ATLANTA -- Duke hasn't exactly come out firing on all cylinders lately.
In the past two games, the Blue Devils have 26 first-half turnovers, but much like they did against Florida State Thursday, Duke's defense kept it in the game Saturday at Georgia Tech until the offense started to click and finally blow away the opposition.
"We didn't come out and handle the ball in either of those games, but the big thing was, we defended," Mike Dunleavy said after Duke's 32-point victory over the Yellow Jackets. "We played well defensively; we turned it over, but they didn't capitalize on it too many times. But in the second half, just like last game, we came out, we executed, we took care of the ball and took good shots."
Playing on the road against a Yellow Jackets' team on a three-game ACc winning streak, Duke appeared to press the ball too much early on. After a Tony Akins jumper brought Georgia Tech back to within six, the Blue Devils turned the ball over three times in a 90-second span. What was once an eight-point lead evaporated to one.
But this was a tale of two halves.
A 14-point lead at the intermission was extended to 20 in under three minutes as the Blue Devils cut down on turnovers in the second half by slowing down the pace of the game and falling into a more comfortable rhythm.
"We tried to slow the tempo down," Jason Williams said of the game's final 20 minutes. "We were relaxed and got into a pace and a style that we're used to playing. We just really connected a lot. We got Mike a lot more touches in the second half, and he really produced for us."
As the team began to loosen up, its execution became more and more precise. Duke began playing with a free-flowing style that completely overwhelmed the Ramblin' Wreck.
"Our execution in the second half was pretty incredible," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Everything that we asked them to do, they not only did it, but they scored on it.
"They missed some shots, and we hit everything--that knocks you back. We were incredibly efficient during that time. I thought they were going to make a run, but because of our offense, we kept a double figure lead and then just kind of spurted."
Just as it did in the first half, the Blue Devils' defense clamped down and suffocated the Yellow Jackets, who managed only 29 second-half points. This, compounded with Duke's offense performing as productive as it has at any point this season, yielded disaster for Tech, who never made a late run at Duke.
"They played extremely well," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt added. "I thought we played hard, but they just deflated us."
As both Williams and Dunleavy began knocking down shots, the duo scored 12-of-14 points for the Blue Devils in a three-minute run to break open a 33-point advantage with 9:17 remaining. Williams' six-assist, one-turnover performance in 17-second half minutes helped Duke spread the ball around, find open shots, and methodically pick Tech's defense apart.
Consequently, Dunleavy hit two nearly identical three-pointers from the corner off of inbounds passes from under the hoop.
"We got into the groove, but it's not always as easy as it looks," Dunleavy said of the Blue Devils' seemingly effortless second half. "We shot well, we played good defense, and we executed. In my mind, we took care of the ball a lot better in the second half. It's just exciting, you pick up your offense, you pick up your defense, you just never want to come out of the game."
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