GREENSBORO, N.C. -- It had been nine years since Virginia had won an ACC tournament game. It was only 17 hours later that the Cavaliers returned to their losing ways.
After squeezing out an 83-79 overtime victory over Clemson in Thursday's first round, the Cavaliers fell to regular season champion Duke 84-74 in Friday's quarterfinals. Virginia was denied a bid to the NCAA tournament and will host George Washington tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament.
The Cavaliers stayed close with the Blue Devils (26-4) for most of the game, but were unable to gain the lead for the entire second half. Virginia narrowed Duke's advantage to 73-68 with two and half minutes remaining on an Elton Brown jumper, but the Blue Devils scored 11 of the game's next 13 points to pull away.
"If we could've gotten over the hump, I felt we could've had it," Virginia guard T.J. Bannister said. "If we would've hit a three-pointer after we cut it to a five point lead I felt we would've been all right. There were just a couple bad breaks."
Guard Daniel Ewing and forward Sheldon Williams put forth impressive performances for the Blue Devils, scoring 26 and 27 points respectively.Ewing was a perfect 4-4 from three-point range and Williams hit 11 of his 13 free throws.
"Daniel [Ewing] carried us in the first half and Shelden [Williams] carried us in the second half," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "They had two magnificent performances."
After making 4-9 three pointers in the first 20 minutes, the Cavaliers struggled from behind the arc in the second half. Virginia missed all six attempts for three -- many of them open looks.
Forward Elton Brown and guard J.R. Reynolds were the only Cavaliers to score in double digits. Brown finished with 14 points and six rebounds, while Reynolds set a new career high with 20 points.
Reynolds' previous career high was set the night before, when he scored 18 in Virginia's win over Clemson in the matchup of the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds in the tournament. All of Reynolds' points came after halftime and eight of them were scored during the last three minutes of regulation when Virginia erased an eight-point deficit and pushed the game to an extra session.
The Cavaliers trailed 71-69 with just under two minutes left in the overtime period, but three-pointers by Reynolds and forward Devin Smith gave Virginia the lead for good.
Virginia concluded their regular season with an 11-point loss at Maryland March 7. The defeat dropped Virginia to 6-10 in the conference, putting them in a tie for seventh place with Florida State.
Virginia led the Terrapins by 11 points early in the second half, but could not overcome the shooting woes that had plagued them for most of the game. The Cavaliers shot 3-21 from three-point range, including an 0-10 performance from the usually-accurate Todd Billet.
Despite Virginia's strong finish (five victories in its last eight games) rumors continue to circulate about coach Pete Gillen's lack of job security. Krzyzewski said he believes Gillen deserves to keep his job.
"Sometimes with a younger team, especially in this league, it takes you a while to find your chemistry," Krzyzewski said. "In the month of February, and now March, Virginia has played everybody well or won. If anybody is thinking that [he should be fired], they're idiots."
Virginia advanced to the second round of the NIT last year before losing to eventual champion St. John's on the road. The Cavaliers won their first round game in that tournament against Brown at home.
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