A pair that got away

With just under three minutes to play in Virginia’s loss to Duke on Sunday, Blue Devil freshman Elliot Williams threw a long inbounds alley-oop pass. On the receiving end was fellow freshman Miles Plumlee, who hammered home a two-handed tomahawk dunk.

“We ran a play that we had called during the timeout — we just came out and executed it,” Williams said. “He went up and got it.”

For Virginia fans, watching the freshmen connect for the highlight had to be pretty hard to swallow.

Coming out of high school, Williams and Plumlee were both recruited heavily by UVa.

Williams wound up choosing the Blue Devils over Virginia and his hometown Memphis, among others. Plumlee, meanwhile, originally committed to Stanford, but changed his mind when coach Trent Johnson left the Cardinal for LSU.

On Sunday, both Williams and Plumlee showed flashes of why they were considered two of the best prospects at their respective positions in the country.

Williams, an explosive 6-foot-4 guard, had six points in 16 minutes of action. Plumlee, a 6-foot-10 center, had four points in eight minutes.

On back-to-back possessions late in the game, Williams drained a 3-pointer, then dunked after receiving a nice pass from Greg Paulus on the break.

“Being a freshman and having great wings like [Jon] Scheyer and Gerald [Henderson] to learn from, I’m just taking it slow and trying to get better every day,” Williams said. “The adjustment has been working more on my outside game and becoming stronger, so I can finish with contact and things like that.”

Plumlee sounded giddy as he talked about his Duke experience, moments before posing with fans for pictures on the Cameron Indoor Stadium court.

“It’s been real exciting and a lot of fun playing with these guys,” he said. “I’m real excited about what we can do later in the season.”

Plumlee is also looking forward to next season when his younger brother, Mason — a big man whom Virginia was also hot after — arrives on campus.

“That was a big reason why I came here – so I could join him,” Plumlee said. “I’m pretty excited about that.”

Like Williams, Plumlee says he is taking his development one step at a time.

“I’m trying to learn as much as I can,” he said, “and make my impact when the time comes.”

Virginia fans certainly felt it on Sunday.

Dunks

Virginia freshman Assane Sene has missed 13 straight free throws. Virginia coach Dave Leitao said that a thumb injury is affecting the freshman’s stroke and his ability to catch passes in the paint. … Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski had nothing but praise for UVa freshman Sylven Landesberg, who scored a game-high 20 points. “He’s a really good player,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s taller than I thought…[he] puts defenses in help-and-recover situations if you’re not careful.” … Duke leads the all-time series with Virginia, 110-48. The Blue Devils have now won the last 13 meetings at Cameron Indoor Stadium.