Virginia Tech shocks Duke in ACC final
Duke was unable to finish with the ACC Tournament title on Saturday, losing to Virginia Tech 82-67.
Let’s start with the obvious: Virginia Tech was phenomenal. The result was a decisive 82-67 victory over Duke to take home the ACC Tournament championship title.
The Hokies looked like world beaters on Saturday night, putting together as impressive of a performance as they’ve had all season long. Duke countered with a subpar effort, particularly on defense — something that has been an issue over the last four games.
We will come back to that in a moment.
But first, a tip of the hat must go to the Hokies, who won four games in four days — dropping North Carolina and then Duke in a convincing fashion. Their best two games of the tournament came in their final two. In most cases, the conversation at this point would be centered on fatigue and how it ultimately caught up with the lower seeded team.
But this time, it’s not. Instead, discussions will be highlighted by Virginia Tech’s focus, and drive to be champions.
“Those kids deserved (to win) — they played lights out basketball and have played lights out basketball in order to put themselves in the position,” Mike Krzyzewski said. “Look, they were 2-7 at one time in our conference. In my profession, I respect the other guy. And they deserve the utmost respect.
“We got beat by some really good competitors tonight — some really good basketball players.”
Competitors is a key word for the Hokies success on Saturday. The eye test said Virginia Tech wanted this game more. Krzyzewski does not agree with that notion, or at least his postgame comments would indicate that to be true.
Krzyzewski stated that his “kids fought like crazy.” He said they played hard.
To combat that and say the Blue Devils did not bring any fight or didn’t play hard at all would undoubtedly be unfair. They did fight. We saw it out of the gates when the team’s were running at a torrid pace with neither failing to miss shots.
Duke did have a will to win. After all, the Blue Devils trailed by just three points at halftime after the Hokies shot 56.7% from the floor and an incredible 70% from 3-point range. In most instances, if a team allows its opponent to make 7-of-10 3-pointers in a single half, chances are the scoreboard will be lopsided.
It wasn’t. That’s because Duke fought. They showed heart. They were not prepared to roll over and quit.
The general argument from most was the same level of fight did not appear present in the second half. And in order to beat a team that’s playing so well, that desire to be champions has to be at a maxed out point. The more Duke failed to capitalize on opportunities, the more frustrated this team appeared to get. Consequently, that fight seemed to be taking a hit.
Their confidence was no doubt under attack. It was evidenced in Virginia Tech’s ability to go win the battles for 50-50 balls, and ultimately dominate the backboards. As the game progressed into the second half, Duke was not strong on the glass, nor was the team aggressive in its attempt to complete the defensive exchange.
Virginia Tech finished the night with 13 offensive rebounds, which they converted into 15 second chance points. On the opposite end of the court, Duke grabbed just four offensive rebounds of their own, resulting in just seven second chance points.
Those statistics, along with Duke’s 10 turnovers (which Virginia Tech turned into 16 points) ultimately led to 15 more shot attempts for the Hokies. And for a team that shot 50% from the field, and 45.5% from 3-point range, that’s a significant number.
So, did Duke play hard? Did they fight? It’s hard to argue that they didn’t. It’s also difficult to argue that they matched Virginia Tech’s drive.
“Obviously it’s extremely disappointing,” Wendell Moore Jr. said. “We came here to win a championship. We fell short of our goal. At the end of the day I’m proud of our guys with the way we fought.”
Fair enough.
So let’s examine this game: Where did things go wrong for the Blue Devils?
Offensively, Duke came out on fire — just as Virginia Tech did. By the first media timeout both teams were shooting 83.3% from the floor. Duke was doing it by attacking the basket, while the Hokies were burying 3-pointer after 3-pointer.
The Blue Devils seemed to be on top of their game. Unlike their previous two games, Duke was moving the ball and working through the post. In fact, the Blue Devils didn’t attempt their first 3-pointer until the 14:32 mark of the first half when Jeremy Roach drilled one out of the first media timeout.
Duke’s plan was clear and it looked to be working. Inside-out. Attack with balance. It worked for most of the first half, which is why the Blue Devils kept things close despite the Hokies prowess from long range.
Six players scored for the Blue Devils in the first half, with Paolo Banhcero posting 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, AJ Griffin eight points on 3-of-6 and both Moore and Mark Williams adding six points.
