Virginia Tech stuns Duke to win first ACC Tournament title
NEW YORK — For the next time in 7 days, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski was denied a seminal moment in the twilight of his coaching job.
Immediately after rival North Carolina spoiled his remaining recreation at Cameron Indoor Stadium past Saturday, it was upstart Virginia Tech that knocked off the Blue Devils in Coach K’s closing look at the ACC Tournament closing in Brooklyn’s Barclays Middle.
Playing their fourth sport in 4 days, the seventh-seeded Hokies (23-13) clinched a berth in up coming week’s NCAA Event with a amazing 82-64 win Saturday around top rated-seeded Duke at the rear of a blistering offensive overall performance from Hunter Cattoor.
The junior guard hit his 1st 6 3-point shots on pace to a profession-substantial 31 details as the Hokies return to Blacksburg with an ACC Tournament title in their very first championship visual appeal. Virginia Tech becomes the cheapest seed to earn the event.
“I consider they are the workforce they thought they had been likely to be,” Mentor K said postgame. “We couldn’t halt them. He (Cattoor) experienced a Klay Thompson kind of evening.”
Extra: No UNC-Duke remaining as red-scorching Virginia Tech upsets Tar Heels in semis
The reduction for Duke adds an unfortunate footnote in a very long chapter of dominance in the ACC Event for Krzyzewski, who fell shorter of his 16th title and will retire at the summary of this period.
He finishes with a 15-7 file in ACC title game titles — Krzyzewski is 1-1 in Brooklyn with a win in 2017— passing famous UNC coach Dean Smith (21) for the most championship overall look in league historical past.
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Duke (28-6), which defeated Syracuse and Miami on the road to the final, entered the evening with an outdoors shot at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Event but will likely settle for a second or 3rd seed just after the decline.
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The Hokies’ remarkable run by means of the ACC area commenced Tuesday with a final-second win above No. 10 Clemson. They upset No. 2 Notre Dame Wednesday ahead of dominating No. 3 UNC in Friday’s semifinal.
‘It was a small weird’: ‘It was a minor weird’: UNC remaining uncomfortable in loss to Virginia Tech in ACC semifinals
Virginia Tech led 42-39 at halftime — the Hokies also held a slight gain in their 1st and only recreation against Duke on Dec. 22 — guiding 17 factors from Cattoor and a 3-position barrage that gave the Hokies a seven-stage edge late in the initially 50 percent.
They made 7 of 10 from past the arc with Cattoor hitting all four of his attempts. Duke was led by Paolo Banchero’s 10 points but failed to use a notable dimension benefit in the article. The Blue Devils completed the 50 % with one offensive rebound but had been in a position to transform on 7 of 8 free of charge-toss tries.
Banchero concluded the night time with a workforce-higher 20 points when Virginia Tech’s Keve Aluma additional 19.
Mentor K pulled his starters with 1:14 left in the match, letting his grandson, Michael Savarino, to just take the court with other Duke reserves and enjoy out the decline.
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David Thompson is an award-profitable reporter for the United states Currently Network masking NC Condition and Duke athletics. He can be reached at [email protected], at 828-231-1747, or on Twitter at @daveth89.
This post originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Virginia Tech stuns Duke to earn very first ACC Match title
