Virginia Tech Men's Basketball's Second-Half Rally Falls Short In 72-58 Loss to No. 4 Duke

The Hokies closed the gap to six points with 6:10 on the clock but failed to cut into the lead any further.

Jan 31, 2026; Blacksburg, Va.; Virginia Tech guard Ben Hammond (3) drives toward the basket, defended by Duke forward Maliq Brown (6). | Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Try as it may, Virginia Tech men's basketball couldn't supplant No. 4 Duke in its Saturday matinee at Cassell Coliseum. After a back-and-forth opening stretch, the Hokies eventually slipped away from contention and allowed the Blue Devils to claim a 72-58 victory.

"It's tough, but I thought we played really hard, a lot of passion, a lot of heart," said Virginia Tech (16-7, 5-5 ACC) forward Amani Hansberry. "We just couldn't make a shot. I think we've got a way better chance if we just shoot over 35%. But we got the guys who we wanted to take those threes taking threes. So, we live and die by it, so it is what it is."

Final. pic.twitter.com/g9EdhpjoDr

— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) January 31, 2026

Duke (20-1, 9-0 ACC) entered the contest undefeated in league play, with its one loss overall coming to then-No. 19 Texas Tech, 82-81, on Dec. 21.

Still, Virginia Tech hung tough in the early going, only trailing 11-9 after six minutes of basketball. However, from there, the Blue Devils turned on the jets, logging nine uninterrupted points to go up by double-digits at the 9:40 mark.

Outside of guard Ben Hammond, the Hokies went eight minutes without a non-Hammond field goal, spanning from the 14:10 mark of the first half to the 5:59 mark. Duke's lead reached as high as 15 in the first half, with the Blue Devils thriving via a collective scoring effort. Three Duke players logged seven or more points in the opening 20 minutes, and four Blue Devils tallied nine or more points in the entire game.

That effort was spearheaded by an incandescent Cameron Boozer. The freshman forward, currently projected as a top-3 NBA Draft pick this summer by every major mock draft, logged a game-high 24 points, going an uber-efficient 9-for-12 from the field, while collecting eight rebounds and adding five assists for good measure.

"He plays the game the right way," Young said. "... He does an exceptional job of recognizing double teams, catches the ball off the block a lot."

On several plays, Boozer flashed his talent for distribution, as well; the forward, who leads the team in assists with 4.1, accumulated five, sending several alley-oop attempts to center Patrick Ngongba. The Duke big concluded the outing with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting.

Though Virginia Tech forced Boozer into four turnovers — and Duke into eight total — it failed to make any inroads off those turnovers, converting the miscues into just nine points.

Though the Blue Devils didn't thrive off the Hokies' miscues, either, their effort was felt most in the paint. Duke outscored Virginia Tech 46-24 in the lane and possessed a 26-14 lead in that metric at intermission. Still, the Hokies produced several bright spots, with Hansberry's effort chief among them. Hansberry produced a team-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including a 4-for-5 mark from beyond the arc.

"They gave me time and space, so I just took my time," Hansberry said. "I knew I was going to have wide-open threes going into the game. So, I just trust my work and shoot it with confidence."

Jan 31, 2026; Blacksburg, Va.; Virginia Tech forward Amani Hansberry (13) prepares a shot, defended by Duke forward Cameron Boozer (12). | Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

In the second half, Virginia Tech didn't yield, slowly closing the deficit. With 10:20 to play, Duke guard Isaiah Evans cashed in on an and-one, plus the free throw, raising Duke's lead to 11. Then, forward Amani Hansberry knocked down a jumper in the lane, followed by a Hammond three-pointer. Then, wing Neoklis Avdalas knocked down a jumper in the paint with 7:04 to play — his first and only field goal of the afternoon.

In the second half, Virginia Tech clamped down on Duke's long-range efforts, restraining the Blue Devils to a 1-for-10 clip from the field. The Hokies themselves went 4-for-15 and missed their final six shots from long range.

"I've got a really good team," Young said. "They fight like hell. I thought we could find out way back. We did. I thought we could get over the hump. We did not.

"I thought we'd find a way to win. Obviously, we did not."

