Virginia Tech Hokies vs Duke Blue Devils Basketball Recap

Virginia Tech 64, Duke 60

For the past three seasons, one team has dominated the bubble conversation on Selection Sunday morning, resting right on the middle of the fence in the hours before college basketball’s most nerve-wracking event. In 2011, it just might be true that the Virginia Tech Hokies might not have to release gallons of sweat when the latest NCAA Tournament field is announced.

It’s been a long time coming: In a game Virginia Tech desperately needed, the Hokies defeated number one ranked Duke 64-60 in Cassell Coliseum on Saturday night. Tech coach Seth Greenberg is now 3-1 versus top ranked teams in games played at home in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Despite a recent three game losing streak, and being swept in two losses by in-state rival Virginia, the Hokies were still on the bubble for an NCAA Tournament invitation due to a weak 68-team field this year; this victory should lock them into the field. Virginia Tech is now 19-8, and 9-5 in the ACC. The win over Duke is a poker chip the size of Mount Everest; only three straight losses plus pure chaos in the conference tournaments could possibly keep the Hokies out of the Dance, and even then, it’s a stretch to say so at this point.

As for Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils, they’re now 12-2 in the ACC and tied in the loss column with North Carolina, and will play the Tar Heels in the league’s regular-season finale next Saturday night.

This game at “The Cassell” was closely played, with the Hokies taking a lead of as many as seven points before hauling a two-point margin to the locker room, 33-31. Many of the early battles on both sides of the coin were won defensively, with Duke’s Nolan Smith holding Virginia Tech’s leading scorer Malcolm Delaney to four points, and the Hokies sending backup Duke guard Seth Curry to the bench with two fouls early in the half.

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Duke led by as many as six points in the second half, but the boisterous crowd in Blacksburg helped the Hokies keep the game within reach. Although the game was physical, with many players being laid out in a prone position on the court at times, Curry was the only player to foul out; only 12 fouls were called in the second half. Missed shots from the free-throw stripe from each team will be pointed to by both Greenberg and Krzyzewski as key moments down the stretch.

Virginia Tech’s starters were the only Hokies to mark the scoring column, and all of them landed in double figures on a night when the home team needed an “all hands on deck” mentality. Jeff Allen’s 18 points and 15 rebounds (his eighth double-double in nine games) were followed by Terrell Bell and Erick Green with 12 points; five of Bell’s points came during the decisive surge that propelled the Hokies to a late lead. Bell knocked down a triple to tie the score at 55-all, and he soon followed with a pair of foul shots that put Tech in front. Bell’s timely display of scoring punched fueled a 9-0 run that put the Hokies up 59-55 with 2:39 to go.

Victor Davila and Delaney, the team’s leading scorer (averaging 19 points), also chipped in with 11 points to help the Hokies’ winning cause.

Duke’s Kyle Singler led scoring for the Blue Devils with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Smith had 18 points and 6 rebounds. Curry – whose father Dell Curry, a star for Virginia Tech in the 1980’s, was in attendance – fouled out with no points on two attempts.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer