 Virginia Tech Hokies | 82 |
 7Duke Blue Devils | 67 |
| Final | |
Virginia Tech (23-12) came into the ACC Tournament having never played for or won an ACC title, and saddled with the No. 7 seed —a seed that has never won the ACC Tournament. Their NCAA Tournament at-large hopes were on the brink.
As their improbable ACC Tournament run was punctuated by a blowout of No. 25 North Carolina in the semifinals, their reward was a game against No. 7 Duke (28-6) in head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last ACC Tournament game.
None of that intimidated the Hokies one bit as Virginia Tech rode a dominant second half to a 78-64 upset and the ACC’s automatic bid.
The Hokies led most of the first half, but it was a back-and-forth battle throughout. After Duke pulled ahead briefly, Virginia Tech guard Hunter Cattoor got hot and ended the first half with 17 first-half points. Cattoor got the Hokies up by two scores, but a brief Duke surge before half cut the Hokies’ halftime lead to 42-39.
It didn’t take long into the second half before the Hokies went up by two scores and they eventually went up by 10 points, still riding a red-hot Cattoor who scored nine of Virginia Tech’s first 13 points in the second half.
Duke kept it close, or at least within arm’s reach for a while, keeping the lead in single digits until the 3:02 mark when Virginia Tech scored outscored Duke 10-1 until Michael Savarino hit a 3-pointer with a second left to cut the margin from 18 to 15.
Virginia Tech shot 50% and went 10 of 22 from the 3-point line, out-rebounding the bigger Blue Devils 37-26.
Duke shot 49% but just 4 of 20 (20%) from 3 and 15 of 23 (65.2%) from the foul line. Duke had just 10 turnovers, but Virginia Tech turned them into 16 points.
Cattoor led all scorers with a career-high 31 points on 11 of 16 shooting (7 of 9 from 3). Virginia Tech’s Keve Aluma added 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Storm Murphy had nine points and six assists.
Duke’s Paolo Banchero led the Blue Devils with 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting while Wendell Moore added 11 points and A.J. Griffin had 10.
The loss likely means Duke’s best hope can be for a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced Sunday night.
