After enjoying its longest in-season break of the year, No. 6 Duke begins Atlantic Coast Conference play when it hosts Georgia Tech on Wednesday in Durham, N.C.
Duke (11-1) hasn’t taken the court since it blew a 17-point second-half lead to then-No. 19 Texas Tech in an 82-81 loss on Dec. 20.
Of the improvements that head coach Jon Scheyer’s group needs to make before conference play, the team’s 70.3% free-throw percentage is at the forefront. Duke, which ranked 11th nationally last season with a 79% clip, missed 12 foul shots in the loss to the Red Raiders.
“It’s not time and energy,” Scheyer said of the possible cause for the subpar shooting. “We put game pressure on them (in practice). Overall, I think we have a good shooting team. We have a good free-throw shooting team, so I have confidence we’re going to make them going forward. That’s something I’ve always prided myself and my teams on, so I’ve got to help them more.”
What Scheyer knows he has ahead of the ACC opener is a freshman phenom in Cameron Boozer. The son of former Duke great Carlos, and twin of fellow frosh Cayden, Boozer leads the nation with 23.3 points per game, while also pacing Duke in rebounds per game (10.0), assists (4.0) and steals (1.7) per contest.
Boozer’s production is backed by sophomores Isaiah Evans (11.8 ppg) and Patrick Ngongba II (11.1 ppg) and junior Caleb Foster (9.0 ppg) — three veterans that helped the Blue Devils go 19-1 in conference a season ago.
“We’ve got weapons,” Boozer said. “We’ve got guys at every position that can shoot, drive, pass. We’re nine deep.”
Duke has beaten Georgia Tech 13 straight times at Cameron Indoor Stadium, last falling at home to the Yellow Jackets in March 2004.
Georgia Tech (9-4) is riding a season-long four-game winning streak, but failed to earn a victory over a power-conference team in the nonconference slate. Head coach Damon Stoudamire’s team is led by a balanced scoring offense, as Kowacie Reeves Jr.’s 15.4 ppg and Baye Ndongo’s 12.1 clip pace five players averaging double-digit points per contest.
“Offensively, we’ve been getting better,” Stoudamire said. “You can see that, and we have to just continue to move in that direction. When I envisioned this team when we put it together, I thought we would have a lot of people in double figures. We might not have a 20-point guy right now, but every game it could be somebody different.”
Another piece that Stoudamire could rely on in conference action is Boston College transfer Chas Kelley III, whose 14 points against Florida A&M on Sunday were a season high.
“He’s done a good job,” Stoudamire said of Kelley. “I thought early on he was trying to do too much. I told him you don’t have to impress me. I’ve seen a whole lot of basketball. I need you to understand the assignment, and that’s to make sure the ball’s moving.”
–Field Level Media
