BLACKSBURG, Va. — Up five points with just six minutes remaining after senior Nolan Smith sliced into the lane and finished with ease, it seemed Duke was ready to close out the game and pick up a vital conference win away from home.
Instead, the Blue Devils went ice cold from the floor over the last five minutes of play, shooting just 2-for-10, while Virginia Tech rode a 14-5 run to one of its biggest wins in program history. In the process, another sub-40 percent shooting night doomed Duke to its second loss of the season as the nation’s No. 1 team.
“We had our opportunities to win this game and to nail it, but you’ve got to put the ball in the basket,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Saturday’s loss in Blacksburg will be remembered for Malcolm Delaney’s dagger 3-pointer that put the Hokies up five with two minutes remaining, but the Blue Devils had myriad chances to produce a game-winning bucket themselves. Both Smith and Singler missed open 3-pointers in the waning minutes, and sophomore Andre Dawkins launched an ill-advised 3-pointer from deep behind the arc early in the shot clock with 1:49 left that clanged against the front of the rim.
“We were trying to go for a shot to put them away, but couldn’t knock them down,” Smith said. “We missed [shots], and they were able to find their offense and get going.”
In all, Duke shot just 20 percent from long range, and those long rebounds helped spark a rejuvenated Hokies’ transition offense. The duo of Jeff Allen and Victor Davila accounted for 25 rebounds on the night and always looked to outlet the ball quickly. Subsequently, Virginia Tech torched the Blue Devils for 15 points on the fast break.
Even so, Duke still had the opportunities to take control of the game behind a stifling defense, but Singler and Smith simply couldn’t pull the Blue Devils out of their game-long shooting funk.
After Davila’s putback dunk ignited the Cassell Coliseum crowd and trimmed the Duke lead to three, Smith tried to take the game into his own hands on offense, but his driving lay-up on the ensuing possession drew iron. It enabled a transition 3-pointer from Terrell Bell that tied the game.
Smith missed another 3-pointer on the next trip down the court, before a well-guarded Singler threw up an off-balance jumper from just inside the arc that never came close.
“They just didn’t go in,” a dejected Singler said post-game. The senior shot just 6-of-19 for the game, including 1-for-7 from long-range.
Duke’s third and fourth options on the perimeter in the contest, Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly, didn’t fare much better. Kelly went 0-for-4 from long range and was bullied by Allen in the post defensively, while Curry was forced to the bench with foul trouble and only managed two shots in the entire game—both of which missed.
“I thought overall our guys played really well. We didn’t shoot well,” Krzyzewski said. “They played good defense, but we still had some real makeable shots.... Our offense let us down.”
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