Hot start leads Duke basketball past Virginia Tech

It started and finished like an easy victory, but the Blue Devils took a turbulent road to get there.

Despite jumping out to a 24-4 lead in the first 10 minutes of the contest, No. 6 Duke had to scratch and claw its way past a resilient Virginia Tech squad Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils ultimately overcame the Hokies' comeback attempt and prevailed 66-48 to cap off a grueling stretch of five games in 11 days.

"When you get off to that lead... sometimes, that's bad," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I'll take it all the time and just deal with the consequences, but you let up a little bit because you think it's going to be easy. But the reason we had that lead is because we played so hard. I mean we were playing great basketball, and then we let up, and they never stopped."

Virginia Tech (9-18, 2-13 in the ACC) attempted to stifle Duke's offense with a 2-3 zone, but the Hokies' defense lacked the same intensity that Jim Boeheim's Syracuse squad brought to Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday night. Redshirt sophomore Rodney Hood made Virginia Tech pay, attacking the center of the zone and using his soft shooting touch to knock down jumpers from the elbow. The Meridian, Miss., native led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting.

Virginia Tech had no problem looking like the conference's last-place team in the early-going. Even as they struggled to hit from beyond the arc, the Blue Devils (23-6, 12-4) forced early turnovers and dominated the glass to jump out to a 15-2 lead just 4:24 into the contest. Although Duke had it clicking on all cylinders at that point, the large advantage came more in part due to the intensity of the team's ball pressure than its offensive efficiency.

The rout appeared to be on as Duke extended its lead to 20 points with a 9-0 run, but seven straight points from forward C.J. Barksdale helped to keep the game within reach.

"We just lost a lot of the energy we had, with the first group giving us all of that defense," freshman forward Jabari Parker said. "It allowed them to score and catch up, and it ruined our run."

"It's kind of like... getting that last bit of toothpaste out. Even though you've got two full containers, you want to get that last little bit." —Mike Krzyzewski

The Blue Devils' shooting went silent down the stretch in the first half as Virginia Tech outscored Duke 16-8 in the final 9:50 of the half to head into the locker room trailing 32-20.

The Hokies were able to threaten Duke's lead early in the second half, hitting four consecutive shots from the floor to pull within single digits at 34-27. Krzyzewski, frustrated with his team's lack of defensive intensity, called a timeout.

"We can't relax," Hood said. "We didn't have the same mindset we had against Syracuse. That's not how Duke teams play. We can't come in and think... we're just going to blow them out."

But that was the closest Virginia Tech would get for the remainder of the contest. Sophomore Rasheed Sulaimon stroked a 3-pointer to push the Blue Devils' advantage back to double digits. He added another triple less than three minutes later to help put the momentum squarely back in Duke's corner.

"That was big to get the crowd into it, get another stop and help each other out on the defensive end," Hood said of Sulaimon's triples. "I think the second half we started out poor."

Closing out a stretch of five games in 11 days allowed Krzyzewski to be more content with his team's deficiencies in an 18-point victory. The Hall of Fame coach said he was simply trying to get as much as he could out of his tired squad.

"It's kind of like... getting that last bit of toothpaste out," Krzyzewski said. "Even though you've got two full containers, you want to get that last little bit. Today was kind of, 'Let's get it out there.'"

With a full eight days off before returning to action against Wake Forest, the Blue Devils will get more than just some much-needed rest. For the first time in two weeks, Duke will get to focus on itself rather than its next opponent.

"We need to get away a little bit," Krzyzewski said. "We need to review our stuff instead of always planning for someone else's stuff.... Our team really needs this break from games."