Virginia Tech Takes Down Duke 74-67

Chris Hirons

January 13, 2021

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Tyrece Radford’s missed free throw with a minute-and-a-half left in a seven-point game against No. 19 Duke should have been the mistake that put No. 20 Virginia Tech’s chances at an upset to rest.

The Blue Devils trailed by seven at that point, and against most teams, a lead that large would be more than comfortable. But never against Duke.

Jeremy Roach dribbled up the court. The Duke guard dribbled to his right, then cut back to the left, crossing up Wabissa Bede. He had a wide open path to the hoop as Keve Aluma followed Duke forward Matthew Hurt — who drilled four three pointers — towards the left wing.

Aluma diagnosed the Hurts’ screen near the free throw line to clear the paint for Roach. He turned around to follow Roach, jumped off of both his feet and smothered Roach’s layup attempt before it left his hand and came up with the rebound before his feet flew out of bounds.

An emphatic dunk from Justyn Mutts and a free throw from Tyrece Radford in the closing minute sealed a Virginia Tech upset over the Blue Devils, an upset in which the Hokies never trailed in, 74-67.

“I’ve got a really good basketball team,” Hokies head coach Mike Young said. “Let’s not beat around the bush. I think we’ve got a chance to be really good.”

In a season where consistent game play means everything, Virginia Tech (10-2, 4-1 ACC) gave a sense of normalcy, playing for the third time in a week. Duke (5-3, 3-1 ACC), though, had been coming off of a program pause, playing in only its third game since Dec. 16.

In a game where the Hokies seemed so dominant, they almost faltered in the second half. At one point, the team almost squandered a game where it had led by as many as 18. After losing to then-unranked Louisville and trailing at the half against Notre Dame on Sunday, Virginia Tech couldn’t afford to blow a win against Duke, or the Hokies would have likely been pushed out of the AP Top 25 rankings next week.

Trailing by 12 at halftime, Duke energized itself, going on a 21-10 run to open the second half and coming within a point of Virginia Tech with just over 13 minutes to play. The Hokies managed to pull away, leading by nine with five minutes left, seemingly closing out the Blue Devils in unceremonious fashion.

Duke, however, found itself at the free throw line twice after the under-four media timeout. Nailing three of its four shots, the Blue Devils brought the game back to within four points with just over two minutes left.

“I didn’t want to call a timeout there when Duke took off on us in the second half, part of that was by design,” Young said. “I wanted to see us figure it out and fight through it.”

It was the loudest the approximately 15 Duke fans — likely the family of the players and staff — behind the Blue Devils bench had been all night.

In the first half, the Blue Devils onlookers were silent. Stunned that their team had turned the ball over, missed open shots, allowed Virginia Tech to shoot 63% and trailed the Hokies — who were picked to finish 11th in the preseason ACC poll — by 12 heading into the half.

Even Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski was stunned. He sat back in his chair for multiple minutes, trying to process why he was down so many points to a team that wasn’t projected to nearly have the talent to come within a sniff of beating a squad like his.

The answer he came up with? Gritty players like Radford, Aluma and Mutts. Guys that won’t light up a stat sheet on a nightly-basis, but will consistently do the little things to help their team pull out a win.

“They’re really good,” Krzyzewski said of the Hokies. “The kid, Radford, was the best player on the court. He was the key guy.”

Radford shot 7-of-12, adding 18 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in his first double-double of the season. Aluma, aside from the key block, scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. And Mutts, to top it off, added nine points and three assists.

After starting off hot and cooling off against Louisville, the Hokies seemed to have been trending in that direction Tuesday night. But unlike last week’s loss, there was no need to foul at the end, or look for a contested three ball in desperation.

Once Virginia Tech got off to its blazing start, the players and Mike Young refused to look back.

“We have the potential to make a run for [the national title], we just have to stay humble,” Radford said with a laugh.