CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Cameron Boozer is the only player in the ACC averaging a double-double and a legitimate national player of the year candidate.

Isaiah Evans and Patrick Ngongba also average in double figures, and Boozer and Caleb Foster both connect on over 40% of their 3-point attempts.

But as No. 11 Virginia gets ready for its showdown at No. 1 Duke on Saturday, the Blue Devils’ defense figures to pose as much of a challenge as their star-fueled offense.

“They’ve got a lot of different pieces that they can to and a lot of different ways they can play defensively,” said Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry, whose team fell to Duke 100-56 on Tuesday. “Which makes them really good.”

The Cavaliers (25-3, 13-2 ACC) have won nine straight going into Saturday’s game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, where they have won just once in their 19 appearances. They sit in second place in the ACC, one game behind the Blue Devils (26-2, 14-1).

UVA hasn’t topped the No. 1 team in the nation since upsetting Duke’s rival, North Carolina, in 1986.

“You talk about it but you don’t make a big deal about it,” said first-year Virginia coach Ryan Odom, whose father was an assistant coach on the ’86 team. “You have to go in there and play the game.”

And that means contending with Duke on both ends of the floor.

The Blue Devils are the ACC’s top scoring defense, allowing just 62.9 points per game, and lead the nation in defensive efficiency, according to the basketball analytics website Kenpom.com.

Whipping Notre Dame is one thing. But Duke’s defense also collected more impressive pelts by holding Michigan State to 60 points, Kansas and Florida to 66 points and Michigan, more recently, Michigan to 63, winning all those games.

Fourth-year Duke coach Jon Scheyer has seen his team’s defensive efficiency rating improve each season. And while there’s no denying the talent, size and length the Blue Devils put on the court is a huge part of that success, Scheyer’s focus on that end of the court also plays a major role.

“I think you have to show as a coach that it matters,” Scheyer said. “I think you have to be consistent in that. With that come mentality. I think I that’s the most important thing for a defense. If you look at the last few years, we’ve done different things schematically in terms of our coverages or X and O-wise. But I think the thing I’m most proud of is there’s a tenacity a toughness there, and a want to. Once you have that, then what you’re doing scheme-wise will work really well.”

Freshman wing Dame Sarr, in the starting lineup, and senior wing Maliq Brown, off the bench, give Duke to elite perimeter defenders.

Boozer and Nbongba, a 6-foot-11 sophomore center, are defensive rebounding forces and Nbonga is a dominant rim protector.

“It helps when you have size and length,” Scheyer said. “I think you can make up for a lot of stuff”

Shrewsberry said the Blue Devils force opponents to take one tough shot, then do a good job grabbing defensive rebounds.

And, with players like Brown and freshman Nikolas Khamenia coming off the bench, there is no let-down when Duke substitutes.

“They keep that tempo and they’re playing hard,” Shrewsberry said.

That’s part of what UVA will have to match Saturday, along with dealing with Boozer and the raucous crowd at Cameron that has helped Duke go 13-0 there so far this season.

“We don’t want to get lost in all that,” Virginia guard Dallin Hall said. “We just want to give them our respect and then show up, stay together, and put our best foot forward.”