Duke Basketball: 3 keys to beating Virginia and staying alive for ACC title

1. Dereck Lively’s impact will depend on what lineup Virginia uses

The play of Lively has become a big storyline for Duke Basketball, in that his defensive presence can be a difference-maker in a major way. He had eight blocks against North Carolina last week and outplayed Armando Bacot. His offense is even starting to improve, tying a season-high 11 points against Miami this week.

For Virginia, their original starting center was Kadin Shedrick, who started 14 of the team’s first 15 games. But in the six games since, he’s been coming off the bench, with his minutes fluctuating. The reason is that the team has opted to go smaller, with forward Jayden Gardner playing at the five-spot and Ohio transfer Ben Vander Plas playing at the four.

This is the Cavaliers’ best offensive lineup without question since Shedrick isn’t much of an offensive threat. This is where Lively will be important because Gardner is their second-leading scorer and top post option. This allows Kyle Filipowski to deal with Vander Plas at the power forward position, which is ideal for him.

Virginia did play Shedrick against NC State for 27 minutes but that was because the Wolfpack had D.J. Burns. They don’t need him against Duke, even when Ryan Young is playing at the five-spot. But considering the growth he’s made, Lively should continue playing 25+ minutes, regardless of who it’s against.