ATLANTA - Any college basketball coach would agree that depth is a nice thing to have. But when wearing teams out with depth isn't the answer, it's even nicer to have a few offensive stars to carry a team by themselves.
The Blue Devils found out just how nice that could be Saturday afternoon, when the Big Three-Trajan Langdon, Elton Brand and William Avery-strapped the offense to their backs during the second half of Duke's 87-79 win at Georgia Tech.
Duke has had few occasions to have to lean on its stars while marching through the ACC schedule. Reserves like Nate James have seen their offensive roles increase, and just last week ace defender Shane Battier exploded for 27 points in a win against Maryland.
But Georgia Tech forced a change away from that trend by building a 40-35 lead after 20 minutes at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The Blue Devils were out of sync in their halfcourt offense and Tech's Jason Collier (with 15 first-half points) was the game's most prominent big man instead of Brand (who shot just 1-of-6 in the first half).
The first sign of light came when Langdon knocked down a seven-foot jumper with three seconds left in the half. He then buried his first trey of the game two minutes after the break.
But his most important contribution came in the middle of the second half, when he scored eight points during a 10-2 Duke run that knotted the game at 59 with 8:42 left to play.
After the game, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski credited his players with having the wisdom to continue to look for Langdon after a slow start.
"When you can shoot you've got to keep shooting," he said. "What I thought was great about our basketball team was that [the players] were all talking about getting him the ball. We wouldn't have won this game if he didn't go on that streak-there's no question about it."
Battier's mindset typified those of his teammates at the time.
"Once Trajan got hot, we knew we had to ride him," he said. "Trajan did an excellent job of finding the cracks, getting the looks."
Brand got his turn to take over a few minutes later. With Collier and Alvin Jones in foul trouble, Brand scored 12 of his 17 points in a span of just over four minutes, responding to several key Tech baskets with emphatic dunks.
He also did a lot of his damage while playing through foul trouble of his own. Brand was whistled for his fourth foul while guarding Jones with 5:49 to play, but Krzyzewski decided to leave him in the game.
"On defense, he switched from Jones to Collier," said Krzyzewski. "A good player has to know how to play with four fouls. With six minutes left, that's when the game had to be won."
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils' point guard also found his shot. After a five-point first half, Avery finished with 18 points, knocking down several big threes. He also rediscovered Langdon and Brand in the halfcourt game, dishing out all six of his assists in the last 20 minutes.
In all, the Big Three totaled 58 points-including 44 of Duke's 52 in the second half. In a contest that saw Tech's best player, Collier, have what Krzyzewski called a "spectacular" day, the fate of Duke's undefeated ACC mark lay in the hands of its best players, and they proved equal to the challenge.
"I can't say enough about Langdon and Brand," Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins said. "A month ago I said they were the best team in the nation, and I'm going to stick to that."
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