Despite Duke’s debacle at North Carolina State Wednesday night, the team still has a chance to win the ACC regular season crown.
To keep that opportunity alive, however, the sixth-ranked Blue Devils will have to regroup quickly before taking on Virginia Tech Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
One of the key ingredients to the loss in Raleigh was yet another Duke slow start, a characteristic many still attribute to the youth of this Blue Devil squad. But according to sophomore co-captain Tre Jones, the team is at a point in the year in which youth should no longer be a factor.
“We’ve played in a lot of games now,” Jones said. “We got to come out ready. No more excuses this deep into the season. We got to put this behind us...and not do it anymore.”
Last season, the Hokies (15-11, 6-9 in the ACC) proved to be one of the biggest problems for an otherwise dominant Duke team. The Zion-less Blue Devils fell by five in Blacksburg, Va. during the regular season before barely escaping with a two-point win against Virginia Tech in the Sweet Sixteen.
But this season brings an entirely different Hokie squad. Head coach Buzz Williams fled for Texas A&M, leading scorer Nickeil Alexander-Walker left for the NBA and star center Kerry Blackshear Jr. transferred to Florida, and that’s not even all.
In the end, Virginia Tech lost all of its top five scorers from last season, leading to a team that finished 2018-19 fifth in the ACC to receive a second-to-last prediction by the media heading into the 2019-20 campaign.
Against all odds, the Hokies began to prove all the doubters wrong en route to a 13-4 start, a stretch that included a win against then-No. 3 Michigan State. But Virginia Tech is just 2-7 over its last nine games, falling to 11th in the conference standings.
The last time Duke (22-4, 12-3) and the Hokies faced off was in Blacksburg, Va., in December, a 77-63 win in the Blue Devils’ favor. But Virginia Tech did shoot out to a 20-8 advantage over the first eight minutes, a lead that lasted all the way until there were 14 minutes left in the game.
Although it’s more so been a problem away from home, that lack of urgency has been a problem for Duke all year. If head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s squad wants to avoid an upset Saturday, a strong start will be key.
“[N.C. State was] just at a different level of competitiveness,” Krzyzewski said following his team’s latest slow start Wednesday. “Not even taking us out. In order to take us out, we would have had to be in. So we weren’t in to be taken out. I’m not trying to be funny…. We were never there, and that’s on all of us.”
Another key to avoiding a second consecutive upset loss will be stopping guard Landers Nolley II, who leads the Hokies with 17.3 points per game. Jones and Jordan Goldwire did a great job of containing Nolley in the teams’ first matchup, limiting the freshman to seven points on 3-of-7 shooting.
But the duo really struggled on the defensive end Wednesday, giving up a combined 53 points to Wolfpack guards Markell Johnson and Devon Daniels.
Overall, if Louisville loses just one of its four remaining contests, the Blue Devils still control their own destiny for their first outright ACC regular season crown since 2006. And even if the Cardinals win out, Duke still has a very realistic shot at its first shared title since 2010.
But to do that, Duke will need to remain focused over its final five contests, especially in the early stages of each one.
“We can’t come out and keep putting ourselves in such big holes early,” senior captain Javin DeLaurier said. “The teams that we play are really good, and having to battle back like that takes a lot out of us. So we got to do a better job of starting the game.”
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