Freshman Kyle Filipowski added 20 points and 10 rebounds as the tournament’s most valuable player for the fourth-seeded Blue Devils (26-8), who completed a final-month surge to the top of the ACC to claim a league-record 22nd championship. It also marked the ninth straight win for Duke, a streak that began with an overtime loss at Virginia in which a league-acknowledged officiating error cost the Blue Devils a chance to win in regulation.
This time, Duke grinded their way through to the horn by leaning on a defense-first approach that Scheyer has pushed all season. The Blue Devils held the second-seeded Cavaliers (25-7) to 33% shooting, with Virginia missing both contested and clean looks while committing nearly as many turnovers (12) as made shots (16).
The Blue Devils never trailed, leading by as many as 14 points and keeping the Cavaliers – playing a methodical pace and their own defensive-minded style – working to inch closer all night.
Reece Beekman scored 12 points for Virginia, which drew to within six on Isaac McKneely’s 3-pointer with 3:05 and five on Kihei Clark’s layup off a scramble with 1:07 left. Finally, Beekman pulled Virginia to within 53-49 on a driving layup around Filipowski with 44 seconds left.
But the Blue Devils didn’t wobble, hitting six straight free throws to clinch this one. Roach hit four of those, turning in a veteran’s composure reminiscent of some of his big postseason moments during last year’s Final Four run.
Scheyer, the 35-year-old former Blue Devils player and assistant, started the year with the impossibly difficult task of replacing a legend who won more than 1,200 games and five NCAA championships – one coming with Scheyer in 2010.
Now Scheyer is the first to win an ACC Tournament title as both a player and a coach in league history, and only the third first-year coach ever to claim the title.
Scheyer finally started to wave his arm to the Duke fans behind the bench for noise with freshman Mark Mitchell preparing to go to the line for the final free throws with 22.1 seconds left.
Moments later, Scheyer began exchanging handshakes and high-fives with his staff as freshman Tyrese Proctor began dribbling out the clock. The horn sounded and Proctor flung the ball skyward, screaming as the players began to mob each other.
Scheyer soon stepped onto the postgame midcourt stage as his players danced around the trophy, wiping his brow and taking in the scene in the moments before the 7-foot Filipowski walked up behind him and wrapped his arm around his coach’s shoulders.
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