Mike Shroyer / SPPSDuke player, Lance Thomas, (42), charges Deron Washington ,(13), during the game at Duke last January where Virginia Tech won.

Correction: This story misidentified Duke's Lance Thomas as Kyle Singler. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.

Tech, a school with far less basketball history than many of its Atlantic Coast Conference colleagues, can boast a reasonably impressive level of success against Duke. The Hokies are 2-3 against the Blue Devils as members of the ACC and are a 45-foot Sean Dockery buzzer beater from leading the recent series against Duke.

All of the Tech vs. Duke ACC meetings have seen the Hokies encounter a Blue Devil team that was ranked in the top-10. In four of those games Duke was in the top-five, and three times they were No. 1 or No. 2. Given such, Tech's 2-3 record stacks up pretty well against the rest of the league.

In fact, when comparing each league member's last four games against Duke, only Florida State and Maryland are also 2-2, as is Tech, while only North Carolina can best Tech's four-game record with a 3-1 mark of its own. Duke's recent record against the Hokies may serve as a motivating factor for the Blue Devils this evening.

"They beat us last year in our first ACC game," said sophomore Duke gaurd Gerald Henderson, who enters the game averaging 13.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. "It's not just about them. It's also about us going 4-(0) in the conference and getting another road win. It's about a lot of things, but, definitely—yeah, we want to get back at them 'cause we lost our last time against them."

But leaving Blacksburg with a victory is not something easy to achieve. The Hokies are 7-0 in Cassell Coliseum this season—a building basketball writer John Feinstein listed as one of his "10 great places to get pumped for NCAA action." But it's not just prominent members of the media who get pumped for games in such places, players enjoy them, too.

"I think there's something to be said for the old arenas," Henderson said. "They get really loud and there's more of a close and home atmosphere to (them). I definitely like playing at places like that."

The Hokies will be without the services of Jeff Allen, who is second on the team in scoring (12.8 ppg) and first in rebounding (8.1rpg). The freshman forward was suspended for this evening's game against Duke and Saturday's contest at Boston College after he was ejected from last Saturday's game against Georgia Tech for bumping into an official on his way to the bench following his fifth foul.

"Definitely that's a blow to their team," said Duke assistant coach Chris Collins. "I think he's one of the best young big guys on the league. He's a load down in the paint, outstanding rebounder (and) can score in the block … It'll affect what they do offensively, I think a little bit, down low."

Freshman forward J.T. Thompson is currently listed as Allen's replacement in the starting lineup, but Tech head coach Seth Greenberg has been known to stray from the lineup posted the day before the game. In fact, there could be a few players working in Allen's place.

"I think what we've done all season long is we've basically looked at matchups and then decided what we're going to do with our starting lineup," Greenberg said. "It'll be no different for Thursday night or Saturday afternoon … We'll look and see at the lineup that'll give us our best chance to be successful."

The different-look Hokies will have to defend a Duke team that likes to play a small lineup highlighted by senior guard DeMarcus Nelson (14.3 ppg) and freshman forward Kyle Singler (13.1 ppg).

"I think DeMarcus has been an incredible leader for this team," Collins said. "I think he's probably one of the more underrated guys in our conference … He's been very consistent. He's a steady force."

"He's really a heck of a basketball player," Collins said of Singler. "He's never going to be a guy that, I think, throws up 30 points or these monster stats … He makes a lot of little plays. He plays both ends of the floor. He leaves everything on the court and gives you everything he's got."

With Duke's depth of talent and the Hokies playing shorthanded, Tech will likely need to see some young role players step up and play like seasoned veterans if it is to beat the Blue Devils for the second-straight season.

Tip-off from Cassell Coliseum is set for 7 p.m. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN.

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