The Duke Blue Devils came out with a purpose in their 88-64 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The Blue Devils were coming off an upset loss to N.C. State and the way they responded by showing that the game might have been an aberration.

With the win, the Blue Devils (13-3, 24-4) move back into a tie for second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference with Florida State. Louisville, with a win over North Carolina today, remains in first place with a half-game lead.

Duke delivered a technical knockout by halftime where they connected on 8 of 15 three-point shots for a 51-25 lead at the break. It was hard to keep the intensity up in the second half, but the Blue Devils closed the game well after a sluggish start where Justin Robinson nailed two late three-pointers.

Cassius Stanley, who had 16 at the half, ended the contest with game-high 21 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. He also had a season-high 5 -3 pointers.

Tre Jones added 14 points including two dagger three-pointers to start the game for Duke.

Matthew Hurt had a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds which was his career-high on the glass.

Vernon Carey Jr. had a near double-double where he added 14 points and 9 rebounds.

Duke shut down the ACC's fourth-leading scorer in the Hokies Landers Nolly who ended the contest with a mere 3 points.

The Blue Devils also outrebounded the Hokies by a margin of 49-31 and they held a 14-5 edge on the offensive glass. The rebound margin was the largest differential in any ACC game played this season.

Duke is an impressive 21-1 vs the Hokies in Cameron.

Duke never trailed the Hokies which dropped to 15-12 overall.

Duke will visit Winston Salem, N.C. to take Wake Forest this Tuesday in a game that will tipoff just after 7:00 on the ACC Network. There are just four regular-season games left on the 2019-20 regular-season schedule before March Madness gets underway.

Sidebar -

• Five-star, 2020 high school prepster, Parick Baldwin was on a Duke visit.
• Duke beat their next opponent, Wake Forest, 90-59 in Cameron in early January.
• The Blue Devils have now connected on at least one three-pointer in 1,086 consecutive games.
• The win marked Coach K’s 1,000th when coaching a ranked Duke team. Duke is 1,000-226 when playing as a ranked team in the Coach K era.
• Duke is now 13-0 this season when scoring 85+ points in a game.
• Jordan Goldwire matched his career-high with six rebounds
• .Duke is now 34-5 in games that Jones scores in double figures in his career.