Virginia Tech Hokies, Hunter Cattoor catch fire at right time to earn automatic NCAA tournament bid

BROOKLYN, New York — Despite Hunter Cattoor's struggles over the past month, his Virginia Tech teammates continually reminded him of the same thing: «You're the best shooter in the gym, you're the best shooter in the gym.»

On Saturday, he proved them right.

Cattoor made seven 3-pointers and scored 31 points to lead the No. 7-seeded Hokies to their first ACC championship in an 82-67 win over top-seeded Duke.

«He had a Klay Thompson night,» Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Cattoor, a junior guard from Orlando, hit four 3-pointers in the first 13 minutes of the game and then scored nine points in the first 4 minutes, 16 seconds of the second half to push Virginia Tech's lead out to 10. Duke wouldn't get closer than five the rest of the game.

«Honestly, it was kind of a blur going through it,» Cattoor said. «Coach [Mike] Young talked to us before in the locker room [and said] just go out there and have fun, and so I was kind of that. I dreamed of moments like this.»

After making better than 40% of his 3-point attempts as a freshman and sophomore and starting off similarly strong as a junior, Cattoor hit a wall during ACC play. Over his past 13 games, he has made just 25% of his 3-point attempts, going 4-for-13 in the first three games of the ACC tournament.

But he came out on fire on Saturday, consistently getting clean looks against Duke's defense in the opening minutes. When the shots started falling, his teammates knew they had to find ways to get him open.

«It's like I'm sitting on the couch watching TV,» senior guard Storm Murphy said. «He's just not missing a thing. We want him to get every shot when he's hot like that. We're talking to him about continuing to just shoot it. Over the last month he hasn't shot it so