Virginia Tech buzzer-beater miss vs. Duke will haunt Hokies, but they’ll be back

Sometimes, the difference between winning and losing a game comes down to mere inches. Virginia Tech was on the bad side of that coin against Duke.

The Virginia Tech Hokies were mere inches away from sending a hard-fought Sweet 16 into overtime against their conference rivals, the Duke Blue Devils.

Guard Ahmed Hill, who was second on the team in scoring with 15 points, was in perfect view of getting points number 16 and 17, two important points that would have knotted the score at 75-all, and send a thrilling matchup into bonus basketball, which is what everyone needed.

There, Virginia Tech could have pulled off a monumental upset of the team that many have marked on their brackets to win it all this season. They would have had supreme conference bragging rights, being the team that sent Zion Williamson right into the NBA Draft instead of the Elite 8.

Hill had all of that riding on his shoulders when he caught a perfectly thrown ally-opp with 0.6 seconds remaining. Hill had a clear-as-day look at the rim, and it was almost certain that he was going to lay it in, and send the game into overtime, with Virginia Tech breathing new life.

But the shot didn’t drop. Duke hung on. Virginia Tech’s season was over just like that.

Worried about the clock, Hill lobbed a soft layup toward the rim, which bounced off the right side, off the backboard, and harmlessly to the floor, allowing Zion and the Blue Devils to narrowly escape to the Elite 8, and leaving Hill, and the Virginia Tech bench, stunned in disbelief.

It was right there. The bragging rights, the trip to the Elite 8, all right there on Hill’s fingertips, and he muffed it. Mere inches was all that separated Virginia Tech with destiny and the Basketball Gods delivered a cruel twist of fate to the Hokies.

Trust and believe, the Hokies will never forget this moment, for better and for worse.