ATLANTA - Down by five points to Georgia Tech at halftime wasn't quite where Trajan Langdon had envisioned his team.
So he decided to do something about it.
Despite a recent slump, the senior took charge Saturday at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, making four three-pointers and scoring 16 points in the second half to spur the second-ranked Blue Devils (23-1, 11-0 in the ACC) to an 87-79 victory over Georgia Tech (13-10, 4-7).
"I was just trying to pull us together and do anything that I could," Langdon said. "I tried to get us going and I tried to lead."
And regardless of the Yellow Jackets' efforts to stop him, Langdon led. On one play, Langdon battled a Tech screen and drained a long, off-balance three-pointer, falling to the ground afterward.
"He made a heck of a three on a screen," said Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins. "That one shot, that was ridiculous."
Langdon's offensive explosion also ignited Will Avery and Elton Brand, who contributed 13 and 15 points, respectively, in the second half.
The beginning of Langdon's scoring run, a 21-foot three-pointer with Duke down by eight at 11:02, coincided with Jason Collier's two-minute breather. By the time the seven-foot Collier re-entered the game, the Blue Devils
Collier, who became eligible to play for the Yellow Jackets in January after transferring from Indiana last season, destroyed the Blue Devils, scoring 26 points and hitting 4-of-5 from three-point range.
"Jason Collier was spectacular," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "Collier was big-time."
Collier was the dominant factor in the Blue Devils' dismal play in the first half, somehow shutting down Duke's inside game while simultaneously draining threes. The Yellow Jackets held Brand and Shane Battier to only two points and Avery to three points in the first 20 minutes.
Duke also made its own woes in the first half, sinking only 3-of-8 from the free throw line. Although the Blue Devils led 11-2 early in the game, Tech battled back to a 40-35 halftime lead. The Yellow Jackets increased their lead immediately after halftime, leading by 10 with 16:31 left in the game.
Krzyzewski was quick to give credit to the Yellow Jackets and his longtime friend Cremins.
"We feel proud of our win today because we beat a team that played an amazing ballgame," he said. "There's nobody who roots more for Bobby than me-not today-but otherwise. Today was like the old Duke-Georgia Tech games, but we didn't win in the old days."
The Blue Devils' victory also means the likely No. 1 ranking in today's AP poll. Duke began the season No. 1 but has stayed at the No. 2 spot since Dec. 14.
The top ranking, however, means little to the team in early February.
"I've talked not at all, ever, this season about being No. 1, ever," Krzyzewski said. "We've been No. 1, and we understand what being No. 1 is, but you don't talk about it. You talk about being down at halftime."
Battier added that the team was looking beyond mid-season rankings.
"No. 1 feels the exact same as No. 2, which feels the exact same as No. 3 or No. 4," he said. "We don't think it's important to us right now. We talk about it in April, when it counts."
Another statistical accomplishment which the Blue Devils do not discuss is the ever-increasing possibility of compiling a perfect ACC record-something no team has ever done.
"I'm a better basketball player than I am a fortune teller," Battier said. "It was special last year when we became the first team to have 15 wins in the conference. But our goals really aren't quantified in that manner."
The Blue Devils meet their next goal Thursday, when they take on Virginia in Charlottesville.
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