Virginia Tech stuns Duke as No. 7 seed, wins first ACC match title

NEW YORK — For the second straight Saturday evening, Duke didn’t ship Coach Ok a send-off victory.

This time it was Virginia Tech taking part in occasion pooper.

Hunter Cattoor scored a career-high 31 points and the seventh-seeded Hokies received the Atlantic Coast Convention match for the primary time, beating Duke 82-67 to disclaim Mike Krzyzewski a league title in his last season.

Virginia Tech (23-12) got here to Brooklyn in want of a run to make the NCAA match, after which was looking at elimination Wednesday when Darius Maddox hit a go-ahead 3-pointer on the buzzer to beat Clemson in additional time.

Virginia Tech coach Mike Younger mentioned the Hokies have been “luckier than hell” after that sport.

After beating Duke how did it really feel?

“Gratifying,” Younger mentioned.

The Hokies turned simply the second ACC group to take the crown with 4 wins in 4 days and lowest-seeded group to win the most-storied convention match in school basketball.

They’re additionally the fourth ACC champion to win the title by beating the highest three seeds.

The Hokies will obtain an automated bid to the NCAA match for the primary time in 43 years, tied for the fourth-longest span between automated bids in Division I historical past, in response to analysis from ESPN Stats & Info. Virginia Tech’s final — and solely — convention match championship got here in 1979, when the Hokies have been within the Metro Convention.

Duke misplaced Coach Ok’s last sport at Cameron Indoor Stadium to rival North Carolina per week in the past, derailing a celebration of the winningest coach in Division I males’s school basketball.

The highest-seeded and seventh-ranked Blue Devils (28-6) received one other likelihood for a feel-good victory and so as to add at the very least yet another trophy to the case for the retiring Corridor of Famer. Once more it was to not be.

“I inform them on a regular basis, ‘Don’t be concerned about me,'” Krzyzewski mentioned. “Even in a second of defeat I need to be there with them. How will we use it? How will we get higher?

He added: “Final weekend the entire phrase was speaking about [my retirement]. So it was a really troublesome weekend. What we have tried to do is eradicate every thing. These are younger guys. I’ve cherished teaching them. I feel we could be good within the [NCAA] match. I used to be actually optimistic with them afterwards.”

When Justyn Mutts made a two-hand slam over Duke’s star freshman Paolo Banchero with 2:26 left within the second half, Virginia Tech led 76-64 and the outnumbered Hokies followers rose with a roar.

“The following lifeless ball we went to the huddle and it was like, ‘We are able to style it. We are able to style it now,'” level guard Storm Murphy mentioned.

Virginia Tech’s first ACC championship since becoming a member of the convention in 2004 was sealed.

Quickly after, Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” the Hokies’ unofficial battle track, blared all through Barclays Heart, and the Virginia Tech followers sang alongside prefer it was the fourth quarter at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia. The 15-point win was the Hokies’ largest victory over Duke in a collection that was first contested in 1912, in response to ESPN Stats & Info analysis.

Banchero scored 20 factors for Duke, which shot four for 20 from 3-point vary and allowed the Hokies to make 50% of their photographs.

Younger led his groups to 5 Southern Convention match titles in 17 seasons at Wofford. It took him solely three seasons to get his first with Virginia Tech and he did it with a roster full of fellows he recruited to play at his old skool.

Murphy and Keve Aluma (19 factors, 10 rebounds and seven assists) are each transfers from Wofford and Cattoor was set to go there out of highschool earlier than Younger took the Virginia Tech job.

In the meantime, Krzyzewski was denied his 16th ACC title in his 42nd season.

Barclays Heart is a good distance from Cameron, each actually and figuratively, however the Duke followers did their greatest to make it really feel like a Blue Devils’ house sport.

Nonetheless, nothing got here simple for Duke this week in Brooklyn.

Duke did not have a halftime lead in any of the video games at Barclays Heart.

On Saturday evening, down three on the half, Duke started the second half with a sloppy turnover on offense after which gave up a driving layup.

Krzyzewski known as a timeout 35 seconds into the half and laid into his group, getting out of his chair to reveal the motion he needed to see from his gamers.

The scolding didn’t have the specified outcome. Cattoor swished his sixth Three after which made a steal on the opposite finish that he become old style three-point play with a driving layup.

That put the Hokies up 55-45 lower than 5 minutes into the half.

Duke did not fold, however each time the Blue Devils utilized strain, the Hokies responded.

“I knew when it got here collectively it was going to be a good looking factor they usually got here collectively,” Younger mentioned of the Hokies, who went 13-2 down the stretch in ACC motion to play their approach off the bubble. “I did not assume it could culminate on this, however we’re not going to present it again.”

The Related Press contributed to this report.