No. 4 Duke Pulls Away for 72-58 Victory at Virginia Tech

Saturday, January 31

Blacksburg, VA

12 p.m.

Duke University

20-1,9-0ACC

Virginia Tech

16-7,5-5ACC

Duke

Virginia Tech

No. 4 Duke Pulls Away for 72-58 Victory at Virginia Tech

1/31/2026 2:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Duke Quotes (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)

BLACKSBURG, Va. – No. 4 Duke weathered a second-half surge to earn a 72-58 road victory at Virginia Tech on Saturday, Jan. 31. The Blue Devils (20-1, 9-0 ACC) held the Hokies (16-7, 5-5 ACC) to a season-low 58 points, while Cameron Boozer led all scorers with 24 points.

Duke led wire-to-wire and with its seventh road win of the season, moved to 20-1 to start a season for the first time since 2005-06. The 20-win campaign is the Blue Devils' 60th in program history.

Boozer also led all players in rebounds and assists with eight boards and five dimes. Caleb Foster secured a career-high seven caroms, along with four assists, while Maliq Brown matched his season high with 11 points. Isaiah Evans rounded out Duke's double-digit scoring with 11, his 16th game this season with at least 10 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke opened the scoring with an alley-oop connection between Cayden Boozer and Patrick Ngongba II. Duke's lead grew to five, 9-4, following a Maliq Brown three-pointer after four minutes of action.
Another trifecta, this time from Caleb Foster, helped Duke remain in front by five, 14-9, at the first media break, which came over seven minutes into the contest.
A steal and layup by Brown increased Duke's lead, 18-9, as the clock ticked under 10 minutes before halftime. The margin reached double-digits on the Blue Devils' next possession, courtesy of a Cameron Boozer layup.
Duke's defense held Virginia Tech scoreless for nearly five minutes, before a Hokies' layup with 9:17 on the clock cut the Duke lead to 20-11. A fastbreak slam by Boozer sent Duke in front by 13 points, 26-13, and forced a Virginia Tech timeout at the 7:44 mark.
Eight consecutive made shots by the Blue Devils, capped by a Boozer three-pointer, helped Duke remain in control, 33-18, shortly before the final media timeout of the first half.
The hosts made four straight shots and pulled the margin back to 11, 38-27, leading to a Duke timeout with 1:20 before halftime. A late layup by the hosts sent Duke into the locker room with a nine-point lead at the break, 40-31.
Boozer cleaned up a missed free throw and laid it in for his 16th point of the night, putting Duke back in front by 13, 55-42, shortly before the second media timeout of the second half.
The Blue Devils were held scoreless for just over three minutes, as Virginia Tech pulled to within six, 60-54. Isaiah Evans snapped the drought with a contested layup with 6:35 remaining. The two teams remained separated by two possessions, 62-56, coming out of the under-four break.
Boozer sank two from the free-throw line and followed up with a layup to get his 13th 20-point game. The freshman put the game on ice, courtesy of a dagger triple, with less than 90 seconds to play.
The Blue Devils' defense allowed just one made field goal across the final six minutes of the game, pulling away for the 72-58 victory.

