The sun comes up, the sun goes down and Duke plays a road game in Blacksburg, Virginia; some things just never change. This will mark the 5th consecutive season Duke will play at Virginia Tech while the Hokies have only made 2 visits to Durham during that timeframe. Overall, Duke has a 32-7 record against VT but just a 7-5 record when playing on the road. It's been a tough place to play.
After a long tenure as head coach at Wofford, Mike Young has the Hokies moving in a positive direction in year 2. The team has been ranked twice, the first after an impressive OT win over Villanova during the first weekend of the season. They also have a blowout home loss to Penn State, a 6-point victory over Clemson, and a more recent 2-point loss to Louisville last week on their record. They are a good squad and have a solid resume at this juncture. Their profile is one of being solid everywhere without excelling in any single facet of the game.
The Hokies are a slightly better offensive team than a defensive unit. They play at a methodical pace, take a lot of 3's, look for good shots, and generally try to out-execute the opponent. Mike Young does not have his team shooting the ball as well as he had Wofford. In his last 4 seasons as head coach at Wofford, the terriers were a top-10 3P% team in 3 out of the 4 years. This team doesn't have that level of shooting yet but is getting there. The top players are all Mike Young guys. The headliner so far this year has been Wofford transfer 6'9" JR F Keve Aluma. The forward had a sensational opening week, averaging 21 points in his first two games including that big upset of Nova. Since then, he's fallen back to Earth a bit but still presents a challenge to opposing teams. He has added a 3-point shot to his arsenal this year and can score there, at the midrange, and around the basket. He's fairly athletic, too, and can both dunk it and defend the rim. He'll be a tough matchup for Matthew Hurt in this one. One thing to watch is his attacking game. He is taking more than 6 FT attempts per game and puts a lot of pressure on the interior defense. Having Jalen Johnson available to matchup with Aluma would be a big help, if only for the extra fouls and rim protection. Aluma shares the frontcourt with another transfer, 6'7" F Justyn Mutts, who is playing his first year for VT after transferring from High Point in 2018 and then Delaware after last season. Mutts is also a versatile forward and can shoot it and score closer to the rim. Mike Young is giving spot minutes to a pair of 6'9" forwards, including Iowa grad transfer Cordell Pemsl and FR David N'Guessan. Neither are much more than offensive afterthoughts there to grab rebounds and spell the starters. More likely than not, Young will play 4 guards and a forward if either of Aluma or Mutts is sitting down.
In addition to Aluma, the core of the team includes a quartet of sophomore guards that Mike Young recruited when he was named head coach. That includes 5'10" Jalen Cone, 6'2" Tyrece Radford, 6'3" Hunter Cattoor, and 6'4" Nahiem Alleyne. After missing a few games early in the year, Cone, a former top 100 recruit, has really come alive on offense of late. The diminutive guard can light it up and is averaging a team-best 17.8 points over the last 4 games. Almost all of that is coming from behind the arc, too. He's shooting more than 11 3-point attempts per content. Hunter Cattoor is another 3-point specialist and is hitting almost 45% of his 3's on the season, too. Both Cone and Cattoor have been coming off the bench so far this season while Alleyne and Radford have started. Obviously, Cone is a high-usage player and is getting more minutes as he appears to be healthy again. Alleyne has a more diversified game but can also light it up from outside. Radford is the biggest of the guards if not the tallest and he is the only one that isn't a jump shooter. He is just 4-18 from behind the arc on the year, preferring to attack the basket instead. Only Keve Aluma has taken more shots close to the rim than Radford. Joining Radford and Alleyne in the backcourt is 6'1" SR PG Wabissa Bede. Bede is a limited offensive player but will take the occasional jumper if left wide open. His play style is a lot like freshman year Tre Jones; he's there to setup his teammates and play defense. With so many offensive-minded guards on the roster, Bede is content to feed them the ball and then get back on defense. He's a holdover from Buzz Williams's time as head coach on this roster.
This team, even with limited height, is a good rebounding unit. The two forwards and Tyrece Radford really get at the defensive glass. Outside of rebounding, they are solid if unspectacular all around. They don't force a ton of turnovers, don't block a lot of shots, or force teams into very difficult shots. They just play solid defense and try to limit the opposition to one attempt. They take and make a ton of threes and then compliment that with a relentless attack on the rim that gets Aluma, in particular, a lot of FT attempts. The guards also get to the line a lot. Through 10 games, they have taken 215 FT attempts. Duke, in 7 games, has taken less than half that amount. Duke is going to have to play disciplined defense and not allow open looks or backdoor cuts to the rim. Allowing Aluma to go one-on-one against Matthew Hurt could lead to foul trouble for Hurt, too. Having Brakefield or, if possible, Jalen Johnson around to provide help defense on the interior would go a long way. Preventing open looks from 3 is going to be a key for the Blue Devils. Duke has the personnel to matchup well in this one. If they can find a way to limit Aluma and prevent Cone from going off, Duke should have a shot in this one. It won't be easy but it would go a long way towards showing that this team is moving in the right direction as the season progresses.