Duke crushes Hokies in N.C.
AP Photo/Sara D. Davis
Duke’s Gerald Henderson drives into Virginia’s Tech’s A.D. Vassallo, right. Duke won 69-44.
Related Info
| NEXT GAME |
| U.Va. at Virginia Tech Saturday:4 p.m. |
The success of Virginia Tech's season hinges on one thing: whether the Hokies make the NCAA tournament.
Last night's 69-44 loss at Duke -- during which the Hokies barely showed up in the second half -- certainly doesn't exclude them from the field of 65. But they can ill afford to miss more opportunities for quality wins.
They missed badly in their ACC opener last night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Despite the disheartening final margin for the Hokies, they contended briefly, though it proved a tease. They cut Duke's lead to 39-35 with 17:30 left in the game. Then Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski called a timeout, and his team answered with a 30-9 run to finish the game.
"The game was over after his timeout," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "Their guys responded. Our guys didn't. It's that simple."
The Hokies (0-1 ACC, 9-5) disappeared offensively in the second half. They scored 13 points. Their 44 points were their fewest since a 49-41 loss to Massachusetts on Jan. 29, 2000. Leading scorer A.D. Vassallo shot 0 of 3 from the field and did not score for the game's final 25:18. Forward Jeff Allen, Tech's third-leading scorer, had one point in the final 23:11.
Greenberg's review of the Hokies' second-half offense: "Inept at best. That's probably giving it a compliment."
Such a grim showing would have made it difficult for the Hokies to beat anybody, let alone the nation's fifth-ranked team. Tech point guard Malcolm Delaney attributed the offensive meltdown -- the Hokies shot 6 of 18 after halftime -- not to Duke's defense but to Tech becoming tentative and driving to the basket too infrequently. But he couldn't pinpoint why it happened.
"Their defense wasn't that good, especially at the guard position," he said. "I felt like we could attack them the whole game. We stopped being aggressive."
Even before last night, the Hokies needed to improve significantly in the conference portion of their schedule if they wanted to make the NCAAs. They narrowly missed it last season and lost just one starter from that team, though there is no doubt they dearly miss Deron Washington's energy and defensive disruption.
Still, observers and Tech players figured, at least before the season, that the Hokies would seriously contend for an NCAA bid -- which still remains plausible. But to fulfill those expectations, will they have to finish 10-6 in the league? Or will 9-7 get them in, provided they earned enough quality wins?
They failed to strengthen their tournament résumé during their nonconference games. They lost not only to Xavier and Wisconsin -- which are ranked in the top 15 in the Ratings Percentage Index, a factor used in selecting the NCAA field -- but also to Georgia, which is ranked 205th. Their best win came against 81st-ranked Fairfield. The Blue Devils were fourth before last night.
Tech's trip to Duke (1-0, 12-1) for the first of two meetings this season brought an opportunity for a résumé-boosting win. But the Hokies looked lost to start the game. Duke jumped out to an 11-0 lead. Tech missed its first nine shots of 11 of its first 12.
Then the Hokies rallied. They shot 11 of 19 in the final 11:44 of the half. They cut Duke's lead to six with 8:27 left, and to seven at 1:49, before their second-half spurt and flop.
Chances for signature wins remain. Along with the Duke rematch Feb. 28, the Hokies play Clemson twice, Wake Forest once and get North Carolina at home for their lone meeting. Tech's next game is home Saturday against Virginia, but don't expect last night's result to make Greenberg panic between now and then.
"It's one league game," he said. "You overreact to one league game on the road in this league, you're a village idiot."
Contact Darryl Slater at (804) 649-6026 or .
VIRGINIA TECH (0-1 ACC, 9-5)
| M | FG | FT | R | PF | A | Pts | |
| Allen------------------------- | 27 | 1-4 | 7-9 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| Davila------------------------- | 7 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vassallo------------------------- | 29 | 3-9 | 0-0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Hudson------------------------- | 25 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Delaney------------------------- | 33 | 6-12 | 0-0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Bell------------------------- | 11 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Thorns------------------------- | 21 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Vinson------------------------- | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Witcher------------------------- | 7 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Thompson------------------------- | 19 | 3-8 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Diakite------------------------- | 20 | 4-6 | 0-2 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| Team | 3 | ||||||
| Totals | 18-49 | 7-12 | 28 | 18 | 7 | 44 |
DUKE (1-0, 12-1)
| M | FG | FT | R | PF | A | Pts | |
| Singler------------------------- | 37 | 7-11 | 3-3 | 8 | 2 | 7 | 19 |
| Henderson------------------------- | 32 | 5-10 | 4-5 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| Zoubek------------------------- | 15 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Smith------------------------- | 28 | 4-12 | 4-4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| Scheyer------------------------- | 34 | 2-7 | 6-6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| Paulus------------------------- | 16 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Pocius------------------------- | 3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| McClure------------------------- | 17 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Williams------------------------- | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Plumlee------------------------- | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Thomas------------------------- | 12 | 0-2 | 2-2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Team | 4 | ||||||
| Totals | 22-54 | 19-20 | 38 | 17 | 16 | 69 |
Virginia Tech ------------------------- 31 13 -- 44
Duke ------------------------- 39 30 -- 69
3-point goals -- Virginia Tech (1-9): Vassallo 1-4, Thorns 0-2, Delaney 0-3. Duke (6-16): Singler 2-2, Henderson 1-2, Scheyer 1-3, Smith 1-4, Paulus 1-4, Pocius 0-1.
Turnovers -- Virginia Tech (18): Allen 6, Bell 3, Delaney 3, Thompson 2, Vassallo 2, Hudson. Duke (17): Singler 6, Henderson 3, Thomas 2, Zoubek 2, Smith 2, Williams.
Blocked shots -- Virginia Tech (6) Diakite 3, Witcher, Thompson, Allen. Duke (2): Henderson, Singler, Zoubek.
Steals -- Virginia Tech (8): Delaney 3, Allen, Hudson, Vassallo, Witcher. Duke (3): Zoubek 3, Singler 2, Smith 2, Williams, Henderson.
A -- 9,314.
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
Malcolm Delaney is the basketball Mickey Matthews. He gives the opponent no credit saying that they played poorly rather than the other team played well and perhaps caused them to play poorly. “Their defense wasn’t that good, especially at the guard position,“ he said. “I felt like we could attack them the whole game. We stopped being aggressive.“ If the defense wasn’t good and there were so many opportunities to score, how do you manage only 13 points in a half and have 18 turnovers. That poor defense held Delaney to 12 points total, though admittedly 50% shooting isn’t that bad, especially when you see the numbers of his teammates. Still 12 points doesn’t quite back up his claims that Cameron is easier to play in than Baltimore and that he’ll have no problems. Face it, Malcolm, the defense that was so easy to get by in the first half tightened up. How else do you explain that, in crunch time, you weren’t able to produce against such “bad” guards. Does anyone else think that Thompson is the new Deron Washington (and that isn’t a compliment)?
Advertisement