Sometimes there's no rest for the weary.
After an exhilarating win over North Carolina Wednesday night, the men's basketball team doesn't have a lot of time to celebrate. On Sunday at 3:30 p.m., No. 12 Duke (16-5, 5-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) will face another ACC foe when Georgia Tech (8-10, 2-6) travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium. The matchup will be a crucial one for both the Blue Devils and the Yellow Jackets, as both teams are hungry for another ACC victory.
"We feel great about the win [against Carolina]," Duke assistant coach Quin Snyder said. "But you can't ever be satisfied after one win... It's not about winning one game, it's about playing consistently. Every conference game is going to be significant. Road games in the ACC are very difficult to win, so you have to win at home. It's important for us to hold the home court."
Duke has contended with Georgia Tech once this season already, when it traveled to Alexander Memorial Coliseum on January 5. The Rambling Wreck's rebounding prowess almost caused the Blue Devils' demise, but they came through in the clutch. After trailing by 11 points at the half, Duke rallied from behind to bring home a 66-56 victory.
"The game at Georgia Tech was a war," Snyder said. "They were outrebounding us. That's one of their strengths, and it's something we've had to work on."
Georgia Tech's greatest asset lies in its frontcourt, where center Eddie Elisma and forward Matt Harpring loom large. Elisma is third in the ACC in rebounds, averaging 8.5 boards per game, and is second only to Wake Forest's Tim Duncan in blocks, with 2.5 blocks per game.
Harpring, a 1996 All-ACC pick, is the third-leading scorer in the ACC with 19.6 points per game. Junior forward Michael Maddox could present a threat to the Blue Devils in the paint as well.
Duke, on the other hand, has been struggling under the basket of late. Junior forward Roshown McLeod stepped into the limelight on Wednesday, compiling 14 points and 11 boards against UNC. Senior center Greg Newton, however, has had disappointing performances against Carolina and Maryland, scoring 3 and 5 points, respectively. Frustrated with his recent performance, Newton hopes to stifle Harpring and Elisma and make a comeback against Tech.
"I've been trying to assert myself for a while, but it hasn't been working out and things haven't been falling for me," Newton said. "It gets frustrating, but you've just got to battle through it and keep my head up.... Even if your shots aren't falling and you can't get a break, you can still play defense and work hard and help the team."
While the Yellow Jackets possess a potent frontcourt, their backcourt is not quite as strong. Stephon Marbury, Georgia Tech's freshman point guard sensation in the 1995-1996 season, opted for the NBA draft and is now playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Marbury's defection left a gaping hole in the Yellow Jackets' lineup, as they are near the cellar of the ACC this year, just behind Florida State, in eighth place. In the absence of Marbury, it has been up to freshman point guard Kevin Morris to fill the void. Morris has made a name for himself in the conference, ranking eighth in the ACC for assists, with 3.8 a contest, and averaging 6.9 points and 1.7 steals per game, but he is not another Marbury.
Beyond Morris and sophomore shooting guard Gary Saunders, however, Georgia Tech is lacking in depth on the perimeter. Morris is the only scholarship point guard, and the two shooting guards who could contend with Saunders for a spot in the starting lineup, Jon Babul and Jason Floyd, are both freshmen. This lack of experience at guard could prove to be the Yellow Jackets' undoing.
Although Duke defeated Georgia Tech on the road earlier this season, Sunday's game is far from a sure thing. Will Newton and McLeod be able to keep Harpring and Elisma at bay? How will Morris match up against the trio of Langdon, Wojciechowski and Capel? Is Tech's desire for a conference win strong enough to counter Duke's momentum after beating UNC? Whatever the answers may turn out to be, the Blue Devils are prepared to go all out for a victory.
"We just want to win one game at a time," McLeod said. "We want to come out Sunday, we want to play Georgia Tech aggressively and impose our will on them.... I don't think we're expected to win because every team in the ACC is very good. You can't expect to beat anyone. If we don't come out and play Duke basketball, we can come up short. It happened early in the game down there. They were imposing their will on us and we had to fight back. That's not a position we want to put ourselves in on Sunday."
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