NEW YORK — All the uncertainty for the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team vanished Saturday night in the ACC tournament championship game. The seventh-seeded Hokies, who entered the week unsure about making the NCAA tournament, stunned No. 1 seed Duke, 82-67, to guarantee themselves a spot thanks to a transcendent performance from Hunter Cattoor.
The junior guard finished with a career-high 31 points, making 7 of 9 three-pointers to bust out of a slump and help Virginia Tech (23-12) win the ACC tournament for the first time.
Keve Aluma added 19 points, including a layup with 2:11 left for a 78-64 lead that all but sealed the outcome. That brought the Virginia Tech fans at Barclays Center to their feet as Cattoor, named the tournament’s most outstanding player, raised both arms and urged the crowd to join him in celebration. With four wins in four nights, Virginia Tech was about to become the first No. 7 seed to win the ACC tournament.
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At the final buzzer, Hokies players mobbed one another at center court, dancing to “Enter Sandman” as orange confetti floated down and Duke players walked to the locker room, unable to give retiring coach Mike Krzyzewski an ACC tournament title in his final appearance.
Freshman Paolo Banchero led the Blue Devils (28-6) with 20 points and Wendell Moore Jr. added 11 as Duke shot 4 for 20 on three-pointers and committed 10 turnovers that led to 16 Hokies points.
“Pretty big, man,” Hokies Coach Mike Young said. “I referenced it last night. We have a box, and we put all these cool things in it. It’s a process, and at the end of the season we’ll pull it all out, and we’ll savor and we’ll congratulate and pat one another on the back. It’s significant. We’re going to play in the NCAA tournament.”
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Holding a 59-51 lead midway through the second half, the Hokies fended off bids from Duke to whittle its deficit to fewer than two possessions. After Moore’s three-pointer made it 59-54, Justyn Mutts scored on a contested turnaround jumper in the lane.
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Darius Maddox then sank consecutive jumpers after the Blue Devils had pulled within six. The sophom*ore guard hit the most memorable shot of this tournament, a three-pointer at the overtime buzzer to beat Clemson in Wednesday’s second round.
Earlier Saturday night, Virginia Tech opened its first double-digit lead following Cattoor’s sixth three-pointer without a miss and a three-point play in which he stole the ball, passed to Storm Murphy and then got the ball back while cutting into the lane for a layup and drawing a foul.
Cattoor made the free throw, and the Hokies were ahead 55-45 with 15:44 left. He finally missed from behind the arc a few moments later, but his layup with 14:19 to play preceded Duke starting center Mark Williams picking up his fourth foul.
Krzyzewski elected to keep Williams and guard Jeremy Roach, also with four personals, on the floor. Minutes later he took exception to an offensive foul assessed to Banchero, rising from his seat and stalking an official to voice his displeasure.
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An 8-0 run late in the first half paved the way for the Hokies to lead 42-39 at halftime. Virginia Tech had been in front by as many as seven several times, including after Aluma’s layup to close a stretch in which he scored 11 of the Hokies’ 13 points.
Making its first four three-point attempts sparked Virginia Tech to an early lead. Cattoor sank two in a row, and his third of the half followed by a three-point play tied the score at 22. Moments later, Cattoor made another three-pointer to give the Hokies a 27-26 lead with 7:04 to go. His three-point barrage more than made up for a 10-game skid in which he went 14 for 47 (29.8 percent) from behind the arc.
“I was going through a shooting slump, and every time in practice, every time in the games, my teammates would tell me I’m the best shooter in the gym,” Cattoor said. “So just having that mind-set and that trust from my players, it’s welcoming to hear that.”
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Even before Saturday’s result, the Hokies had made a furious push to be included in the NCAA tournament’s field of 68 by winning 12 of 14 entering the ACC final, including victories over No. 2 seed Notre Dame in the quarterfinals and third-seeded North Carolina in the semifinals. The win against the Tar Heels gave Virginia Tech a third Quadrant 1 win in just its fourth appearance in the ACC semifinals and its first since 2011.
A NET ranking — one of the metrics the NCAA selection committee considers when awarding an at-large berth — of 30 entering Saturday benefited Virginia Tech, but losses to bubble teams Xavier, Wake Forest and Dayton were part of the case against the Hokies. After Saturday night’s win, that no longer mattered.
“The team we played was not sure that they were going to make the tournament because of all the prognosticators,” Krzyzewski said. “They punched their ticket vehemently tonight, and God bless them. They deserve it. That’s the beauty of our sport.”
