Duke Blue Devils Hold Off Virginia Tech Hokies In ACC Clash

Despite battling illness that forced key players Caleb Foster and Dame Sarr out of the starting lineup, No. 4 Duke rolled into Cassell Coliseum and handled business against Virginia Tech on a snowy Saturday, walking away with a comfortable 72-58 victory. It wasn’t always pretty, but in the ACC, you take road wins however you can get them.

Cameron Boozer Continues To Be a Cheat Code For Duke

Cameron Boozer is ridiculous. The freshman forward was the engine that kept Duke running, dropping 24 points and snagging 8 rebounds. There was a moment in the first half where Boozer decided he was done playing nice. He pulled off a Euro-step dunk that was so smooth it should have come with a warning label, pushing the lead to 26-13. Minutes later, he drained a three-pointer, just to remind everyone he can do that, too. He finished the day shooting 4-of-5 from deep.

When your 6-foot-9 forward is dunking in transition and hitting threes at an 80% clip, you’re going to win a bunch of basketball games. It’s a luxury Head Coach Jon Scheyer has, and against the Hokies, it was the difference-maker.

A Tale Of Two Halves For the Blue Devils

For the first 16 minutes, this looked like a blowout. Duke’s defense, usually the culprit in those sluggish road starts, was locked in. Sophomore Center Patrick Ngongba II set the tone early with a dunk, and seniors Maliq Brown and Foster were splashing threes.

Virginia Tech, on the other hand, couldn’t buy a bucket. They went through a five-minute scoring drought that felt like it lasted an hour. At one point, the Hokies were shooting 20% from downtown. You could hear the rims clanking from the parking lot.

But college basketball is a game of runs, and Virginia Tech wasn’t going to just roll over at home. The Hokies finally woke up late in the first half, cutting the lead to nine at the break. Then came the second half, where things got interesting. Virginia Tech’s Ben Hammond and Amani Hansberry started finding lanes, and suddenly, that comfortable cushion started to look a little thin. They cut the lead to 40-32, and the Cassell Coliseum crowd started to get loud.

Weathering the Storm (and the 3-Point Drought)

Here is where the “old” Duke might have crumbled. The Blue Devils went ice cold from three-point land in the second half. With four minutes left, they hadn’t made a single three-pointer in nine attempts. Meanwhile, former Blue Devil Jaden Schutt started heating up for the Hokies, hitting back-to-back threes to pour gas on the fire.

But this Duke team showed some serious grit. When the shots stopped falling, the defense stepped up. Sophomore wing Isaiah Evans, who quietly had a solid 11-point game, converted a massive three-point play the old-fashioned way to silence the crowd just as things were getting dicey. Maliq Brown did the dirty work inside, adding another 11 points to the cause.

What This Win Means for Duke Going Forward

Beating Virginia Tech (16-7) isn’t going to be the headline on SportsCenter all week. But for this Duke squad, the way they won matters. They broke the curse of the slow start. They overcame illness in the locker room. They survived a massive second-half shooting slump and a hostile road environment without letting the lead slip away. That’s the kind of maturity you want to see in January.

With the win, Duke moves to 20-1 overall and stays perfect in the ACC at 9-0. They head back to Durham to face Boston College on Tuesday, hopefully with a fully healthy roster and much more Vitamin C in the system.