A month ago, a mediocre Virginia Tech team lacking quality wins didn’t look like an ACC contender.
That’s not the case anymore. In a conference season that has been full of surprises, the Hokies have become the ACC’s most unlikely success story. Virginia Tech (21-4, 8-3 in the ACC) has been right on the brink of an NCAA Tournament bid the last several years, but the Hokies are currently in second place in the conference—unfamiliar territory for a team still considered to be on the NCAA bubble by many experts. With a win over No. 6 Duke Sunday at 7:45 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Virginia Tech could seal that place in the field of 65.
The Hokies lost their ACC opener, a sloppy game against North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Jan. 10. Since then, though, the boys from Blacksburg have reeled off a series of exhilarating victories, including late-game comebacks against Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., and, most recently, Wake Forest at home.
Tuesday night, the Hokies trailed the Demon Deacons by 11 with 12 minutes to go before mounting a massive comeback to earn the win and stay perfect at home this season.
“It was a great win for our basketball team,” Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said. “Our reward is now we get a chance to go to Durham.”
Of course, visiting Durham has been anything but a reward for visitors in the recent past. Duke (22-4, 10-2) has not lost a home game to anybody but North Carolina the last three seasons, and nobody has played the Blue Devils closer than nine points at home this year.
“We really want to protect our home court,” senior Jon Scheyer said after Duke’s last home game, a 21-point pasting of Maryland last weekend. “Outside of my freshman year, we’ve done that pretty much since I’ve been here. This year, as an older, veteran group, you really feel that much more pride and wanting to not lose at home. I think we’ve done a better job of handling the game situation at home than away from Cameron just because it’s a little easier to communicate.”
To stay undefeated in Cameron, the Blue Devils will have to be wary of Virginia Tech guard Malcolm Delaney, the ACC’s leading scorer at 20.2 points per game. Delaney is a good shooter, but he is most effective slashing to the basket and drawing fouls. The junior has already attempted nearly 200 free throws this season for an average of over eight per game.
And yet, Duke should be able to survive another 20-point outing from Delaney if it can handle Virginia Tech’s swarming defense, the second-best scoring defense in the conference at 62 points per game.
The Duke offense hasn’t always played to its potential, as it showed Wednesday against Miami. The Blue Devils shot the ball extremely well in the second half and were able to break down the Hurricane zone to get easy looks. But in the first period, Duke turned the ball over 10 times and barely shot 30 percent from the field. Not surprisingly, the Blue Devils trailed by 12 at the break.
“[Miami’s] zone definitely threw us off, and a lot of that I feel was us not being aggressive against it [and] being hesitant on shots,” junior Nolan Smith said. “And in the second half we were able to adjust.”
Late-game adjustments were key for Duke Wednesday, and they have been a hallmark of Virginia Tech’s season. Only one of those teams, though, can make the right adjustments Sunday in Cameron to push closer to an ACC regular-season title.
Correction: This article and the accompanying caption originally contained an error about Duke's margin of victory in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils' closest win at home came by nine against St. John's, and Duke's closest ACC win came by 14 against Florida State.
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