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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — After an outstanding defensive effort in a 56-41 victory at Virginia on Wednesday night, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski gathered his players in the locker room and told them how proud he was of them.

A week earlier, the Blue Devils had overcome a 14-point, halftime deficit to defeat rival North Carolina. On Sunday, Duke persevered through senior guard Nolan Smith's eye injury and won 81-71 at Miami.

At Virginia, senior forward Kyle Singler had one of the worst games of his career, scoring a career-low tying two points with five turnovers in 23 foul-plagued minutes. But the fifth-ranked Blue Devils held Virginia to 28.6 percent from the field a season low for a Duke opponent and rode 22 points by Smith to a blowout win.

Both teams posted season-low point totals, but the Blue Devils shot 50 percent from the field in a slow-paced game.

"Their defense was good," Krzyzewski said. "I thought ours was better. And Nolan was a huge difference in the game. To get 22 points in a game like this, that's a lot of points."

The bottom line for Krzyzewski was that Duke (24-2, 11-1 ACC) had persevered in eight days to win the biggest game so far this season at home plus two ACC road games, widening its lead atop the ACC standings.

On defense, particularly, Duke followed through on the game plan nearly to perfection. Virginia entered the game with the ACC's second-lowest field goal percentage at .423, but ranks third in the conference in 3-point percentage at .387.

The Cavaliers (12-13) like to play four perimeter players and force an opposing power forward to defend in an uncomfortable position on the perimeter. On Wednesday, that defensive duty fell to 6-foot-11 sophomore Duke forward Ryan Kelly, who was guarding forward Joe Harris, one of the ACC's most accurate 3-point shooters.

Kelly responded brilliantly, blocking a game-high four shots. He stayed out on Harris, holding him to 2-for-6 from 3-point range and 2-for-11 from the field overall.

"We knew they could put a lot of shooters on the floor," Kelly said, "and we did a good job of taking that away. We made them do things they don't normally do."

Kelly also scored 11 points on 5-for-7 from the field in an all-around solid effort that made Singler's poor performance less damaging. He had scored at least 10 points in an ACC-high 23 straight games, but scored his only basket with 16 minutes, 1 second remaining in the game.

It was the second time he has struggled to score in three games; he was held to 3-for-17 from the field by North Carolina a week earlier. Afterward, Singler was quiet, saying he was getting good shots and just not hitting them.

Krzyzewski acknowledged Singler's struggles.

"Tonight was a bad game," Krzyzewski said. "And I'm OK with that. He didn't play bad because he wasn't ready to play. Sometimes you just don't do well."

When Singler didn't perform well and Duke still won by 15 on the road in a slow-paced game, Krzyzewski felt inclined to congratulate his players. They will have today off before returning to the practice court Friday to prepare for Sunday's visit from Georgia Tech.

DUKE (24-2, 11-1)
Ma. Plumlee 4-5 1-2 9, Singler 1-5 0-0 2, Kelly 5-7 0-0 11, Smith 9-17 2-3 22, Curry 2-8 2-2 7, Thornton 0-0 0-0 0, Hairston 0-0 0-0 0, Dawkins 1-3 0-0 3, Mi. Plumlee 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 23-46 5-9 56.

VIRGINIA (12-13, 3-8)
Sene 2-5 1-2 5, Evans 3-7 0-0 6, Farrakhan 4-14 2-3 11, Harris 2-11 2-2 8, Zeglinski 1-7 0-0 2, Regan 0-0 0-0 0, Harrell 3-8 1-2 7, Mitchell 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 16-56 6-9 41.

Duke 34 22 — 56
Virginia 26 15 — 41

Percentages—Duke (FG .500, FT .556), Virginia (FG .286, FT .667).

3-point goals—Duke 5-16 (Smith 2-5, Kelly 1-1, Dawkins 1-3, Curry 1-5, Singler 0-2), Virginia 3-12 (Harris 2-6, Farrakhan 1-2, Harrell 0-2, Zeglinski 0-2).

Fouled out—None.

Rebounds—Duke 39 (Ma. Plumlee 9), Virginia 29 (Harris 7).

Team rebounds—Duke 1, Virginia 2.

Assists—Duke 12 (Smith 4), Virginia 8 (Zeglinski 4).

Blocked shots—Duke 6 (Kelly 4), Virginia 2 (Harris, Sene).

Turnovers—Duke 18 (Singler 5), Virginia 12 (Farrakhan 5).

Steals—Duke 6 (Curry 3), Virginia 6 (Mitchell 3).

Total fouls—Duke 13, Virginia 13.

A—14,149.

Officials—Les Jones, Jamie Luckie, Mike Eades.