Duke goes wire-to-wire at Virginia Tech
Duke picked up its 20th win of the season on Saturday, going wire to wire for a 72-58 win against Virginai Tech in Cassell Coliseum.
Jon Scheyer’s squad stays undefeated in ACC play as the calendar flips to February this weekend.
The Blue Devils (20-1, 9-0 ACC) had a couple of starters under the weather, but that didn’t make too much of a difference for them. Neither Caleb Foster nor Dame Sarr started but both played.
Led by freshman Cameron Boozer, the Blue Devils came out scoring despite the early start time. Boozer led the team in points and rebounds on Saturday afternoon as he finished with 24 and 8, respectively. Just another ho-hum outing for Boozer on the road.
The Blue Devils’ defense is what really stood out in a hostile environment. Before Saturday’s matchup, the Hokies were averaging 81.1 points per game on the season, and the Blue Devils defense held them to 58. Something the team struggled with a little earlier on is becoming a strength as ACC play rolls on.
The Blue Devils totaled six steals, as Maliq Brown led the team with two off the bench. They also had just two blocks, both coming from Patrick Ngongba II, who also had nine points and five rebounds.
Duke held the Hokies to 7-for-26 from deep, a 26.9% clip. The Blue Devils cruised through most of the game as the Hokies couldn’t find much offense outside of Amani Hansberry. He had 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting.
The Hokies threatened to come back late in the second half as they had cut the lead to six multiple times, but they just couldn’t score on the Blue Devils’ defense late.
Duke totaled 46 points in the paint and had eight dunks. The Blue Devils have now won 31 of their last 32 games against ACC opponents.
As the calendar flips to February, the Blue Devils will be back at home on Tuesday night against Boston College. The game is set for 7 p.m. on the ACC Network.
