ATLANTA—The Blue Devils knew they were going to be without senior captain Amile Jefferson for the 13th straight game Tuesday. They found out Tuesday morning that head coach Mike Krzyzewski would miss his first game since 1995 after remaining in Durham following a trip to Duke University Hospital Monday.
But Duke still had Grayson Allen, and that proved to be plenty to get the Blue Devils back on track with one of their best halves of ACC play.
Duke shook off the rust from an eight-day layoff to down Georgia Tech 80-71 at Hank McCamish Pavilion behind Allen's 27 points. The sophomore guard drilled a career-high seven 3-pointers before fouling out in the game's final minute, and associate head coach Jeff Capel switched from zone to man-to-man as the Blue Devils stymied the Yellow Jackets in the second half.
“I thought it ignited everything about us,” Capel said of playing man-to-man. “It gave us energy, I thought it ignited our offense and we rode Grayson there for a big-time part of the second half.”
Georgia Tech (12-10, 2-7 in the ACC) had few problems scoring down low early on. Twenty of the team’s first 26 points came in the paint, with redshirt senior Nick Jacobs depositing six of his first seven field goal attempts. Capel used freshmen Chase Jeter and Antonio Vrankovic—seeing his first action since late December—to stop the bleeding, but they were each pulled after limited action.
Late in the half, Capel made the decision to go man-to-man, which slowed the Yellow Jackets to just three points in the final three minutes.
Georgia Tech still led 40-36 coming out of intermission, but Allen stepped up, hitting three triples in the opening 2:24 to help Duke (16-6, 5-4) retake the lead. Adam Smith also scored three buckets in the opening minutes on the other end, but the Blue Devils grabbed a 49-48 lead on an Allen lay-up with 14:40 to go and never looked back.
After a Brandon Ingram free throw, the Blue Devils seized momentum for good. They recorded a pivotal stop when freshman Derryck Thornton forced a turnover, and classmate Luke Kennard found him on the other end for a lay-up that forced a Georgia Tech timeout.
But Duke was just getting started
Thornton delivered another layup on the next Blue Devil possession, followed by a Plumlee dunk, an Allen jumper, another Thornton layup and yet another 3-pointer by Allen.
“That second half, we went on that run—we were defending, we were getting rebounds [and] we were executing. It was beautiful basketball,” Capel said.
Starting in place of Kennard, Thornton appeared fresh off the eight-day break, shooting 7-of-11 for 15 points and handing out three assists in 30 minutes in his first start since a loss Jan. 13 at Clemson. Ingram—who could not get going from the field and shot just 3-of-15—contributed by getting to the charity stripe, where he sank 7-of-8 free-throws to still wind up with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Ingram contributed on the defensive glass as well, an important area against one of the ACC’s top rebounding teams. Duke has struggled on the glass without Jefferson throughout conference play, but the Blue Devils outrebounded Georgia Tech 39-38 overall, including a 20-9 margin on the defensive glass in the second half. Plumlee grabbed 12 rebounds to complement his 4-for-4 shooting day, and Yellow Jacket big man Charles Mitchell—the ACC’s leading rebounder—had just six boards and two points.
“We just put an emphasis on stopping their points in the paint and being physical with their guys down there,” Allen said. “Their post guys were getting deep position, so we tried to stop letting that happen.”
Duke collapsed on the interior thanks to a poor showing by Georgia Tech on the perimeter. The Yellow Jackets shot 2-of-19 from deep, and even the usually dead-eye Smith saw an invisible hand blocking the basket, as he went 1-of-6 from beyond the arc.
Still, Georgia Tech crawled back into the game after Duke’s 18-2 run. In just more than two minutes, the Yellow Jackets reduced a 15-point deficit to seven with 58 seconds left to play. Layups, dunks and free throws accounted for the last 16 Georgia Tech points, reminiscent of the Blue Devils’ 80-69 loss at Miami Jan. 25 and the sign of a team worn down by six players logging heavy minutes.
It did not help that a young Duke team turned the ball over frequently down the stretch against the ninth-oldest team in the country. But Kennard helped keep the game out of reach with a dunk and four free throws during the last minute.
“We got a little tight there in the end. We got a little lax, and we got a little tired and we were sloppy, but we were able to make some plays to hang on,” Capel said.
The win marks another close loss for the Yellow Jackets, whose previous three home losses this season came by a total of six points. But for the Blue Devils, Tuesday offered another second-half comeback on the backs of Allen and Thornton, as was the case in November when the duo helped seal victories at the 2K Classic in New York.
“Our ultimate goal every night is to come in and win, so for to do that, snap a little streak and get a new beginning for us feels good,” Allen said.
Duke will take on N.C. State at Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday at 2 p.m. eyeing a second straight win.
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