Duke will look to defeat host Georgia Tech for the 16th time in the past 17 meetings when they meet in Atlantic Coast Conference play on Saturday in Atlanta.
The Blue Devils’ lone loss to the Yellow Jackets during that span dating to February 2010 came in overtime last year.
They will hope their dominance over Georgia Tech continues under first-year coach Jon Scheyer, after Mike Krzyzewski went 61-19 against the Yellow Jackets during his 42 years of leading the Blue Devils.
Duke (14-6, 5-4 ACC) has fallen to ninth in the 15-team conference after dropping two of its past three games, the most recent a 78-75 loss at Virginia Tech on Monday.
Georgia Tech (8-12, 1-9) has dropped six straight games after a 72-51 loss at No. 24 Clemson on Tuesday.
In Duke’s tight defeat Monday, Kyle Filipowski, who averages 15.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, finished with a season-high 29 points and game-high 10 rebounds. Dariq Whitehead and Tyrese Proctor added 10 points apiece.
Jeremy Roach – Duke’s second-leading scorer at 11.6 points per game – scored just six against the Hokies on 3 of 9 shooting.
“Ultimately, just really one play short,” Scheyer said. “You can point to a few plays, but they made one more play than us, that’s how it can be on the road. Credit (Virginia Tech). I know it was an important game for them. It was an important game for us. Hate it for our guys, we’ll learn from it, keep growing. Long way to go.”
Georgia Tech’s loss wasn’t nearly as close.
The Yellow Jackets trailed 12-0 in the first three minutes against Clemson and by as many as 21 points in the second half.
Georgia Tech, which was held to a season-low 51 points, was led by Deivon Smith’s 11 points and game-high 10 rebounds, while Ja’von Franklin chipped in 12 points.
“(Most 3-pointers) were wide-open shots and we just missed most of them,” Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner said after his team went 4 of 23 from distance. “As a coach, what are you going to do? You can’t tell them not to shoot it when they are open. … I thought at times I could tell as the ball was releasing that it wasn’t going to go in.”
Miles Kelly, who averages a team-high 13.4 points per game, scored nine points against the Tigers.
–Field Level Media
