No. 5 Blue Devils stuff Hokies

DURHAM, N.C. — The game turned on a timeout. No. 5 Duke responded, and Virginia Tech crumbled.
The Hokies, who cut the Blue Devils’ lead to four early in the second half, scored only nine points in the final 17:23 in suffering their worst loss of the season, 69-44, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Tech guard Malcolm Delaney and center Cheick Diakite scored back-to-back buckets to start the second half to make the score 39-35. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called a timeout to regroup his players.
The Blue Devils (12-1, 1-0 ACC) ended the game on a 30-9 run to hand Tech (9-5, 0-1) its worst loss since falling 92-53 last Feb. 16 at North Carolina.
“They come out of the timeout and just kicked our tails on the backboards and got extra possessions and it snowballed from there,” Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. “The game was over after his timeout. Their guys responded and our guys didn’t. It was that simple.”
It was Tech’s lowest scoring output since Jan. 29, 2000, when it lost 49-41 at home against Massachusetts.
Delaney and forwards A.D. Vassallo and Jeff Allen, who averaged a cumulative 50.6 points per game entering the contest, combined to score only 28 against the Blue Devils. They attempted only eight total shots in the second half.
“(The second half was) the best half (of defense we played this season),” Krzyzewski said. “To hold someone to 13 points who’s good — they came in 9-4 but could have been 12-1 — they’re a good team.
“I think they’re a really good basketball team, so we just played very well on the defensive end of the court and executed pretty well offensively.”
For the first time in at least the last two seasons, the Hokies were held to only one 3-pointer.
“The shots weren’t falling, but I think we had better opportunities driving more,” said Delaney, who scored 12 points. “Usually, we shoot more 3s, but I think we had more opportunities (inside).”
Tech fell to 1-4 all-time in ACC openers and 0-3 when opening on the road.
It returns to Cassell Coliseum Saturday to play in-state rival Virginia. It has three straight home games after spending the previous 27 days on the road.
The Hokies missed their first nine field goals and fell into an 11-0 hole.
“I knew we had to get off to a good start to have a good chance to win,” Delaney said. “We didn’t get off to a good start. I think we’ve got to find where we’re good at and start off doing that, and we’ll be fine.”
Tech bounced back and out-scored the Blue Devils 31-28 in the final 16:12 of the first half.
It was aggressive to start the second half, but after Coach K’s timeout, Duke regained control.
“We were just reacting to them more (after the timeout). Their defense wasn’t that good, especially at the guard position,” Delaney said.
“I felt we could attack them the whole game, and I think the second half, after we went on that 4-0 road and we kind of went away from it, we started reacting to them more. I think we just got out of what we were doing good and we started responded to them.”
Tech was able to bounce back from last year’s 39-point loss at UNC by winning seven of its last 10 games.
It’s hoping this loss, in front of a hostile crowd, could be the same kind of learning experience for an ACC season that’s only one game old.
“(This loss) just happened a little earlier,” said Allen, who scored nine points.
Said Greenberg: “There’s no magic dust. It’s a process. It’s one league game. If you overreact to one league game on the road in this league, you’re a village idiot. You’re going to play 16 games. There are other people who are going to come in here and lose games.”