When asked about his team’s impending trip to Cameron Indoor Arena on Monday, Tony Bennett couldn’t resist one more joke about the arrangements at John Paul Jones Arena.

“I would assume their concession stands are open, so they're probably going to be pretty rowdy,” Virginia’s basketball coach cracked following Saturday’s win over Miami.

After playing their last two home games with food and drink banned from the building as a COVID precaution, things were back to (semi) normal on Saturday afternoon. As a result, the crowd was bigger and brought more energy than during the ban. That environment helped spark the home team to one of its biggest wins of the season, a 71-58 victory that wasn’t as close as that final score would indicate.

The Hoos broke 70 points for the first time in 10 games. They shot 60 percent (30 of 50) from the floor for the second time this season, and the first time against an ACC opponent since a January 2021 win at Clemson. UVa shot 53.3 percent from beyond the 3-point line, their second-best long-range performance of the season. They led by as many as 21 points—the largest for the Wahoos in ACC play this season—before Miami closed the game on an 8-0 run against Virginia’s bench players.

The 13-point win gave UVa back-to-back victories for the first time in a month. The Hoos improved to 14-9 overall and 8-5 in conference play and raised the team’s NET to No. 88 in the country, Virginia’s best since prior to last month’s loss at home to Wake Forest. UVa hasn’t ranked in the top 75 in the NCAA’s NET since last month’s back-to-back road wins at Syracuse and Wake Forest bumped the Hoos up to No. 73.

That’s not the resume of an NCAA Tournament team, a fact that the Hoos are begrudgingly aware of.

“I feel like in the back of our heads it’s a little motivation, I would say, for us, just come out with a little more feisty and a little more firepower,” sophomore guard Reece Beekman said after the Miami win. “So if we just stay the course, play how we played today, I think we'll be good.”

With 10 assists on Saturday, Beekman raised his season per-game average to 5.09, good for second in the ACC. His 3.66 assist-to-turnover ratio is best in the league and second nationally. His 2.17 steals per game is also tops in the conference. He has matured into UVa’s facilitator on offense and its most disruptive player at the other end.

As a team, UVa notched assists on 23 of its 30 made field goals against the Hurricanes. Armaan Franklin was the most prolific of the Hoos’ three double-figure scorers, finishing one point shy of matching his career high with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including 3-of-8 from beyond the arc. Franklin, Beekman (9 points) and Kihei Clark (11 points) combined to shoot 53.3 percent (16-of-30) from the floor and 50 percent (7-of-14) from beyond the arc. In the front court, Jayden Gardner (12 points), Francisco Caffaro (8 points) and Kadin Shedrick (6 points) combined to finish 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) from the floor.

Saturday’s game marked the fourth time in five games and the 11th time in 13 ACC games that Franklin scored in double figures. Clark has scored at least 11 points in each of UVa’s last four games; Gardner has posted at least 12 in each of the last six. Over that same six-game span, Caffaro has shot 65.2 percent (15-of-23) from the floor, while Shedrick has come off the bench to shoot 68.8 percent (22-of-32).

“I think guys are a little more settled in and understanding what it's going to take and how you have to play,” said Bennett, “connected like that on both ends and even the intensity and the soundness that's needed.”

Despite the improvement, the reality remains that for Virginia, any potential path back to the NCAA Tournament bubble includes at least one win in the Wahoos' two meetings against Duke. The first comes Monday night in Durham; the second later this month at JPJ. Whether it's via the NCAA's NET rankings, KenPom's ratings or the simple eye test, they're the two toughest games remaining on the Hoos' schedule.

The Blue Devils are 19-3 overall and atop the ACC at 9-2 in league play. They’re ranked No. 9 in the most recent AP poll and No. 10 in the NCAA NET rankings. A win at Cameron would instantly become the biggest of the season for UVa, surpassing the Hoos’ 58-40 neutral-court victory over Providence at November’s Roman Legends Classic. It would give the Wahoos a second NET-elevating Quadrant 1 victory.

The Blue Devils boast two of the ACC’s top 20 scorers in freshman Paolo Banchero (17.6 ppg) and junior Wendell Moore Jr. (14.2 ppg). They each had 13 points in Duke’s 20-point win at North Carolina on Saturday; freshman AJ Griffin had 27. Banchero and sophomore seven-footer Mark Williams are both top 10 in the league in rebounding. Williams is the ACC’s leading shot blocker.

“They're kind of the mix of their young superstars with some guys who've been on the program,” said Bennett, “and how they're getting after it and improving is, you’ve got to be right. You’re gonna have to be sound, not perfect, but you're gonna have to be right. They do some things defensively that are challenging, and they got guys who can go get baskets.”

“Right now they're the best in our league,” Bennett added. “So to beat the best, you’ve got to play at a high level, and we understand that.”

Vegas doesn’t like the Hoos’ chances, setting the line for Monday’s game at Duke by 12 1/2. KenPom is even less optimistic, predicting a 14-point Duke win (70-56) will giving UVa just an 11 percent chance of victory. Although the last 12 meetings in the series have been decided by 10 points or less, most of the recent history isn’t on UVa’s side either: Bennett is just 4-12 against the Blue Devils, including a 1-6 record in Durham.

Monday will be Bennett’s final visit to face Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who will retire after 42 seasons at the school. Coach K’s impending departure has added some urgency to the energy at Cameron Indoor Stadium, traditionally one of the toughest environments in college basketball. Clark is the lone UVa player who has played at Cameron when the gym is filled to capacity.

"As a kid, you want to be in those types of venues and those legendary gyms playing against a legendary coach in last year,” said Franklin. “It should be exciting. I'm looking forward to it. But at the end we’re just gonna take it game by game, try to treat it as any other game.”

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