Hokies jump out early, stave off Duke
BLACKSBURG — The reality of what beating Duke — even a Blue Devils program that isn’t anywhere near as glitzy or as good as many of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s past teams — can do for a program on the rise like Virginia Tech became evident late Tuesday night. Dream big.
That’s exactly what No. 20 Virginia Tech did after its 74-67 victory against No. 19 Duke — a win that showed Tech’s resolve in the second half when it was pushed before getting its fourth win in the past five meetings against the Blue Devils in Cassell Coliseum.
Using a postgame moment to take stock in what his team has done to this point, Tech coach Mike Young did his best to keep
it real, but he couldn’t hide his enthusiasm.
“I’ve got a pretty good team,” Young said after Tech (10-2, 4-1 ACC) built an 18-point lead in the first half behind guard Tyrece Radford’s offensive explosiveness, stumbled as Duke climbed within a point with under 13 minutes left and then put the Blue Devils away down the stretch with a lot of help from forward Keve Aluma.
“Let’s not beat around the bush. We’ve got a pretty good team. I think we’ve got a chance to be really good. We’re not really good right now. I don’t think it’s anything more complicated than that.”
Radford, who scored Tech’s last 10 points in the first half and finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and five assists for his first double-double of the season, was less modest than his coach.
“We have the potential to make a run for it,” Radford said. “We just have to stay humble.”
What did Radford mean by “it?” “The championship, baby,” Radford said. “You already know.”
Indeed, these are pretty heady times in Blacksburg, and for good reason. Tech improved to 3-0 against teams in the Associated Press Top 25, including victories against then-No. 3 Villanova and then-No. 24 Clemson — a monster leap for a program that went 1-5 against ranked opponents last season.
Three things we saw
When it got tight in the second half after Duke’s Matthew Hurt hit a jumper with 13:49 left to trim Tech’s lead to 56-54, Aluma came alive.
Scoring 11 points in the next eight minutes, Aluma helped Tech keep Duke (5-3, 3-1) from taking control, even though the Blue Devils did cut the Hokies’ advantage to 56-55 with 13:12 remaining on a 3-pointer by Hurt, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Aluma, who posted 17 points and seven rebounds, made his final statement with 1:25 left when he swatted a layup attempt by Jeremy Roach, who led Duke with 22 points. Aluma grabbed the rebound, preserving Tech’s 71-64 lead.
Tech shot 50% from the field, including 63.3% in the first half. Jalen Cone came off the bench to score eight of his 14 points in the opening 20 minutes.
“I’m surprised,” Krzyzewski said. “They are really good . ... (Young) knows who his team is. In the first half, they really hit us hard. They played great defense, really strong, physical and tough. It knocked us back. We have not played in an ACC game like that.”
Duke, which shot 40% from the floor, was no match for Tech in the paint, where the Hokies held a 36-26 scoring advantage, or in transition, where the Hokies had a 15-7 edge.
Taking charge in charges
Seeing Tech guard Hunter Cattoor flat on his back and sliding across the court after drawing a charge is becoming a frequent occurrence this season. He did it again against Duke, and he’s gotten Young’s attention.
“We track that,” Young said. “That’s a big statistic for us. We’ve got a board that we take a picture of — a still shot — after each game. I think Cattoor is at nine now . ... (Nahiem) Alleyne has zero, and I point that out to him after each game. Cone has zero, and I point that out . ... Cattoor — that was not a strong suit of his a year ago. He had a hard time keeping the ball in front of him. An offseason, a different offseason, with the (coronavirus) and not being here March to July, he worked his fanny off.”
NO. 20 VIRGINIA TECH 74, NO. 19DUKE 67 DUKE (5-3)
VIRGINIA TECH (10-2)
Norm Wood, 757-247-4644, nwood@dailypress.com