After a ten-day break, scoring was hard to come by in the first 10 minutes for both No. 4 Duke (11-2) and Virginia Tech (5-8), but the Blue Devils took over and routed the Hokies 88-65.
A quarter way through, neither team had built more than a two-point lead all game. However, Duke started knocking down shots and went on a 17-2 run to turn an 16-14 deficit with 8:09 remaining into a 31-18 lead with 4:19 to go in the first half.
To anyone watching the game, Duke’s run should have been very unsurprising. The Blue Devils had gotten virtually any shot they wanted, but were failing to knock down open three pointers. There was a stage where Cooper Flagg, a 25% three-point shooter on the year, was 2/3 from long range while the rest of the team was 0/9. Virginia Tech, meanwhile, had less trouble knocking down open shots and more trouble generating them. It seemed as if every play was a contested jump shot to beat the shot clock.
Duke brought in the sixth ranked defense in the country based on defensive rating and their defense showed out against the Hokies.
“They have one of the best defensive teams I’ve played against in my six years,” said Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young.
This is not a statement to take lightly given the level of play throughout the ACC year in and year out, and the many elite defenses Young has gone up against including some Tony Bennett-led Virginia teams.
In each of his first two seasons, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer has captained a better defense than offense, and this trend remains true so far in year three. The Blue Devils showed man-to-man full court pressure off of every make and used their length and athleticism to play beautiful help and recover defense all night long.
Their defensive intensity also forced 12 Virginia Tech turnovers; a number that doesn’t seem all that large, but led directly to 18 points off turnovers. Multiple times, Hokie turnovers led to fast break slams, setting off the Cameron Crazies and shifting the momentum heavily in Duke’s favor.
“You can’t shoot yourself in the foot like that,” Young said of Virginia Tech’s turnovers.
While Duke’s defense was nothing short of masterful, the true story of the night was the performance of the potential number one pick Cooper Flagg.
Flagg showed off his two-way talents with 24 points on 9/14 shooting as well as four steals. Just as impressive was his playmaking, which he showcased with a team-high six assists. While Tyrese Proctor is listed as Duke’s point guard, they seem to take on the responsibility by committee, and Flagg has showcased his point forward skillset.
“He’s a savant of the game,” Scheyer said of Flagg. “(He knows how to) elevate everyone around him.”
Flagg’s unselfish nature seems to have made it’s way to the rest of the team. Duke assisted on 19 of it’s 31 made field goals. The ball wasn’t sticking as it did at times early in the season, and there were multiple instances of beautiful one more passes, where players such as
Flagg would give up a good shot for a great shot.
Despite the loss, Virginia Tech got great contributions from freak athlete Tobi Lawal, who was notably in foul trouble on the bench during Duke’s 17-2 run in the first half. Lawal finished with 19 points and a career-high three triples in just 22 minutes of action.
Athletically, Lawal is the lone Hokie that could reasonably share the floor with talents such as Flagg, South Sudan Olympian Khaman Maluach and hustle rebounder Sion James (10 points, 11 rebounds). But his three-point shooting performance tonight was one of the most encouraging parts of his game, leading to high praise from Mike Young afterwards.
“He seems to be more assertive,” Young said of Lawal. “He’s really worked on his three point shooting; it’s good to see him get a couple down."
As everyone already knew, Duke is far superior to Virginia Tech. They out-rebounded them, out-shot them, out-defended them, out-talented them and won just about any other metric you can think of.
In a weaker ACC than normal, Duke’s most difficult games are behind them, and they will likely roll through conference play just as they have against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech in the last 10 days. As Scheyer mentioned post-game, this team is young and will get better with time. Cooper Flagg just turned 18 on December 21st and already looks like one of the best players in the country.
“He’s only going to be here another three months then he’s going to go on and do well for himself,” Young said of Flagg. “He's a wonderful basketball player; he makes the right plays.”
Flagg and the rest of the Blue Devils travel to Texas to take on a new conference foe in the SMU Mustangs on January 4th.
Virginia Tech returns to Cassell Coliseum on January 4th to take on the ACC’s most disappointing team in the Miami Hurricanes. Miami will be navigating the rest of their season without legendary coach Jim Larranaga, who just stepped down from being the Hurricanes' head coach. For the Hokies, this should be a much better opportunity to get in the win column early in ACC play.
