After the farewell spoiled at Cameron Indoor Stadium by North Carolina, Mike Krzyzewski will not retire with a 16th title in the ACC conference tournament.
The Blue Devils indeed fell in the final (82-67) against the surprising Virginia Tech Hokies, carried by a boiling Hunter Cattoor (31 points at 7/9 from afar). The No. 1 seed was swept away by the fire and enthusiasm of the No. 7 seed, which snatched automatic qualification for “March Madness”. A small miracle for the troop of Mike Young, who had beaten Clemson in the second round of the tournament in overtime.
That day, Darius Maddox had scored the decisive 3-pointer thanks to a lot of success, a throw-in deflected by Hunter Cattoor landing in his hands in the last moments of the match.
But against Duke, Virginia Tech did not need such a helping hand from fate. Hunter Cattoor’s address initially carried the Hokies, who were able to withstand the size and power of the Blue Devils. And they finally cracked in the second half, despite 20 points and 5 rebounds from Paolo Banchero.
Storm Murphy was able to find his teammates who cut and Keve Aluma gradually made his presence felt (19 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists) against a much too clumsy Duke team: AJ Griffin thus finished at 4/12 in the shooting, including 1/8 from 3-pointers while Trevor Keels ends up at 1/7 in shooting, including 0/4 from long distance.
It is therefore a second missed meeting for the last university season of Coach K, who nevertheless ensures that his team has everything it takes to shine during the “March Madness”.
“Last weekend, everyone was talking (about his retirement). So it was a tough weekend.”he explained. “What we’ve tried to do is push all of that out. They are young guys. I liked training them. I think we can be good in the tournament. I was really positive after the game”.