NOTES

Duke improved to 20-1 for the season, the best start to a season since 2005-06 (27-1).
- The 20-win campaign is the 60th in program history.
With the win, Duke completed an undefeated January, going 8-0 during the month.
- In the past three seasons, Duke is 22-1 during January (2023-24, 7-1; 2024-25, 7-0; 2025-26, 8-0).
- Duke has tallied five total undefeated months under head coach Jon Scheyer (Dec. 2024, 6-0; Jan. 2025, 7-0; March 2025, 10-0, Nov. 2025, 8-0; Jan. 2026, 8-0).
The Blue Devils have won 31 of their last 32 games against conference opponents.
Duke is 7-0 in true road games this season.
- The Blue Devils entered Saturday as one of just two Power Four teams (UConn) with at least six road wins and no losses.
- Five of Duke's seven road wins have come in front of a sold-out crowd.
Duke is 55-13 in the all-time series with the Hokies and is 15-9 when playing at Virginia Tech, including a 9-7 mark at Cassell Coliseum.
- Duke handed Virginia Tech just its second home loss of the season, after the Hokies began the day at 12-1 on their home court.
Duke is 20-8 when playing on Jan. 31, having won seven straight, nine of its last 10 and 11 of its last 13 on this date.
- The Blue Devils are 9-6 when playing on the road on Jan. 31, including five consecutive victories.
Across the last two seasons, Duke owns the best record in Division I college basketball, at 55-5.
Duke shot 18-of-29 (.621) from the field in the first half, its best shooting performance in a first half against an ACC opponent this season.
Duke continued its strong scoring in the paint, finishing with 46 points in the paint against the Hokies.
- Duke has scored at least 42 points in the paint in five straight games and 40 points or more in six of the last seven outings.
- When scoring at least 40 points in the paint, Duke is 12-0 this season.
After not attempting a free throw in the first half, Duke's first shot from the charity stripe came at the 13:49 mark of the second half.
- The last time Duke had played a half without a free throw was Feb. 10, 2024, against Boston College.
- In each of Duke's last two trips to Cassell Coliseum (Jan. 29, 2024; Jan. 31, 2026), the Blue Devils have not shot a free throw in the opening 20 minutes.
The Hokies entered Saturday's game averaging 81.0 points per game, but were held to a season-low 58 points, 23.0 below their season average.
- Duke's defense has held all but two of their 21 opponents below their scoring average.
Duke ranked 13th nationally and led the ACC for scoring defense (64.6) entering Saturday, and held the Hokies to 6.6 points below that average.
Virginia Tech entered Saturday with the third-best turnover margin in the ACC (+3.0) and fourth-most free-throw attempts per game (23.7).
- The Blue Devils finished with a +2 turnover margin and allowed the Hokies to shoot just five made free throws on six attempts.
- Duke is just the second team this season to finish with a positive turnover margin when playing Virginia Tech, after Stanford committed eight miscues compared to Virginia Tech's nine on Jan. 7.
Duke began Saturday's contest leading the ACC and ranked sixth in the country for scoring margin (+21.0).
- The Blue Devils have defeated the Hokies by double-digits in each of the last two meetings, having secured an 88-65 victory in the last meeting, on Dec. 31, 2024.
The Blue Devils outrebounded Virginia Tech by seven (33-26) and have finished with a positive margin on the glass in 17 games this season.
- The 26 rebounds were the fewest in a game by Virginia Tech this season.
Duke shot 52.5% from the field (31-59) against the Hokies, the 12th time this season the Blue Devils have made at least half of their shots, including each of the last four contests.
The Blue Devils outscored Virginia Tech in three specialty stats, with leads in points in the paint (46-24), second-chance points (16-6) and bench points (20-6).
Duke finished the contest with 13 fouls and holds a record of 63-2 (.969) in four seasons under Scheyer when committing 15 or fewer fouls.
Cameron Boozer led all players in points (24), rebounds (8) and assists (5).
- The freshman has posted 13 games this season with at least 20 points and has eclipsed the threshold in four of his last five outings.
- The forward now has 18 games with at least three dimes and is averaging 4.3 helpers per contest in ACC play.
Maliq Brown matched his season high with 11 points. The forward also added three rebounds and two steals.
- Brown has tallied at least two takeaways in 12 games this season.
Isaiah Evans rounded out Duke's double-digit scoring, also registering 11 points.
Caleb Foster, after entering Saturday on the injury report due to illness, set a new career high for rebounds with seven.
- The junior played 26 minutes and added seven points and four assists.

QUOTES

"Playing here, and how difficult it's been for us through the years, a ton of respect [for Virginia Tech]. Caleb Foster man, I couldn't be more proud of him. He was sick as could be yesterday. He just willed it. Career high in rebounds, he gave us everything he had. Dame [Sarr], the same thing. He just tried to will it and give us whatever he could, which is, I think huge for us. I thought Nik [Khamenia] and Cayden [Boozer] really stepped up. Maliq Brown, his activity. I could go down the line, but for me, it's hard to win, it's hard to win. To get a win here, and to get our ninth conference win in January, really proud of our team." - Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
"Just trying to start off with a better start. Obviously, knowing that we were playing at Virginia Tech, knowing they were going have a great crowd advantage, had to create our own energy." - Duke senior forward Maliq Brown on the key to the road victory

UP NEXT

No. 4 Duke (20-1, 9-0 ACC) returns home to host Boston College (9-11, 2-5 ACC) on Tuesday, Feb. 3. The Blue Devils and Eagles tip off at 7 p.m., on the ACC Network.

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