Duke basketball uses offensive masterclass to get rare victory in Blacksburg

Cassell Coliseum has been a house of horrors for the Duke basketball program but on Monday night the Blue Devils put together one of its best games of the season against Virginia Tech.

The matchup had all the makings for a potential letdown spot for No. 7 Duke, despite its past struggles in the building.

Not only did the Blue Devils leave an uneasy feeling in the stomach of its fans after nearly another loss inside Cameron Indoor Stadium to an unranked ACC opponent in the last two weeks, it would also be easy overlook the Hokies with No. 3 North Carolina looming on Saturday night.

None of that was any concern when the ball was tipped.

It was apparent quickly that Duke had an offensive rhythm and it did not slowdown in its 77-67 victory.

Caleb Foster had eight of the first 12 points for the Blue Devils, including a pair of 3-pointers, and it allowed the rest of the team to relax into the hostile atmosphere as the lead was never relinquished after a Kyle Filipowski layup with 13:01 left in the first half.

Foster's second 3-pointer in the opening sequence started a 12-0 run that set the tone.

Duke's offense had an answer for every potential Virginia Tech (13-8, 5-5 ACC) run and its defense never let volume shooter Hunter Cattoor get the sold out crowd fully engaged and steal the momentum away from the Blue Devils.

Jon Scheyer's team shot 55.4-percent from the floor and 52.9-percent from 3-point range as Jeremy Roach led the way with 16 points off the bench.

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the night came from Ryan Young, who went for 10 points and five rebounds on 5-of-6 shooting.

Duke (16-4, 7-2 ACC) extended its lead to as many as 14 points, 75-61, late in the second half.

The Blue Devils went up by 11 points, 32-21, with 3:29 left in the first half, similar to how it extend its lead before halftime against Clemson, and again would squander that advantage to just 3-points, 32-29, but a Roach 3-pointer at the buzzer and Filipowski layup to begin the second half pushed the lead back to eight points.

Duke will now have the opportunity to get its biggest resume victory of the season on Saturday night (6:00 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Chapel Hill against the Tar Heels (17-3, 9-0 ACC).