Duke vs. Virginia: Blue Devils Survive Home Test, Hang on 61-58

The sixth-ranked Duke Blue Devils trailed by four points at halftime to a stingy and scrappy Virginia Cavaliers squad (No. 17), but not much went UVA's way in the second half as they fell 61-58.

Head coach Tony Bennett has always had a respectable and underrated defense, but his squad could not muster enough offense to pull off the upset.

Cameron Indoor Stadium still remains as one of the toughest places to play (44 straight wins, UK's 45 is leader) and this young Duke squad has quite the balance on both ends of the court. 

Four scorers ended up in double digits though they struggled shooting from distance (5-of-20).

It was Austin Rivers leading the way with 11 points, alongside Seth Curry (11) and Mason Plumlee (12), but the Dukies beat Virginia at their own game: defense!

Coach K's defensive halfcourt set's are always among the tops in the country, although this year's Duke (14-2, 2-0) team has felt out of place, ranking just 237th allowing opponents to shoot 44.3 percent from the field.

Virginia (14-2, 1-1) shot only 39.3 percent (24-for-61) as Mike Scott (23 points, 10 rebounds) carried this team for the majority of the night.

In fact, Joe Harris was the only other player who went for double figures (12 points on 5-of-11 shooting).

That has to be a concern for a squad that expects to be ranked for the rest of the season, thanks to mainly their tenacious defense. Before their three-point loss to Duke, the Cavaliers were second in the country by allowing only 50.5 PPG.

In fact, CBS's Jerry Palm has UVA projected as a No. 6 seed  and ESPN's Joe Lunardi currently has them as a No. 5 seed.

The Blue Devils always send shockwaves due to their popularity, but Lunardi has them as a No. 2 seed whereas Palm has them shockingly at a No. 1.

One thing Duke has going their favor though is that they are second in RPI (.6811) as well as second in Strength of Schedule (.6099).

Despite the rest of the ACC essentially falling off the face of this earth (Palm has four in ACC, Lunardi has five), Duke's brutal non-conference slate should only help them as we inch closer to the NCAA Tournament.