Virginia Tech did key in on its distribution, however, doubling Duke's assist total in the second half with six second-half dishes. The Blue Devils were stout on the rebounding front, however, out-tallying the Hokies 33-26 on the boards and outscoring Virginia Tech 16-6 concerning second-chance points.

After Avdalas' runner, guard Jailen Bedford escaped free for a jumper to raise his total to 10 points at the 6:10 mark; however, that was the last time Virginia Tech scored until there were 29 ticks left on the clock. Though the Hokies held Duke scoreless for two minutes and 36 seconds, they slowly allowed Duke to pad out its lead over the next five minutes of game time.

And the key plays down the stretch game from Boozer. Of Duke's final 10 points, eight came from Boozer. First, with 3:59, he knocked down a pair of free throws, followed by a layup 65 seconds later to bring the Blue Devils' advantage back into the double-digits.

After a missed Bedford three, Boozer missed a layup but Duke's Nikolas Khamenia gobbled up the offensive board. 15 seconds later, Boozer received an open look from three and made it count, burying it to give Duke a unassailable 69-56 lead. From there, Khamenia added a jumper in the lane, followed by a Boozer free throw to close out the game.

It was another rough outing for Avdalas, who was limited to five points on 1-of-8 shooting. Avdalas has not scored more than 11 points since Jan. 7 vs. Stanford and he has been held to single-digit points in four of his last five games. Avdalas did not knock down a field goal in the first half, going 0-for-4 and accumulating three points via free throws.

In his last three games — Louisville (Jan. 24), Georgia Tech (Jan. 27) and Duke (Jan. 31) — Avdalas has averaged 5.5 points and 3.3 assists per game while shooting 16.1% from the field and 13.3% from three.

Despite the loss, it doesn't come at a significant dent to the Hokies' resume. Though the loss comes with a similar sting to past defeats — where the Hokies were competitive at points and possessed opportunities to capture the game — it came against an opponent in Duke that entered the contest ranked No. 5 in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 4 in adjusted defensive efficiency.

"We had good shot after good shot," Young said. "... We had our chances and we let it off the hook."

One stat that showcases that potency on the defensive front? Duke limited Virginia Tech to just six free throws Saturday.

"We didn't really attack the basket as hard as we should have," Hansberry remarked. "Find bodies instead of trying to finish around length. Go to get fouled. I think that was on us. I think we could have done a way better job in the second half.... Really, go make them commit. We had two-on-ones because they were hedging with the five man or the four man, and it's just me and Tobi [Lawal]. That's how we got the lob in the first place."

Through 23 games, Virginia Tech's offensive identity has emerged at times as a push-the-pace squad that can wait to find open looks, but that identity has been rather muted on other occasions. When asked about what the team's strengths and weaknesses, Hansberry remarked that the team occasionally struggles to rebound and tends to get fatigued, though it's good at hauling in other team's first misses.

"Strength-wise, we're a really good first-shot defensive team," Hansberry said. "Weakness: we struggle to rebound sometimes. I think with time it comes back. That helps a lot. But honestly, I think I learned that we didn't start off good shooting the ball. I think we got really good shooters, especially when they get going.

"Jaden Schutt hit two to three, really big threes for us today. And in terms of weaknesses, I think when we get tired, we kind of fatigue and lose our sharpness. I think we need to find another motor, another gear. Maybe me as a leader, to tell them and get on them."

The Hokies now will go for the entire stretch of this working week without a game; their next test comes vs. NC State in Raleigh, North Carolina on Saturday, Feb. 7. Heading into the contest, Virginia Tech will have guard Tyler Johnson back. Johnson has missed the last 10 games, dating back to Dec. 21, where he left the game midway through overtime with an apparent ankle injury. Johnson's return comes as a welcome boost to Virginia Tech, particularly on the glass.

"[His absence hurt] a lot offensively and defensively," Hansberry said. "Defensively, especially on the glass. Tyler's a hound. I'm a hound. Tobi's a hound. When [Christian Gurdak] comes in, he's a hound. So, we got a lot of guys that can go to the grass. I think we kind of missed that on the guard play with Tyler being out."

The contest will tip off at 1:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 7 and will be available for viewing on the CW Network.