Duke Dominates Virginia in Charlottesville in the Post-Tony Bennett Era

Coming off a dominant win over Stanford on Saturday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke faced a quick turnaround, heading to Charlottesville for a Monday night showdown against Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena. The Blue Devils didn’t miss a beat, delivering a commanding 80-62 victory—one that was even more lopsided than the 18-point margin suggests.

Duke’s success came from a balanced attack, with Kon Knueppel, Cooper Flagg, and Isaiah Evans each scoring 17 points. Flagg stuffed the stat sheet once again, finishing with 17 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and two steals. Meanwhile, Evans torched Virginia from deep, shooting a scorching 5-of-6 from beyond the arc.

Head coach Jon Scheyer praised his team’s performance, emphasizing their preparation and effort on the glass. “Really, really proud of our team tonight,” Scheyer said in his postgame press conference. “Short turnaround—I think [Virginia is] a hard team to prep for on a short turnaround. Proud of the preparation, their focus, what they did. To me, I think the big thing was the rebounding. That's something we've talked about.”

With the win, Duke remains atop the ACC standings at 15-1 and improves to 23-3 overall. Virginia, on the other hand, falls to 6-9 in conference play and sits at 13-13 overall.

​Despite the dominant win, the night wasn’t without setbacks for the Blue Devils. Forward Maliq Brown suffered a shoulder injury and did not return. Scheyer later confirmed it was a dislocation, with further testing pending.

From 2012 to 2023, Duke-Virginia matchups were consistently tight battles, with no game decided by more than 10 points. But times have changed—Duke has now handled Virginia comfortably in back-to-back meetings, winning last season in Cameron and again last night in Charlottesville.
(See more stats from Mike Barber below.)

​Next up, Duke heads to Madison Square Garden for a neutral-site matchup against Illinois on Saturday night.