Duke basketball’s road woes continue as Blue Devils fall to struggling Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech shot the ball better than any team has all season against Duke, and the last shot made the difference.
MJ Collins’ pull-up jumper with 13.6 seconds to play broke a 75-all tie and propelled the Hokies to a 78-75 win over Duke in ACC basketball at Cassell Coliseum.
After Collins hit his jumper, he turned to apparently punch the air in celebration but his fist hit Duke’s Kyle Filipowski in the throat. Game officials reviewed the play and decided no flagrant foul occurred, even though Duke coach Jon Scheyer said Filipowski was in discomfort during a Duke timeout.
“He got hit so hard that he was throwing up in the huddle,” Scheyer said. “Like he was full on throwing up. He wasn’t about to be out for a second. He was ready to come back in.”
Trailing 77-75, the Blue Devils then ran a play hoping to get Filipowski a shot. He took a pass and was covered on the 3-point line, so he tossed the ball to an open Proctor, who missed a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds to play.
Collins hit a free throw with 3.9 seconds left and, after Duke regained possession with 3.2 seconds left, Hunter Cattoor stole the in-bounds pass to seal the win for the Hokies.
In halting a seven-game losing streak, Virginia Tech (12-8, 2-7 ACC) shot 57.1% from the field. No team had shot better than 47.3% against the Blue Devils in a game this season.
“Too many times we got caught without talking,” Scheyer said of his team’s defense. “You have to talk really well on switches when they have screens and zoom action. I thought in the second half we dug down, held them to 33 points and they still ended up shooting (over) 50% from the field. They had one of those nights they made plenty of shots, too.”
Grant Basile, a 6-9 senior transfer who played at Wright State last season, scored 24 points to lead Virginia Tech. Sean Pedulla pumped in 16 points, including three 3-pointers, while Cattoor hit five 3-pointers to score 15 points.
Virginia Tech hit 10 of 19 3-pointers in the game.
Kyle Filipowski led Duke (14-6, 5-4) with 29 points and 10 rebounds.
Dariq Whitehead scored 10 points before he landed awkwardly on his left leg while battling for a loose ball and didn’t play over the game’s final 17:10 after being helped to the locker room.
The fifth tie of the second half, at 67-all, turned into a Virginia Tech lead when Cattoor drilled his fifth 3-pointer of the game for a 70-67 Hokies lead.
Basile extended it to 72-67 with 6:01 to play with a basket in the lane.
Virginia Tech led 74-69 before Proctor drove the lane and zipped a pass to Ryan Young for a reverse layup.
With 1:30 to play, Filipowski hit 1 of 2 free throws cutting the Hokies lead to 74-72.
Justyn Mutts hit a free throw with 1:04 to play giving the Hokies a 75-72 lead.
After a Duke timeout, Proctor hit an open 3-pointer with 38.5 seconds remaining tying the score at 75. But his next 3-pointer, which would have given Duke the lead, bounced off the back of the rim in the final five seconds.
Down two points at that point, Duke intended to get Filipowski the ball for a shot. But Virginia Tech defended him well to prevent a Filipowski shot attempt, leaving Proctor open for a shot the freshman guard from Australia said he “shot with confidence.”
After trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half and 45-38 at halftime, the Blue Devils hit the Hokies with a barrage of 3-pointers to move in front in the second half.
Duke hit four 3-pointers over the first four minutes after halftime, with Filipowski nailing two. Mark Mitchell’s 3-pointer with 16:12 left tied the game at 51.
The Blue Devils continued their push to take a 58-53 lead when Proctor scored on a driving layup with 13:45 to play.
The Hokies battled back with a 10-1 run to move back in front. Basile scored five points during that stretch as Virginia Tech took a 63-59 lead.
A Dereck Lively slam dunk and a Filipowski layup changed that for Duke to forge a 63-all tie with 9:35 left.
Even though Duke scored the game’s first seven points, Virginia Tech’s red-hot shooting easily erased that deficit as the Hokies led by as many as 13 points before taking a 45-38 halftime lead.
Virginia Tech made 10 of 13 shots, including 5 of 7 3-pointers, over the game’s first 10 minutes. Cattoor hit three of those 3-pointers.
When Pedulla drilled a 3-pointer with 2:05 to play in the half, the Hokies led 43-30.
The Blue Devils, though, closed the half in solid fashion. While Virginia Tech missed three free throws, Filipowski hit three after being fouled attempting a 3-pointer. Lively slammed home two points on a lob pass from Proctor and Filipowski drilled a 3-pointer with four seconds left in the half cutting the Virginia Tech lead to 45-38 at intermission.
Virginia Tech hit 17 of 25 shots in the first half (68%), including 7 of 10 3-pointers. Duke committed four early turnovers before Roach entered the game as a reserve. The Blue Devils didn’t turn it over in the half’s final 13:46.
This story was originally published January 23, 2023 at 9:11 PM with the headline "Duke basketball’s road woes continue as Blue Devils fall to struggling Virginia Tech."