With a showdown at Maryland for the ACC title looming, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer gave No. 5 Duke exactly what it needed on Sunday night -- a big lead and a chance to cruise to the finish.
Singler scored 21 points and Scheyer had 20 and both watched the last several minutes from the bench as the Blue Devils cruised to a 67-49 victory against short-handed Virginia.
More than getting to rest in a lopsided game, Singler said "it was more important that we all played pretty well and [we'll] have good momentum going into the Maryland game."
The Blue Devils (25-4, 12-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) have won eight straight and will arrive in College Park, Md., with a one-game lead over the Terrapins.
Duke took command right away, opening the game on a 20-4 run. Singler had 11 points before Virginia had two field goals, and the Cavaliers never got closer than 10. They trailed 35-21 at halftime and went the first 5 minutes without a field goal after the break.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski called the victory "a workmanlike performance" and Scheyer said he's pleased with where the Blue Devils are heading into their biggest game of the season.
"I think we're in a good place now," he said. "We've improved a lot overall. ... Our defense is really good and it's been a strength all year. We need to keep getting better."
Getting them rest in the game was not a priority, Krzyzewski said.
"I rest my guys in practice," he said. "Playing time, in the games, is really irrelevant. It's what you do between games. Our practices this week, teamwise, were no more than 50 minutes. ... That's how you take care of your guys. Guys want to play. They want to play."
The Cavaliers (14-13, 5-9) lost their seventh straight and played without scoring leader Sylven Landesberg, who sustained a bruised right thigh in Virginia's loss at Miami last week.
"He couldn't really go," first-year Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett said. "If we would have thrown him out there, it would have been bad for him and he couldn't have kept up."
Jerome Meyinsse scored 21 points for Virginia, seven more than his previous career best, but was the only Cavaliers player to make up for Landesberg's missing 17.4 points.
Mike Scott, the Cavaliers' No. 2 scorer with a 12.8 average, went scoreless for a second straight game, going 0 for 6 in just 12 minutes. He's now 0 for 13 in the past two games.
"I don't know what to tell you," Bennett said of Scott's struggles. "I thought [Meyinsse] battled his butt off and he gave us some stuff and Mike, I didn't see it from Mike tonight.
"He just wasn't himself in the last couple of games."
Singler and Scheyer had an easy time offensively. Singler finished 6 for 10 from the field and Scheyer was 8 for 14, and both coaches emptied their benches for the finish.
