On Saturday afternoon, No. 2 Virginia marched into Durham, jumped out to a 10-point halftime lead over No. 4 Duke, held off a Blue Devils comeback, withstood 30 points from the excellent Marvin Bagley and walked away with a 65-63 win that put the Cavaliers comfortably ahead in the ACC title race.
The victory was notable for a handful of reasons. Most obviously, it was the rare clash of top-five teams, the type of matchup that helps determine while teams truly belong at the top of the rankings. Selection Sunday is a long way off, but the committee won’t forget this caliber of road win when seeding Virginia in March.
The Cavaliers’ triumph also made some history. For one thing, it marked the first time since 1995 that Virginia had won in Durham, snapping a 17-game losing streak. For another, Tony Bennett’s team became only the fourth ever to beat Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in a top-five matchup since 1948-49, per ESPN Stats & Info. And with No. 10 North Carolina losing 95-91 to North Carolina State in overtime, Saturday marked the first day since 1973 that both the Tar Heels and Blue Devils lost on the same day.
Virginia snaps a 17-game road losing streak at Duke with a 65-63 win, the first win for @UVAMensHoops there since Jan. 14, 1995.
This is the 4th time that a visiting team won a top-5 matchup at Duke in the AP Poll Era (since 1948-49). pic.twitter.com/DmqRYAByXn
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 27, 2018
And then, of course, there are the implications on the ACC regular-season title race. With nine conference games to play, a lot can still happen, but Virginia has to be feeling awfully good about its position. The Cavaliers are now 9-0, with a three-game lead over Louisville and Duke and a three-and-a-half game lead over Clemson. For Virginia not to win the ACC, it would have to lose something like four of its remaining contests. Given that Bennett and company have dropped only one game all year (December 5 at West Virginia) that seems awfully unlikely. Another conference championship appears on the way.
In other words, it’s a good day to be a Virginia fan.
