Defense Propels Duke to Win Over Georgia Tech

The Blue Devils took the court for their first action in over two weeks when they hosted the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – defeating them 69-57 to improve their conference record to 2-0.

It was admittedly a rough couple of weeks for the Duke program as they recovered from a Covid-19 outbreak that Coach K said affected nearly the entire team.

“This has been a really tough time for us. There are still more cases around our athletic department. This is a tough time. We have to keep working at it. Now most of our team has had it and most of our staff. We just have to start building again.

The Blue Devils were rusty offensively – having only practiced once as a team during the pause, but it was consistency on the defensive end that propelled them to a win.

“That was an exhausting game because we both played really hard defensively,” Krzyzewski said after the win. “That is what saved it for us. The lack of practice, lack of conditioning and they [Georgia Tech] had an impact on our offensive execution – shots and free throws, But it did not defensively and rebounding. We talked about it at halftime. I told them, ‘I know you guys are tired, but you cannot be tired on the defensive end.’”

“We were a little tired…more than usual,” freshman Paolo Banchero said. “We only had one practice to get ready. Everybody’s coming off COVID-19 and we were kind of struggling offensively, so he was just reminding us that no matter what was happening on that end
that we had to keep playing defense and keep stopping them from scoring.”

Freshman Paolo Banchero scored a team-high 17 points, including 11 rebounds, four assists, a career-high three blocks and two steals. It marked the freshman’s second career double-double and his first since the Army game on 11/12/21.

Sophomore Mark Williams also had a double-double – his second this season and fourth of his career – with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. He also blocked three shots. It was the second time this season that multiple Duke players had a double-double in the same game (Army on 11/12/21).

Freshman Trevor Keels scored 10 points – his fifth consecutive game in double figures – with five rebounds. Keels is the only Blue Devil to hit a three-pointer in every game this season.

Freshman AJ Griffin was Duke’s fourth player in double figures with 12 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 from the free-throw line. He also matched a career-high with six rebounds. Over Duke’s five-game winning streak, Griffin is 20-of-31 (.645) from the field, 12-of-15 (.800) at the free throw line with 20 rebounds, 10 assists and one turnover.

Next up the Blue Devils will take on the Miami Hurricanes Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Team Notes

• Mike Krzyzewski is in his 42nd season as Duke’s head coach, and his record is now 1,109-303 at Duke, and 1,182-362 overall in this, his 47th season overall.

• The game marked the 100th in the series versus Georgia Tech, with Duke now leading 76-24. At Cameron Indoor, Duke has won 12 straight in the series and now leads 38-5 in home games.

• Duke held its ninth opponent this season to less than 70 points – four straight opponents have scored 65 or fewer.

• Duke held Georgia Tech to its lowest field goal percentage of the season of .328 – GT also shot .328 against USC on 12/18/21.

• Duke also shot a season low .373 from the field. Its previous season low of .385 came at Ohio State.

• Duke has now connected on at least one three-point field goal in 1,127 consecutive games – the nation’s second longest active streak.

• Duke blocked eight shots, marking its sixth game this season with six or more blocks.

• Duke is now 924-168 all-time when playing at Cameron Indoor Stadium, including a 566-73 mark under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

• The game marked the 481st consecutive sell-out crowd at Cameron Indoor Stadium – a streak that dates back to Nov. 16, 1990. It is the longest sell-out streak (by time) in either men’s college basketball or the NBA.