Blacksburg, VA – Seth Curry led four Duke players in double figures with 22 points, as the sixth-ranked Blue Devils buried Virginia Tech, 88-56, on Thursday at Cassell Coliseum.
Rasheed Sulaimon scored 17, Josh Hairston had 11, and Mason Plumlee posted a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Blue Devils (23-3, 10-3 ACC), who bounced back emphatically from Saturday's 83-81 setback at Maryland.
"I was proud of my guys," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I though we came in after three really good days of practice. We worked a lot on our defense and I thought it paid off today."
Erick Green, the nation's leading scorer, finished with 22 points to lead the Hokies (11-15, 2-11), who have lost nine straight. C.J. Barksdale donated 14 points and eight boards in the loss.
"Duke was very good tonight and we were not good at all, on both ends of the floor," Virginia Tech coach James Johnson admitted. "Their pressure on the defensive end took us out of our game early and took us out of our execution early."
The Hokies scored the first four points of the contest, but Curry countered with back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 14-2 Duke run that the senior sharp shooter capped with another triple to give the Blue Devils a 14-6 lead just over six minutes into the game.
A Tyler Thornton trey with just over nine minutes left sent the Blue Devils on an 18-5 run that Curry capped with his fourth 3-pointer of the half to provide the visitors with a 37-17 cushion with 4:09 left in the half.
Duke, which finished the first half 8-of-9 from long range, carried a 48-28 margin into the locker room and only increased its cushion in the second half.
The lead, which peaked at 33, never dipped below 21 in the final stanza as the Blue Devils cruised to victory.
Game Notes
Duke has won five straight over Virginia Tech and owns a 41-8 advantage in the all-time series ... Green came into the game averaging 25.3 points per game ... Thornton finished with six points and five assists for Duke ... The Blue Devils finished 12-of-17 (70.6 percent) from beyond the arc overall, while Virginia Tech went just 1-of-16 (6.3 percent) from long distance.
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