After a deflating loss at Virginia Tech to open ACC play, the Blue Devils returned to Durham and opened 2017 with a bang, dismantling Georgia Tech in a lopsided 110-57 blowout in head coach Mike Krzyzewski's final game before back surgery.
Revisiting the three keys to the game:
- Share the ball: Led by Grayson Allen’s seven dimes, Duke's backcourt made plays all over the floor, finishing with 24 assists and just 10 turnovers. In his return from suspension, Allen played the role of a distributor, setting up Jayson Tatum and Luke Kennard for shots despite the Blue Devils' lack of a true point guard.
- Set the tone early: After spotting the Yellow Jackets a 4-0 lead to start, Duke scored nine straight points and never trailed again, opening up a 16-point lead thanks to four straight 3-pointers from Kennard, Matt Jones and Frank Jackson. Hot shooting early on propelled the Blue Devils to their highest scoring output of the season and their biggest ACC win in more than 50 years.
- Control the inside: Georgia Tech’s starting center Ben Lammers, who entered the game averaging a double-double, managed just nine points and eight boards, and Duke dominated the glass, outrebounding the Yellow Jackets by 18. Harry Giles, Tatum and Amile Jefferson combined for 25 rebounds—almost as many as the 31 Georgia Tech had as a team—and the Blue Devils racked up 44 points in the paint. Giles also contributed 10 points and posted his first career double-double.
Three key stats:
- Seven Blue Devils score in double figures: For the first time in nearly a decade, Duke had seven players in double figures. The Georgia Tech defense was powerless to the Blue Devils' offensive prowess, as Tatum led the team with 19 points.
- Georgia Tech shoots 34.9 percent from the field: After allowing Virginia Tech to shoot better than 55 percent from the field, Duke tightened up its defense against an already offensively-challenged Yellow Jacket squad. The Blue Devils limited second-chance opportunities with 32 defensive boards and forced the visitors into 13 turnovers.
- Duke shoots 51.6 percent from beyond the arc: Despite suffering through a 1-of-7 3-point shooting performance from Tatum, Duke still finished with a season-high 16 made shots from distance. Kennard excelled from range as the sophomore has for much of the season, shooting 4-of-5 from downtown.
Three key plays:
- 13:20 remaining, first half: After draining a triple on the previous possession to give the Blue Devils some momentum, Jackson took a pass near the wing and stepped up to can another 3-pointer. Duke took a 24-11 lead—part of a 14-0 run that blew the game open early.
- 19:18 remaining, second half: To open the second half, the Blue Devils got a welcome sight—a Harry Giles dunk. The nation's top recruit took a long alley-oop pass from Tatum and threw it down to spot Duke a 63-30 lead coming out of the intermission.
- 15:08 remaining, second half: Giles, Tatum and Jackson were not the only freshmen to get in on some offensive action, as Marques Bolden took an offensive board from a Kennard miss back inside for a two-handed jam with the game already well in hand for the Blue Devils.
And the Duke game ball goes to.... Grayson Allen
In his return from what amounted to a one-game suspension, the junior was all over the court, stuffing the stat sheet with 15 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field, including two triples, seven assists, three boards and a steal. Allen did not miss a beat and managed to go the entire game without fouling.
And the Georgia Tech game ball goes to.... Josh Okogie
After announcing his presence in the ACC with 26 points in an upset win Saturday against North Carolina, Okogie put together a gritty performance in a losing effort, scoring 11 points but also grabbing five boards and adding a steal and a block. The freshman has strung together two solid games against top competition for Georgia Tech, a team picked by many to finish near the bottom of the conference standings.
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