Duke basketball: 3 takeaways from disappointing ACC Championship loss

The Duke basketball team turned in a disappointing performance in the ACC Championship Game. 

It was not a pleasant Saturday evening for the Duke basketball team in Brooklyn after its dismal showing in the ACC Championship Game, but the Blue Devils still have the ultimate goal of an NCAA Championship in front of them.

However, we first take a look back at the poor effort and performance in the Barclays Center as Virginia Tech captured its first-ever ACC Championship, 82-67.

The Hokies, an excellent shooting team, connected on a 50.0-percent clip from the field and 45.5-percent from 3-point range.

ALSO READ: Duke gets outclassed in ACC Tournament Championship

Virginia Tech was led by 31 points from Hunter Cattoor and 19 points from Keve Aluma.

Cattoor was 11-of-16 from the floor and 7-of-9 from 3-point territory as the junior was able to shake free and knock down his shots from anywhere on the floor.

Duke’s shooting numbers rivaled that of the Hokies at 49.0-percent. But the Blue Devils could not get anything to fall from the perimeter, making 4-of-20 shots from 3-point range, and the free throw shooting was poor at 15-for-23.

Duke basketball walking down slippery slope entering NCAA Tournament

The recent stretch for the Blue Devils has been troubling, and Duke will need to quickly collect itself in order to avoid an early upset this week.

Duke lost the final home game in the career of Mike Krzyzewski last Saturday night to North Carolina and then put together two shaky performances in the ACC Tournament before falling on the following Saturday to Virginia Tech in the final conference championship game for Krzyzewski.

It’s beginning to look like the Blue Devils peaked in November and have flattened out as the season progressed.

We will take one look back at what went wrong in the ACC Tournament Championship against Virginia Tech.