Duke suffers first loss on road

Ty Outlaw caught a pass from driving teammate Wabissa Bede, set himself and fired away with a tiebreaking three-pointer.

The way No. 20 Virginia Tech executed Tuesday, even Zion Williamson might not have made a difference.

Outlaw hit his big shot with 1:28 left and the Hokies beat No. 3 Duke 77-72 on a night when Williamson, the Blue Devils’ star freshman, watched in street clothes for the second straight game because of a sprained right knee.

Bede pulled three defenders toward him as he powered toward the basket, leaving Outlaw completely uncovered.

“I just drove and he was open,” a grinning Bede said. “Everybody knows Ty’s going to knock that down. He’s clutch. Once he let go of it I knew it was going to go in.”

Kelly Blackshear Jr. had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Ahmed Hill scored 17 points for Virginia Tech (22-6, 11-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), which beat Duke at Cassell Coliseum for the third straight time. The Blue Devils (24-4, 12-3) had been the only team in the country yet to lose on the road this season, but Duke hasn’t won at Virginia Tech since Feb. 25, 2015.

“They didn’t lose tonight,” Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski said of his team. “Virginia Tech won. There’s a big difference.”

RJ Barrett scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Blue Devils from dropping out of a first-place tie with No. 2 Virginia and No. 5 North Carolina in the ACC. Cam Reddish added17 points as Duke dropped its second in three games, including an 88-72 loss to UNC when Williamson was injured in the opening minute Feb. 20.

“Today they got the better of us,” Barrett said.

Krzyzewski said Barrett was sick the entire first half, and “for him to play that way in the second half was remarkable.”