Duke @ Virginia Tech preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 26, 2018 ) Duke 63, Virginia Tech 64

While Zion Williamson has stolen most of the headlines for the majority of the 2018-19 season - first with his highlight-worthy play and most recently due to his knee injury - fellow freshman RJ Barrett is quickly proving he is more than capable of thriving without his more highly touted teammate. The ACC's leading scorer eyes his third consecutive 30-point game Tuesday when third-ranked Duke visits No. 19 Virginia Tech in the schools' only regular-season meeting.

Barrett, who became only the fourth Blue Devil ever to record a triple-double in a Feb. 16 win over North Carolina State, tied his season high with 33 points in Wednesday's loss to North Carolina - the game in which Williamson exited after only 36 seconds with a knee sprain. With the Blue Devils playing their first full game without the potential conference player of the year on Saturday, the 6-7 native of Ontario erupted for 30 points on 14-of-20 shooting en route to a 75-65 win at Syracuse. Kerry Blackshear Jr. hasn't taken much of a back seat to Barrett recently, however, averaging 24.7 points and 12 rebounds over the last three contests - leading the team in both categories in each game. The 6-10 junior continued his stellar play this month (averaging 20.1 points while shooting 60 percent from the field and grabbing 9.3 rebounds in seven February games) in Saturday's 67-59 victory at Notre Dame, finishing with 22 points and 14 boards in 33 minutes.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

ABOUT DUKE (24-3, 12-2 ACC): Barrett (23.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists) is averaging 28.7 points, 9.7 boards and seven assists over the last three games and has six 30-point games in 2018-19 - one shy of tying Marvin Bagley III's conference record for a freshman. Sophomore Alex O'Connell (4.6 points) made only his second career start - and first of the season - versus the Orange and set personal bests with 3-pointers (five), points (20) and rebounds (five) while tying another one in minutes (34) on Saturday. Coach Mike Krzyzewski indicated Williamson's Grade-1 knee sprain is "an injury you can get over in a shorter period of time" but emphasized the star freshman will not be pushed to play before he is fully healed; he has been ruled out for Tuesday.

ABOUT VIRGINIA TECH (21-6, 10-5): Blackshear (14.6 points, 7.2 rebounds) has topped 20 points in each of the last three contests and spearheaded the Hokies' dominance on the boards Saturday (49-27). "He's just become so integral to literally everything we do on both ends. … When I took him out in the second half, he was just exhausted because he is so important to what we were doing," coach Buzz Williams said. Williams praised freshman Isaiah Wilkins as well, calling him "the player of the game" and "so important to what we’re doing" in light of ACC assists leader Justin Robinson missing his seventh straight game with a foot injury after contributing eight points and seven boards in 16 minutes against the Irish.

TIP-INS

1. Duke is the nation's only remaining unbeaten team on the road this season (7-0).

2. The Hokies' 15 offensive rebounds versus Notre Dame were their most since grabbing 16 against N.C. State on Jan. 16, 2016.

3. Barrett topped 20 points for the 20th time Saturday, breaking Kenny Anderson's ACC record for the most such games by a freshman.

PREDICTION: Duke 72, Virginia Tech 68