We’ll admit we were nervous about Duke’s trip to Virginia Tech’s Cassell Coliseum, a place where Duke has often struggled and were more so after learning that Caleb Foster and Dame Sarr were both under the weather. As it turned out though, it didn’t matter because the Blue Devils led from wire-to-wire, winning 72-58.
As it turns out, this game was a great stress test for Jon Scheyer and Duke.
Duke started Nik Khamenia and Cayden Boozer in place of Foster and Sarr and both played well enough, but the
real key was Duke’s defense.
Virginia Tech fell behind by 16 in the first half and cut the halftime lead to 40-31. In the second half, they cut the lead to 6 but couldn’t catch up and that was due to Duke’s offensive efficiency and tremendous defense.
Amani Hansberry was terrific, scoring 20 points on 8-13/4-5 and Jailen Bedfod and Benn Hammond were both solid with 12 and 11 respectively, but they combined to hit just 10-24/1-10. Tobi Lawal, who showed why is absolutely on the NBA radar athletically, shot 2-5 and Neoklis Avdalas was just 1-9. The bench only took 5 shots and 4 of those were by former Blue Devil Jaden Schutt, who was 2-4 on his threes.
Duke would have completely crushed the Hokies except for a couple of things: first, Hansberry’s excellent game. Second, there were several occasions where Duke stole the ball or picked up a loose ball and Virginia Tech got it right back. We don’t have a number on that, but it happened probably 3-4 times and that’s a lot of potential points lost. On one, the Hokies got a three out of it.
Third, while Isaiah Evans played well overall, he shot 0-4 from deep.
A lot of that was canceled out by Duke’s defense, and a lot was canceled out by Duke’s inside game.
Cameron Boozer was again superb. He finished with 24 points on 9-12/2-3 shooting and had 8 rebounds. He also had 5 assists and unfortunately 4 turnovers. If there is a chink in his game, it’s turnovers. In the three games prior to this one, he had 0 against Stanford, 1 against Wake and 2 against Louisville, but he’s had 7 games with 3 or more. The rest of his game trumps that and he tends to make smart plays when things are tight, but it can be a flaw in his game.
Patrick Ngongba and Maliq Brown helped Duke’s inside dominance. Ngongba was 4-7/1-2 while Brown finished shooting 5-10/1-4. Brown is one of the smartest players in the country and a quiet key to Duke’s success. He first got on our radar when he came to Duke with Syracuse and had a brilliant game, scoring 26 points on 11-16 from the floor. Clearly he’s capable of scoring more but his role with this team focuses on defense. However, he can still score and that was needed Saturday, so he did it. Guys like that are not really fully appreciated until they’re gone. Great game by Brown.
Those guys dominated the inside and that really helped Duke, but so did Evans. Of his six baskets, four were in the lane. He’s still slim, but there was not a chance last season that he could have hit that many shots around the basket. It just couldn’t have happened.
The bigger story isn’t the offense though. It’s really two things. First, it’s Duke’s defense really clamping down on a very good Virginia Tech team that’s very likely to be in the NCAA tournament.
This team is no joke. Lawal is really talented, Hammond can heat up and we saw Bedford get on a bit of a second-half heater. If you don’t think this team could have pulled off the comeback, think again. Virginia Tech is very talented. We’re not sure what’s up with Avadalis, but he’s a really skilled player who might be struggling with his confidence right now. He’s a legit NBA prospect, even if he didn’t always look like it Saturday afternoon.
The second story that can’t be overlooked here is Duke’s heart. With Sarr basically out of the picture and Foster less than 100%, and playing in an arena that we respect immensely, this was not an easy win. Duke controlled the game from start to finish, but they had to work hard and guys had to step up. Everyone did. Khamenia and Cayden Boozer didn’t have flashy stats, but they did their jobs. And the bigs controlled the inside.
Duke never really let Virginia Tech get in a position where they could fully come back. This game was a stress test that Duke answered beautifully, and it will pay dividends later.
Notes – Boozer had 13 second half points including 5 late that closed the door on the Hokies…Duke only had 8 turnovers, including Boozer’s 4…Lawal’s dunk was breathtaking but he only scored 4 points…Hammond played all 40 minutes…Cameron Boozer played 37…Cayden has repeatedly showed lately that he can drive the lane and score, especially when he’s guarded by a smaller guy…he always exploits the mismatch…Evans had 0 rebounds and 0 assists….Foster had 7 rebounds…
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