Sometimes you just get outplayed and outworked. It's not the best feeling in the world, but better to admit it and get on with things than to deny. So: Virginia clearly outplayed, outworked and outhustled Duke.
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And nobody did more than Joe Harris. After his brilliant game against Duke - 36 points and seven rebounds - perhaps he'll get the recognition he deserves. He's gone from being a really nice complimentary player to a guy who has to be taken very seriously indeed.
Since scoring just seven against BC, Harris has gone for 22, 18, 21, 22, 26, 27, 16, 15 and 36.
Harris got nearly 50% of UVa's points, and Duke couldn't even slow him down.
Earlier we called him a poor man's Jerry Sloan. Before he was a coach, Sloan was a rugged, 6-6 guard who you remembered when you woke up the day after you played because you were sore.
Harris may be a bit better than that. He's just become a superb all-around player, and a lot of coaches are wondering how/why they missed him.
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But it wasn't just Harris.
Virginia did a great job on Mason Plumlee, who found himself double-teamed every time nearly every time he touched the ball. He only got five shots from the floor and of those, made but two.
Moreover, he was clearly frustrated, though perhaps not as much as Rasheed Sulaimon.
Remember when the Duke staff gave Bobby Hurley a video showing him what his facial expressions looked like during a game?
Sulaimon may get one this week.
The rookie has been rock solid, but in this game he lost his composure, even getting T'd up for talking back to an official. He seemed a step slow all too often, even somewhat passive against Harris, catching up on defense, not raising his arms to contest the shot.
In general it was a frustrating game for Duke and Duke fans.
Afterwards, Seth Curry admitted that his team was outworked and Coach K termed himself "disappointed," adding that he thought his team would have played better.
It really doesn't happen very often but it did Thursday night: Duke was out-toughed.
On the bright side, Ryan Kelly dressed out and Wojo told the announcers that if the game had been in the NCAA tournament, he would've played.
Perhaps we'll see him Saturday.