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WATCH: Virginia, Reece Beekman upset Duke on last-second three

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•02/07/22•

BarkleyTruax

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Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images

Virginia came into Cameron Indoor with one mission — mission accomplished thanks to Reece Beekman‘s game-winning 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Cavaliers a 69-68 victory over the No. 7 ranked Blue Devils.

Here’s an alternate angle:

The game-winning shot was just their second make on 12 attempts for Virginia.

Duke had just over a second to run the court and pull off a Christian Laettner-like game-winner. Freshman sensation Paolo Banchero had a good look from the near corner, but was off the mark and Virginia improved to 15-9 on the season.

Duke had their chances down the stretch, but couldn’t stay in front. A held ball sent the possession arrow the Cavaliers’ way and was all they needed to make a season-defining play.

Virginia took a 34-29 lead into the locker room thanks to a 15-3 run during the first 20 minutes. Duke eventually would take their first lead of the second half around the four-minute mark thanks to a driving layup by Jeremy Roach.

“Teams are hungry and we’ve got to be hungry after we’ve eaten,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said postgame. “They were hungrier and toucher than we were tonight.”

Beekman finished with seven points on 3-7 shooting to go with three assists. While Beekman’s claim to fame Monday night was the play that everyone will remember, but it was Jayden Gardner‘s 17 points and eight rebounds that fueled Virginia past the Blue Devils. Kadin Shedrick also posted a career-high 16 points as well.

Duke’s Mark Williams was in foul trouble for the majority of the night, but still notched 16 points while Trevor Keels, who was held scoreless in the first half, scored 12 in the second.

This wasn’t the first time Beekman had led the Cavaliers with a game-winning 3-pointer. He previously took a similar shot to take down Syracuse at the buzzer in the 2021 ACC Tournament.

Virginia is now 48-39 against ranked opponents during head coach Tony Bennett’s 13-season tenure. The difference about this one — Virginia had made at least three 3-pointers in every previous game. For the first time, that wasn’t the case.

Duke now drops to 19-4 on the season and will look to get back on track Thursday when they hit the road for a battle with Clemson. Meanwhile, Virginia gets to savor this upset for a couple extra days and will host Georgia Tech this Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN2.