swiseman@heraldsun.com
BLACKSBURG, Va. – Duke went old school and rediscovered its old grittiness Thursday night.
The No. 7-ranked Blue Devils bused to Virginia Tech, rather than chartering a flight. The players vowed to stay off social media for the rest of the season, aiming to improve their cohesiveness.
The changes spawned what Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called a mature effort that resulted in a 75-60 win over Virginia Tech in ACC men’s basketball at Cassell Coliseum.
“It was 100 percent effort tonight,” said Duke junior forward Ryan Kelly, one of the Blue Devils captains. “Things weren’t perfect. We didn’t do everything right tonight. But guys played hard for 40 minutes and were willing to sacrifice their bodies for all 40 minutes. If we continue to do that, good things are going to happen.”
The Blue Devils (19-3 overall, 6-1 in the ACC) moved into a three-way tie with North Carolina and Florida State atop the ACC standings by winning in a venue where they lost last season.
But despite an impressive record and lofty ranking, the Blue Devils have been upset with their performances, particularly on defense.
Last Saturday, after leading by 22 points, Duke allowed St. John’s to pull within four points before winning 83-76.
Thursday night against struggling but dangerous Virginia Tech (12-10, 1-6), Duke zoomed to a double-digit first half lead and never saw its advantage fall into single digits again.
“I was really pleased with our maturity tonight,” Krzyzewski said.
The maturity started earlier this week when the players decided to remove themselves from social media, like Twitter, to sharpen their collective focus.
“It’s something that we wanted to do to make sure that we are focused on our family, our Duke family, and we were worried about what comes up next in our season,” Kelly said.
On the 200-mile bus ride from Durham, the team watched videos of vintage Duke teams from the past.
Their performance after that trip showed some of the traits great Duke championship teams have possessed, like tougher half-court defense, good passing and smart decisions.
Virginia Tech shot 44 percent, but was limited to 3 of 13 (23.1 percent) on its 3-point shots. The Hokies only made 40 percent of their first-half shots as Duke built a 38-28 lead at intermission.
“I think our whole team is talking better,” Krzyzewski said. “It was a good game. We’ve had two tough days of practice and they responded very well. I thought what they did in practice they did in tonight’s game. Now they’ve got to do that on Sunday (vs. Miami).”
The Hokies stayed with Duke early. But late in the first half, Duke used a 13-2 run to break a 21-all tie and take its first double-digit lead.
“The last five minutes of the half, we were playing great basketball,” Krzyzewski said.
Kelly, who scored 15 points in a reserve role, played a major role in the push by using many of his skills.
First, the 6-10 junior forward rebounded a Josh Hairston miss to save a Blue Devils possession. The sequence ended when Austin Rivers, Duke’s leading scorer with 18 points, scored on a drive to the basket to put Duke up for good at 23-21.
After a Hokies turnover, Kelly took a pass in the lane and soared to the hoop for a slam dunk. On Duke’s next possession, Kelly drove down the lane for a layup and a 27-21 Blue Devils lead at 5:07.
Erick Green ended the Duke run with a pair of free throws, but Quinn Cook responded for Duke with another drive down the lane for a basket. Kelly followed with a 3-pointer and Dawkins scored after a drive to the basket for a 34-23 Duke lead with 3:15 left in the half.
In the second half, Duke didn’t let up. Rivers scored on a drive, zipped a pass to Hairston for a layup after the Blue Devils broke a Hokie press and Rivers added a 3-pointer for a 45-32 Duke lead.
Rivers turned in one of his most complete efforts of the season, adding five assists and five rebounds to his 18 points. He made 4 of 6 3-pointers.
“Sometimes you look at things you are doing well and things you haven’t been doing well,” Rivers said. “I’ve been looking at it. I know how I can create. Everybody is going to try to come at me because I can score so well. These past couple of games I’ve been trying to distribute more.”
Duke, on the way to a 47.4 percent shooting night, kept the pressure on. Mason Plumlee stuffed home two points off a Quinn Cook lob and Kelly spun and scored in the lane before he sank a 3-pointer that put the Blue Devils up 62-40 with 11:18 to play.
Unlike last Saturday, that 22-point lead never shrank under 14 the rest of the way.
“It says we’re making strides and progress toward being better,” said Duke guard Seth Curry, who scored 11 points. “A lot of times we’d get leads on good teams and let them come back. Today, we didn’t do that. We kept the pressure on them, kept attacking the rim and played good defense.”
No. 7 Duke 75, Virginia Tech 60 DUKE|Min|FG-A|FT-A|O-R|A|PF|PTS
Mas. Plumlee|29|4-10|2-2|0-6|1|2|10
Hairston|15|3-6|0-1|2-3|0|2|6
Rivers|35|7-11|0-0|1-5|5|0|18
Thornton|28|0-1|2-2|0-3|1|2|2
Dawkins|23|2-3|0-0|0-1|1|3|5
Cook|12|2-4|0-1|0-1|3|0|4
Mi. Plumlee|9|2-5|0-0|5-5|0|2|4
Curry|23|2-7|6-6|0-3|1|2|11
Kelly|26|5-10|3-4|3-4|0|4|15
Totals|200|27-57|13-16|12-33|12|17|75
Percentages: FG .474, FT .813. 3-Point Goals: 8-18, .444 (Rivers 4-6, Kelly 2-4, Dawkins 1-1, Curry 1-4, Thornton 0-1, Cook 0-2). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 2 (Mas. Plumlee 2). Turnovers: 7 (Kelly 2, Rivers 2, Thornton, Mi. Plumlee, Curry). Steals: 5 (Mas. Plumlee, Dawkins, Rivers, Thornton, Hairston). Technical Fouls: Dawkins.
VA. TECH|Min|FG-A|FT-A|O-R|A|PF|PTS
Davila|29|6-8|4-6|4-7|2|2|16
Finney-Smith|17|0-4|0-0|1-2|0|3|0
Rankin|20|3-6|1-2|0-2|0|1|8
Green|36|6-12|4-4|0-7|1|1|17
Eddie|32|3-10|0-0|0-3|1|0|6
Brown|22|1-6|0-0|0-0|1|4|3
Raines|11|2-3|0-0|1-1|0|3|4
Hudson|27|2-3|2-2|1-1|0|2|6
Barksdale|6|0-0|0-0|1-3|0|0|0
Totals|200|23-52|11-14|9-29|5|16|60
Percentages: FG .442, FT .786. 3-Point Goals: 3-13, .231 (Brown 1-1, Rankin 1-2, Green 1-3, Hudson 0-1, Finney-Smith 0-1, Eddie 0-5). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 4 (Finney-Smith 2, Davila, Eddie). Turnovers: 13 (Hudson 3, Green 3, Finney-Smith 2, Eddie 2, Davila 2, Rankin). Steals: 3 (Hudson, Brown, Green). Technical Fouls: None.
Duke|38|37—75
Virginia Tech|28|32—60
A—9,847.
Officials—Karl Hess, Ed Corbett, Joe Lindsay.
