Duke Virginia Tech ACC college basketball game final score

Blacksburg, Virginia.

In a gym where they’ve experienced plenty of pain recently, the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils singed the nets early in the second half to solve Virginia Tech’s Cassell Coliseum.

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The Blue Devils hit 10 of their first 13 shots after halftime to rebuild a double-digit lead and defeat Virginia Tech, 77-67, in ACC basketball on Monday night.

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Entering the night, Duke (16-4, 7-2 ACC) had lost five of its previous six games at Virginia Tech. It reversed that trend with hot 3-point shooting — especially over the first 10 minutes after halftime

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Having built an 11-point, first-half lead, Duke saw Virginia Tech trail 35-29 at intermission only because Duke’s Jeremy Roach hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer. While making 10 of their first shot field goal attempts after halftime, the Blue Devils hit 4 of 5 of their 3-pointers. Roach had two of them while Jared McCain and Tyrese Proctor each hit one.

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Ryan Young’s slam dunk with 9:55 left in the game pushed Duke’s lead to 61-51. The Blue Devils never led by fewer than seven points the rest of the game.

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“A really good road win,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said, before later adding, “I thought our team just had a great togetherness. Some timely 3s and some guys stepped up in key moments.”

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Roach led Duke with 16 points, while Kyle Filipowski scored 14, Proctor scored 12 and Young 10 points.

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Duke shot 55.4% while making 9 of 17 3-pointers (52.9%). The Blue Devils won despite committing 14 turnovers, which ties for their season-worst performance.

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Virginia Tech struggled from behind the 3-point line, hitting just 6 of 22 attempts. Sean Pedulla scored 12 points but missed all six of his 3-point attempts. The Hokies shot 44.8% overall.

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“I think it was our defense,” Scheyer said. “To hold this team to six 3s is not easy, I can promise you, especially on one day of prep. They run so many tough actions, misdirections. You have to have great talk, great communication. We did that.”

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Three takeaways from the game:

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Roach the reserve

For the second game in a row, Roach was out of the starting lineup. That’s after he started the final 16 games of last season and the first 16 of this season.

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But after struggling in Saturday’s 72-71 win over Clemson, when he hit only 1 of 8 shots and scored five points, Roach was more comfortable at Virginia Tech. He made four of his five 3-pointers and 5 of 11 shots overall.

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“Just trying to find my rhythm,” Roach said. “Obviously I had a couple of injuries last week but no excuses. If I’m on the court, I’m 100%.”

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The ankle and knee injuries caused him to miss Duke’s 80-76 loss to Pitt on Jan. 20 and to only play 17 minutes after starting when Duke beat Louisville, 83-69, on Jan. 23.

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Though he’s still hasn’t able to practice, Roach was determined to play the last two games.

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“He hasn’t practiced in a week and a half and he just wanted to gut it out, to be there for his teammates,” Scheyer said. “He clearly wasn’t himself on Saturday, although he did some really good things. I still think tonight he wasn’t fully himself. He needs a week of practice to get back into the flow of who he’s been. With that said, the 3s were great. He had some big time moments.”

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Duke’s improved rebounding

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The Blue Devils entered Monday night’s game having been out-rebounded in five of their previous seven games. They’d gone 6-1 in those contests but it was certainly a teachable point for Duke’s coaching staff. Scheyer said last week defense and rebounding performances would determine which players got the most minutes.

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At Virginia Tech, Duke got solid rebounding all over the court to win the rebounding battle, 38-20. Six of the eight players Scheyer used grabbed at least one rebound. Duke’s shortest starter, the 6-3 McCain, grabbed a team-best 10 rebounds while its tallest starter, the 7-foot Filipowski, finished with eight, as did 6-9 sophomore Mark Mitchell.

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The Hokies didn’t collect their first offensive rebound until the 15:49 mark of the second half and that was only because their missed shot bounced off two Duke players’ hands and out of bounds.

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Duke’s late first half slump. Again.

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For the third game in a row, Duke built a double-digit, first-half lead. For the third game in a row, the Blue Devils stumbled through the final minutes before halftime to let their opponent back in the game.

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Virginia Tech, suffering through a stretch where it made just 3 of 13 shots, saw Duke take a 32-21 lead with 3:30 left until halftime.

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But Duke turned the ball over on four of its next five possessions. The Hokies reeled off eight consecutive points to trail 32-29.

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“We’ve been up the last three games in the first half,” Scheyer said. “We’ve had great stretches. We haven’t been able to close and we have to figure that out.”

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Roach’s 3-pointer as the half expired to give Duke a 35-29 halftime lead. The Hokies drew as close as three points after halftime but Duke’s hot shooting to start the second half wouldn’t allow them any closer.

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That Roach 3-pointer before halftime, after he’d missed a 3-pointer and the Blue Devils corralled the offensive rebound to give him another shot, proved to be a massive play in Duke’s favor.

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“Sean Stewart made a play to keep the ball alive, Flip comes up with it, and then Jeremy hits the three,” Scheyer said. “I think that’s probably the most important play of the game to be honest. Because the momentum is going their way and you just respond.”

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Last Tuesday, Duke won despite allowing Louisville to cut an 18-point deficit to 11 at halftime and as few as three in the second half before winning 83-69.

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On Saturday, Duke pushed its lead to 12 in the first half over Clemson only to see the Tigers trail by six at halftime. Clemson pulled ahead in the second half before Duke won, 72-21, when Proctor sank two free throws with one second left.

This story was originally published. January 29, 2024, 9:02 p.m.