NCAA Roundup – Hokies Beat Duke, Kentucky’s Comeback, Fantastic Coby White

The Duke Blue Devils lost another game without Zion Williamson, Kentucky Wildcats managed to escape a loss against Arkansas, while Coby White led North Carolina to a win against pesky Syracuse.

Duke Helpless Without Zion

No.20 Virginia Tech Hokies (22-6, 11-5 ACC) won against the No.3 Duke Blue Devils (24-4, 12-3 ACC) after an intense battle and exciting ending. The final result was 77-72 for the hosts, who posted another win at home against the big rival.

Ty Outlaw hit the clutch three, lifting his team to 73-70 with a minute and a half to go, until the buzzer.

“Everybody knows Ty’s going to knock that down. He’s clutch. Once he let go of it I knew it was going to go in,” said Wabissa Bede who assisted Outlaw for his basket.

Throughout the whole contest, both sides were close, and despite Hokies leading, they weren’t able to pull away and create some big difference. The highest lead they had in the first half was 4 points, while in the second that rose to 5.

Duke was constantly coming back. Even from the situation in which they couldn’t score for some two and a half minutes in the late part of the game, the Blue Devils managed to tie.

In the last moments, Kerry Blackshear Jr. grabbed the offensive rebound and scored both free throws, bringing his team a valuable win.

“They didn’t lose tonight,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said of his team. “Virginia Tech won. There’s a big difference.”

We need to say that the Hokies also had problems entering this match, as their best player Justin Robinson skipped this contest because of an injury.

Blackshear Jr posted a double-double 23 points and 10 boards, Ahmed Hill added 17, Nickeil Alexander-Walker 13.

RJ Barrett led the way for the guests with 21 points, Cam Reddish had 17. Duke is now third in the ACC, and they play at home, against Miami this Saturday. Hokies go to Florida State on Tuesday.

Kentucky Rallies Back After -15

The No.4 Wildcats (24-4, 13-2 SEC) came back from the dead against Arkansas Razorbacks (14-14, 5-10), and scratched a tight but huge win, 70-66.

“Let me say this before we start, Arkansas deserved to win a game,” said Kentucky coach John Calipari. “You got to give them credit.”

With a 7-1 run in the middle of the first half, the guests made an 8-point lead 20-12, which they only increased until the end of the first halftime, 39-28.

With the start of the second 20 minutes, they even made it bigger, but and an 18-3 surge of the hosts turned the situation on the floor upside down, and in no time the Wildcats were ahead 54-51.

But that didn’t break the feisty guests who were not backing down. The game was open until 1.3 seconds, when Ashton Hagans scored two free throws to seal the win.

This win wouldn’t be possible without Tyler Herro who was the initial spark for a huge run which brought Kentucky back into the saddle. Herro dropped 29 points, missing only one shot during the entire game, 9 of 10 from the field, and 4 of 5 from behind the three-point line.

Isiah Joe had 19 for the guests, with 5 threes.

White Leads to A Win

Coby White was masterful in No.5 Tar Heels’ (23-5, 13-2) victory over the Syracuse Orange (18-10, 9-6), 93-85. It was much tougher than anyone expected, but White stepped up and took the responsibility.

Over the past few weeks, he and the whole North Carolina team had a lot of troubles with shooting. That also continued tonight for everyone except White, who made six threes in 11 tries and was perfect from the free throw line, hitting all 10 attempts.

“I was just trying the find the rhythm, just trying to get my confidence back,” said the 6-5 freshman from Goldsboro.

According to the stats after the game he did. White scored 34 points, and was by far the best player on the court providing the energy on both ends and constantly denying Orange’s pushes.

“He’s the best scoring point guard that I’ve covered,” said coach Roy Williams after the game.

The guests were leading at the halftime, 46-43, but the Tar Heels got back in the game with a 12-0 series at the start of the second part of the event. After that, they didn’t look back, but Syracuse was near all the time. North Carolina held the opponent scoreless for three and a half minutes in the late part of the match, and during that time White and the boys went on 7-0 run which secured their victory.

UNC goes to Clemson this Saturday, while Orange heads to meet Wake Forest also on Saturday.