Duke @ Virginia Tech preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 29, 2019 ) Virginia Tech 73, Duke 75

Eighth-ranked Duke looks to follow up an impressive road victory with another before a break for exams when the short-handed Blue Devils visit Virginia Tech on Friday night for their ACC opener. Duke bounced back from a shocking home loss to Stephen F. Austin last week with a win over Winthrop and Tuesday’s 87-75 victory at No. 12 Michigan State without freshman standout Cassius Stanley (hamstring).

“We’ve got to be more consistent with this play now,” Blue Devils sophomore point guard Tre Jones told reporters after recording 20 points and 12 assists against the Spartans. “We can’t have any lapse like we did last week. … We know the type of team we can be, and getting a road win like this is big for us.” Duke has lost three of its last five meetings against the Hokies, including a 77-72 setback in Blacksburg, Va. last February, and will need another big effort from freshman Vernon Carey Jr. after the 6-10 center posted his seventh straight double-double Tuesday. Virginia Tech rolled to a 6-0 start with an ACC win over Clemson and a victory over Michigan State to open the Maui Invitational last week before allowing a total of 179 points in losses to Dayton and BYU to finish fourth. “This trip, you take the good with the bad,” Hokies freshman guard Landers Nolley II told reporters. “You learn from both. You add what you need to add going forward and you move on.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ACC Network

ABOUT DUKE (7-1, 0-0 ACC): Carey finished with 26 points along with 11 boards in Tuesday’s victory and leads the team in scoring (19.2), rebounds (9.7) and blocks (2.4) while shooting 60 percent from the field. Jones chips in with 15.7 points to go along with team highs of 7.4 assists and 2.2 steals while Stanley (12.9 points, 47.4 percent 3-point shooting) is expected to be out until at least Christmas. Freshman forward Matthew Hurt had 10 points against Michigan State after posting a season-high 20 versus Winthrop and sophomore forward Joey Baker is averaging 13.5 points over the last two contests.

ABOUT VIRGINIA TECH (6-2, 1-0): Nolley, who was named to the Maui All-tournament team, leads the team in scoring (20.0) and rebounding (5.1) while draining 27-of-53 attempts from behind the 3-point arc. Freshman guard Nahiem Alleyne is the only other player averaging in double figures scoring (11.8) while junior forward P.J. Horne is close at 9.9 - including 13 versus BYU - and has connected on 14-of-25 from 3-point range. Junior guard Wabissa Bede averages 6.8 points and a team-high 7.3 assists, which puts him second behind Jones in the ACC and among the top 10 in the nation entering Thursday.

TIP-INS

1. The Hokies sit second in the nation in made 3-point field goals per game (12.1) and have drained 43.1 percent (fifth in the country entering Thursday) of their attempts.

2. Duke senior F Javin DeLaurier scored 10 points versus Michigan State and has made all seven shots from the field the last two games.

3. Virginia Tech freshman G Tyrece Radford averaged 7.5 points on 6-of-8 shooting the past two contests after going scoreless versus Michigan State.

PREDICTION: Duke 80, Virginia Tech 72