The problem, however, was their defense. For the most part, it was as bad as the offense was good. And Virginia Tech took full advantage. Moore specifically, Hunter Cattoor took full advantage.
The Hokies’ sharpshooter scored 17 first half points, making 4-of-4 from 3-point range. He never really let up the entire game, finishing with 31 points and making 7-of-9 from 3. Cattoor wasn’t alone in the first half, though, as Keve Aluma posted 11 of his 19 points.
Duke’s defense had no answer for either. Virginia Tech was using ball screens to perfection. Cattoor was running off the screens and moving off the ball in ways that were reminiscent of J.J. Redick. And Duke could seemingly never find him.
And he made them pay.
Krzyzewski compared Cattoor’s play to someone else.
“He had a Klay Thompson night,” he said. “Try to figure out how long did he have the ball to score 31 points. He moves so well. He moves as well without the ball as anyone in our conference that I’ve seen this year.”
Trevor Keels added his thoughts about Cattoor’s play.
“Hunter is a great player. He really leads them. He gets hot — he’s a great shooter. He was running off a lot of down screens. I think our communication was a little off. I think we fought through some of them, but again he made some tough shots. That’s what big time players do, so you’ve got to give him all the credit for it.”
He was outstanding all game long. So too was Aluma, who made 6 of 8 shots, and 6 of 9 free throws to give the Hokies their second double digit scorer. He also added 10 rebounds and seven assists. Storm Murphy was also stellar for Virginia Tech, posting nine points and six assists.
His statistics don’t jump off the page, but the manner in which he controlled the offense was stellar.
Krzyzewski praised Murphy following the game, stating, “it really starts with the energy that Murphy gives them, and the leadership that he gives them.”
Clearly, the message is Virginia Tech was really good — and anyone that watched the game knows it to be true.
But the question still remains: Where did it all go wrong defensively? Keels touched on it when he said their communication was a little off. Moore elaborated.
“I think our communication has been off,” Moore said of Duke’s defense as of late. “I definitely feel like the effort is there from all of our guys. We’re a little later in our talk. A little later on the switches. That’s all little things we can cleanup.”
For this game specifically, Duke needed to slow down the 3-point shot. They didn’t in the first half, allowing the 70%. They did a better job in the second, holding Virginia Tech to just 3-of-12 from long range.
Krzyzewski noted the game plan.
“The scouting — the first line is “no threes.” So when you go 4-4, all the sudden the scouting report’s not — we haven’t followed the scouting report,” he said. “But they have such good movement. And when you’re going against incredible movement, you have to have incredible talk. And that’s the toughest thing to teach a young team defensively is constant communication so that you have a coordinated effort. If you don’t do it, boom, they’ve got something.
“Mike (Young) is such a good coach. Their offense is very precise.”
As mentioned, Duke did have moments where they were better on defense in the second half. In fact, the Hokies did have a stretch where they were just 1-of-8 shooting in the second half. Duke could not sustain that throughout, but they had their moments. This stretch in particular was a prime opportunity to get back into the game.
The Hokies struggles began at the 13:53 mark of the second half when Darius Maddox missed a jumper after a Duke turnover. Over the next five seconds, Virginia Tech would miss two more shots. At the time, Virginia Tech led 57-49.
Duke did appear ready to take advantage when Banchero scored on a layup 21 seconds later to cut the lead to six. The freshman was fouled on the play, but he failed to complete the three point play.
Forty-six seconds later, the Hokies’ David N’guessan converted a second chance layup to push the lead back to eight. But then Virginia Tech opens the door again for Duke, missing three straight shots. In the midst of that, Duke also missed four open looks from 3-point range.
Moore eventually made the fifth try and did cut the lead to 59-54 with 10:48 to go. After that, it was all Virginia Tech. Gradually, Duke seemed to struggle more and more with confidence and focus.
The Blue Devils made just 9-of-23 shots in the second half, including 2-of-12 from 3-point range. After a hot, consistent first half, Duke’s offense failed them in the second. It squandered away opportunities, and the defense suffered in return.
“I thought our offense was good,” Krzyzewski said. “We just didn’t hit shots. We couldn’t stop them. When you don’t hit shots you don’t look like you’re running good offense. But we got, even down 10, we got two threes that are in and out. Missed four free throws. I don’t have a problem with our offense. We couldn’t stop them. That was the game.”