, though, because Jason Williams could only score seven points in 15.7 seconds.
Williams had a chance at eight points, but missed the free throw that would have completed a second straight three-point play -- and tied the score at 85 -- with 12.1 seconds left.
The Cavs had lost seven of their past nine games to fall from No. 5 in the country to the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble.
"One of the biggest wins we've had, if not the biggest," Cavs coach Pete Gillen said. "I'm really happy for the players. They've received a lot of abuse, a lot of grief. They deserved" to win.
Duke, which got a career-high 33 points from center Carlos Boozer -- none in the final eight minutes -- lost for the second time in four games.