Embedded Files
Will Locklin
Staff Writer
January 29, 2024
Virginia Tech's MJ Collins scored a game-high 17 points, but it wasn't enough in the Hokies' loss to Duke. (Virginia Tech Athletics)
BLACKSBURG – Coming into Monday night, history was not on Duke’s side. Since 2016, the Blue Devils had lost five of six contests in Blacksburg to Virginia Tech, including two of those losses being on ESPN’s Big Monday showcase.
The seventh-ranked Blue Devils (16-4, 7-2 ACC) flipped the script this time, however, cooling off the red-hot Hokies (13-8, 5-5) 77-67 on the 2024 edition of Big Monday inside Cassell Coliseum.
“Really good road win, we have a lot of respect for Virginia Tech and what they’re capable of doing,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said postgame. “They return a lot of the team that beat us here last year, I thought our team had a lot of togetherness, hit timely threes and guys stepped up in key moments.”
Duke came into the game vaulted into the top-10 of the AP Poll and winners of 10 of its past 11 spanning back to the start of December.
The Blue Devils looked just as good as the record and numbers indicate, shooting the leather off the basketball all night long. Duke marked up a scorching 55% from the field for the game, and knocked in over half their three balls at a 53% clip.
After an explosive first five minutes of action, the game slowed its pace and Duke dictated the flow and tempo of the game from there.
The Blue Devils went on a 17-4 scoring run that encompassed over eight minutes of game time in the first half and didn’t look back from that point on. Though Tech stayed in the fight, a crucial turning point came on the very last play of the first half where Jeremy Roach’s last second three pointer stifled the Hokies momentum.
“Sean Stewart made a play to keep the ball alive, [Duke big man Kyle Filipowski] came up with it and then Jeremy hit the three,” Scheyer said. “That’s probably the most important play of the game to be honest. The momentum is going their way but you respond, that was a difference maker.”
In a game where Duke posted four scorers in double figures, Roach led the Devils in scoring with 16 points and went 4-of-5 from behind the arc. Filipowski and Tyrese Proctor, two potential 2024 first-round picks, finished with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
The Blue Devils also received big minutes from graduate big man Ryan Young, who finished with 10 points in 15 minutes.
“Ryan had it going and he’s so important for our team. He came up and gave us a lift when Kyle got into foul trouble,” Scheyer said. “He needs to be assertive, when he’s aggressive and assertive it changes our team.”
Duke also carved up the Hokies on the boards, where the Blue Devils outrebounded Tech 38-20 and hauled in six more offensive rebounds. Going against a team known for their physicality and size, the Hokies were unable to answer the call on the boards and in other ways.
“Sometimes the other team plays better than you do and they played better than we did obviously. We didn’t rebound very well, we had our shots and squandered some opportunities,” Tech head coach Mike Young said.
The Hokies started a hot 4-of-5 from the floor before their ice cold stretch in the middle of the first half which totaled an over seven minute stretch of scoreless basketball. While Tech had a chance to draw even with Duke on Robbie Beran’s late first-half three-point attempt, proceeding Roach’s to end the half, Tech didn’t have enough offensive juice from that point on to contend with the Blue Devils’ firepower.
“They took us out of some things and made it very difficult for us in some of our actions that we’ve been good with,” Young said. “They were good, they were really good.”
Tech shot the ball at a 45% clip from the field for the game but struggled to get going from three, only hitting six triples and shooting 27% from downtown. As Duke would have it, the Hokies poor shooting night was a bit by design from Scheyer and company.
“It was our defense, to hold this team to six threes is not easy. I can promise you, especially with one day of prep,” Scheyer said. “You have to pick your poison a little bit. Our goal was to take away the threes as much as possible.”
The Hokies ended up with four scorers reaching double figures. Hunter Cattoor finished with 15 points on eight attempted shots, while Tech’s two leading scorers heading into the contest, Lynn Kidd and Sean Pedulla, combined for just 24 points. Tech’s leading scorer was MJ Collins, who scored 17 points for the game and 13 in the first half to boost the Hokies out of their mid-half scoring drought.
“Certainly looks a lot more confident, he’s struggled to put the ball in the hole but he’s worked at it,” Young said. “He’s healthy, that was a cramp at the end of the game and nothing more than that. He’s putting his licks in, he’s a good player and we need that punch from him.”
Virginia Tech will travel to Coral Gables for a rematch against Miami this Saturday at noon ET.
The Hurricanes took down 75-71 in Cassell Coliseum a couple weeks ago, and the Hokies will look to return the favor. Meanwhile, Duke prepares for a top-10 edition of the Tobacco Road Rivalry, as the Blue Devils face off against No. 3 North Carolina in Chapel Hill this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN.
Report abuse