Breathe easy Duke fans, Ryan Kelly is back. If you haven't noticed already, the Blue Devils are unbeaten when he's been on the floor, a trend that's going to continue tonight against Virginia Tech.
Coming off an extremely impressive shooting performance at home against Miami, Kelly seems to have provided Duke with the offensive spark they need when things start to deteriorate, but little has been mentioned of the tremendous effort he gives on defense. The guy's a hustler, consistently putting a hand in a shooter's face and unafraid to use his body to square off others trying to get low on the block.
His play, however, has not gone unnoticed by his coach.
"I mean, me saying 'spectacular' or whatever doesn't do his performance justice," said coach Mike Krzyzewski, who notched his 400th ACC victory. "One for the ages. Probably as good a performance as any player has had -- a Duke player has had -- in Cameron."
Kelly will be vastly important for Duke as they make a run in the tournament, as they went 1-2 last year in his absence with a foot injury. Some wonder if that injury is going to rear its ugly head again, but Kelly has been wearing an orthotic that he says has made a world of difference. So we'll see.
Virginia Tech sits at (13-16) and in last place. To say they're having a season they'd rather forget is an understatement.
The lone bright spot for the Hokies has been the nation's leading scorer Erick Green, who's averaging 25.0 points per game and had 29 on 8-of-12 shooting in his final home game Saturday, leading the Hokies to a 69-61 win over Clemson.
It's been an unbelievable rise for the freshman after being held to a meager single digit total just last year.
Prediction: Duke wins in a land slide as they try to make a statement.
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