Virginia plays Duke tonight for ACC Championship

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Virginia plays Duke tonight in the ACC tournament championship game. The ‘Hoos are aiming for their third ACC title of the Tony Bennett era. Virginia won it in 2018 in Brooklyn and in Greensboro in 2014.

It’ll be rematch of a regular season thriller three weeks ago with Duke that had a controversial ending. The question posed, does that make this game mean more?

“On our part I don’t think there is, maybe on their part, ' says Reece Beekman. “It’s the ACC championship, there’s going to be lots of energy. There’s a lot on the line. We’re going to come prepared so I think it’ll be a good game”.

Virginia ended up beating Duke in overtime in that lone regular season matchup.

Armaan Franklin sasy, “At the end of the day, we still had five extra minutes to play. And we showed in those five extra minutes that we wanted to win the game”.

Since then, Duke hasn’t lost. The Blue Devils have won eight straight including a 7 points win over Miami Friday in the ACC semifinals.

Tony Bennett says, “We know Duke’s playing very good basketball. I think we just need to focus on quality, whether its a good practice or a good possession.

Jayden Gardner adds, “Just going to have to execute our game plan and play Virginia basketball. Got to finish at the rim because they have a really good shotblocker.

No player on Virginia’s roster has evern won the ACC tournament championship.

Franklin says, “It would mean a lot coming back after the year I had personally. The way last year ended. I think we came in in the summer and set a goal.”

Kadin Shedrick says, “They’re going to come out with a lot of fire and intensity, so we have to match that intensity.”

Kehei Clark adds,“You live for these games and hopefully it’s a good crowd. I know we travel well so hopefully we bring some fans too.

Virginia and Duke tipoff at 8:30pm.

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