For the second game in a row, Duke let an opponent off the hook and back into the game. Against Clemson, Dave McClure and Jon Scheyer bailed their teammates out. Duke had a shot in overtime against Virginia, with one second left, as Josh McRoberts made a three-quarters of the court pass and got Greg Paulus the ball, but his shot was off, and Virginia held. Duke had their second straight late game difficulties; Virginia, by contrast, had their second straight semi-miraculous finish.It didn’t start that way. Duke outplayed Virginia for a good part of the game and had a consistent lead. But despite a considerable defensive aptitude, and a tremendous offensive improvement, Duke is still struggling with game-ending situations.

It seems pretty obvious what the focus of practice will be in the short term.

As far as Virginia goes, what can you say? It was a tactical game between their perimeter and Duke’s inside game, and with great courage and character, Virginia prevailed. Singletary was superb, of course, but J.R. Reynolds, who refused to let cramps end his game, scored eight points in the last 3:24 of regulation. After his cramps started, he’d play for as much as he could, sit down, then come back for more. It was an amazing thing to see, and not many people could do it.

But Virginia also got a 10 rebound game out of Jason Cain, and despite being outgunned up front, rebounded evenly with Duke at 28 apiece.

Mamadi Diane had a superb game and really came through for Dave Leitao. And a key play, which will probably be forgotten, was when Ryan Pettinella hit a free throw: the guy averages something like 27% and has the ugliest form we’ve just about ever seen. But he hit a key free throw, and it gave his team a one point lead. Gerald Henderson missed one of his two and with 1:56 left, it was tied 66-66.

Then Singletary hit a remarkable, falling-to-the-floor jumper to put his team up 68-66 with 1 second left on the clock.

It was remarkable that McRoberts got the ball into scoring position with just a second on the clock, but Paulus couldn’t quite get it. Hit the shot, steal the game, and be part of a legend: very close but not quite.

Still, despite the offensive breakdown at the end of the game, Duke still had their chances. They made some critical mistakes – Jon Scheyer got trapped in the corner with nowhere to go but to launch a desperation three pointer, they let Sean Singletary hit the shot to force overtime and the game winner, and a number of other things – but at the end, they had a chance, even though they missed the shot.

It’s a nice rebuttal for the people who said Duke didn’t have time enough to get a shot off at the end of the Clemson game, by the way.

It’s pretty clear by now that Duke will have their toughest times with highly athletic backcourts. That’s perhaps unfortunate since Florida State brings theirs to Durham on Sunday, and after them, UNC. Duke will have a lot of work to do in practice, but fortunately, the guy running the show is one of the best to ever coach the game, and presumably, he’ll have some insights.