DURHAM, N.C. – Looking to defeat No. 6/6 Duke for the third time in their last five meetings, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team could not get it done against the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday night, falling by a score of 88-64.
The Hokies (15-12, 6-10 ACC), with hopes of bouncing back from its three-overtime loss on Wednesday, stumbled against Duke (23-4, 13-3) for the second time this season. The Blue Devils have now defeated Tech eight straight times in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
On the offensive side, redshirt freshman Tyrece Radford was a bright spot for the Hokies, as he scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed a team-best nine boards. Sophomore Isaiah Wilkins (11 points) and guard Hunter Cattoor (10 points) each put together double-digit scoring performances despite the loss.
For the Blue Devils, guard Cassius Stanley recorded 21 points with five 3s, while the two big men – Matthew Hurt and Vernon Carey – both scored 16 points and had a combined 19 rebounds. Duke nailed 11 3s and shot 42 percent from behind the arc.
The story was in the paint as Duke outrebounded Tech 49-31 and outscored the Hokies in paint points 30-26. The Blue Devils recorded nine blocks, which is the most an opponent has had against Tech this season.
THE GAME
Duke came out the gate hot with sophomore Tre Jones nailing two triples followed by Carey finishing a lay-in and Stanley hitting from deep to take an 11-2 early lead.
With 3:20 to go in the first half freshman, Jalen Cone drilled a 3-pointer followed by a jumper from Radford to cut into the lead. Duke would close the half on a 5-0 run going into the break leading 51-25.
With just under 14 minutes in the second half, Cattoor and guard Wabissa Bede each hit from downtown, cutting into the Blue Devil lead and making the score 64-39. Duke responded with five straight points to bring its lead to 69-39.
With 8:11 left in action, Cattoor scored seven consecutive points by himself to cut into the deficit and make the score 71-50 with Duke on top. Tech outscored Duke 39-37 in the second half.
QUOTING MIKE YOUNG
Opening statement:
"I just told my team the same thing I'll tell you," Tech coach Mike Young said. "They were, obviously, very ready to go. My team was ready to go. They played an awfully fine basketball game, and that's about all that needs to be said, I think. They blitzed us early and often. They were better, obviously. They were that good, and I didn't think we were awful in spurts, they were just flat out better than my team on this particular evening."
On Duke's Vernon Carey's ability to stretch the floor:
"What am I going do here," Young said. "We've seen quite a few games, here, recently of Duke. He's that talented, to step out there and make that ball. That's credit to him and the work that he's put in. A very, very good college basketball player and he'll do it for a long time."
NOTES
- Radford led Tech in scoring for the fifth time this season with 16 points and reached double figures for the 12th time this year. Radford was also one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards.
- Wilkins scored 11 points, which was the first time Wilkins got to double-figures since the VMI game on Dec. 21. Wilkins also tied a season-high six rebounds.
- Cattoor scored 10 points and notched his eighth double-digit performance this season.
- The Hokies bench outscored Duke bench 33-27. This marks the seventh game Tech's bench has scored 30 or more points.
- Ojiako scored six points for the second straight game. Ojiako has 19 rebounds over his last three games, averaging 6.3 rebounds per game.
UP NEXT
The Hokies will host [RV/RV] Virginia (19-7, 11-5) on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. ET at Cassell Coliseum on ESPN2.
Gallery: (2/22/2020) 2020 MEN'S BASKETBALL at DUKE