After a tough-fought road win against Florida State Sunday, head coach Mike Krzyzewski's third-ranked Blue Devils (24-3, 12-2 in the ACC) turn their attention to a Thursday evening showdown with the No. 19 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (20-8, 7-7 ACC).
With their win last Sunday, Duke guaranteed itself at least a piece of the regular-season ACC title, and a win against Georgia Tech on senior night would give the Blue Devils the title outright.
Nonetheless, Thursday evening's opponent will be no pushover. The Yellow Jackets have posted a 6-5 road record this season, including an impressive road victory at Wake Forest January 20.
"[Georgia Tech head coach] Paul [Hewitt] has built his program very well," Krzyzewski said. "He doesn't make excuses for anything. They'll be a tough game for us on Wednesday, and they'll be a tough game for anybody in the NCAA, I'll tell you that."
The Yellow Jackets were certainly tough for the Blue Devils in the teams' first matchup this season in Atlanta. Georgia Tech gave Duke all it could handle, opening with an impressive 15-4 run before eventually falling 82-74.
"Duke made some big-time plays down the stretch to win that ballgame," Hewitt said. "But I think because our guys have grown up over the past couple of years, they understand now, 'Hey, you lose that game, you just try to move on and take some of the positive things from that game and learn from some of the mistakes we made.'"
Among those positives are the strong play of sophomore point guard Jarrett Jack and Aussie big man Luke Schenscher. Jack led Georgia Tech with 19 points, six rebounds, and five assists, and the 7-foot-1 Schenscher abused Duke's bigs, collecting 18 points and eight boards.
Nonetheless, the Blue Devils won the game with defense, smothering the Yellow Jackets with the ferocity of Raid. Tech shot a paltry 38% from the floor behind a combined 6-27 shooting effort from guards B.J. Elder and Will Bynum.
Elder's containment will be paramount if Duke hopes to take the sting out of Tech's high-flying offense, which has five players averaging double figures in scoring for the year. Four of those players, Elder, Jack, Bynum, and Marvin Lewis, are guards, making strong defensive pressure from Duhon, Ewing, and Dockery key to stemming the Yellow Jackets' attack.
Additionally, Schenscher, who had arguably his best game of the season against Duke earlier this year, will need to help alleviate the scoring pressure on Tech's guards. For Duke, it's up to Shelden Williams, who notched a double-double in the first matchup, and Shavlik Randolph to shut down Schenscher and force Tech's guards to make even more shots to keep pace with the Blue Devils.
That being said, this is Chris Duhon's senior night, the Blue Devils have won their past 41 home games, and they have beaten Georgia Tech 15 consecutive times dating back to 1996, establishing a standard of dominance currently unmatched in the ACC. If Duke can set the tone early with their trademark on-ball pressure and force Tech to make tough shots, it could be a long night for Paul Hewitt and the Yellow Jackets.
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