BLACKSBURG, Va. — Stepping on to the Cassell Coliseum court Saturday night, Seth Curry probably couldn’t help but feel a little odd.
As a lifelong Virginia Tech fan, and son of legendary Hokie Dell Curry, the redshirt sophomore now stood wearing a Duke jersey in hostile territory. And after shooting 50 percent from behind the arc in his last five games before Saturday, Curry was in the perfect position to try and live up to his father’s reputation.
But less than a minute into the game, Seth already had one foul, and by the end of the night, he had fouled out in fifteen minutes of play while shooting 0-for-2. His troubles mirrored Duke’s own, as the No. 1 Blue Devils (26-3, 12-2 in the ACC) shot 39.7 percent en route to a 64-60 loss to Virginia Tech (19-8, 9-5).
“He had a tough night with all the fouls, but Tyler [Thornton] and Andre [Dawkins] came in, and they did a good job,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “It didn’t stop us from getting open looks, [but] maybe he could have knocked down a few.”
Curry wasn’t the only one with shooting woes Saturday night. Even Kyle Singler, who led the team with 22 points and 12 rebounds, shot 1-for-7 from behind the 3-point line and went 6-for-19 overall.
“We had a couple real wide-open looks, and we didn’t knock them down,” Krzyzewski said. “Our defense was really very good. Our offense let us down, but I’m not going to fault any of our guys for missing shots. They’re disappointed, and I’m disappointed for them.”
Duke trailed Virginia Tech for most of the first half but did succeed in containing Hokie guard Malcolm Delaney, the conference’s second-leading scorer. Delaney ended the half shooting 1-for-4 from the field and grabbing two rebounds.
And aided by strong defensive play against Virginia Tech’s perimeter players as well as effective inside blocking by Duke’s big men, the Blue Devils surged to a six-point lead with 11:10 remaining in the second half.
In the last five minutes, however, the Hokies took the lead and never looked back, helped by a quick five points from Terrell Bell, a layup and two foul shots from Jeff Allen and a shot from behind the arc from Delaney. The senior—who has never gone to the NCAA Tournament—sank the three with just over two minutes remaining and ended the night with 11 points and 7 rebounds.
“He was my assignment, and even I gave him a three late at the end that he hit,” Smith said. “They won the game.”
The last two minutes saw the Blue Devils only make 1-of-5 shots from the field. Messy passing outside the perimeter—and a failed last possession that ended in a Curry turnover—also marked the last few Duke possessions.
“When you’re playing a little bit better than the other team, you have to change the score in your favor,” Krzyzewski said. “You don’t get points for just playing a little bit better…. Virginia Tech put the ball in the basket.”
Helping the Hokies take the win was their presence in the post and offensive rebounding, which translated into multiple second-chance opportunities. Virginia Tech outrebounded Duke 44-38 and had 16 offensive rebounds to the Blue Devils’ 9.
“They had a lot of second chance points in the last five minutes of the game that hurt us,” Singler said. “That’s why they got back into the game. We just gave up a lot of offensive rebounds to them.”
Despite the loss and the disappointment—as well as a fall from the No. 1 spot in the country—Krzyzewski said it was a good game against a good team.
“It was a heck of a basketball game…. Both teams played very well, and there weren’t a lot of mistakes,” he said. “I thought we played winning basketball, but it was a game they won. It was like an NCAA game… it was that level.”
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