If not for two last-second victories, the team that started the season at No. 3 in the nation would have lost six straight ACC games.
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Were it not for a Will Bynum three against Florida State and two Jarrett Jack overtime free throws against Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, without its hobbled star B.J. Elder, would have skidded out of the top 25.
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Now Georgia Tech (13-6, 4-4 in the ACC), still clinging to the No. 25 ranking, travels to Durham Saturday for a 1 p.m. game that the Blue Devils (16-2, 6-2) must win to avoid a detrimental slide of their own.
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Duke is now in the midst of the most difficult stretch of its season and still has not beaten any of the ACC"s elite teams. The Blue Devils failed to complete a 14-point comeback at Wake Forest Wednesday night, when J.J. Redick"s shot from near midcourt clanked off the rim, and fell flat in a similar charge against Maryland a week earlier. And the competition does not get any easier after the Yellow Jackets--Duke plays No. 2 North Carolina Wednesday and travels to No. 22 Maryland next Saturday.
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'We"re looking forward to the month of February,' head coach Mike Krzyzewski said, despite a schedule that includes five more top-25 opponents before the end of the month. 'The only way to get better is to play these type of games, as long as we stay healthy and get some of the guys who have been hurt back.'
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Unlike Duke, which has been hit with injuries but has kept its stars healthy, Georgia Tech has had to cope with the loss of Elder. Since the guard strained his left hamstring in an overtime loss at Kansas Jan. 1, the team is just .500, including the two final-second wins. Elder, who was averaging 13.2 points per game and attracting opponents" best defenders, will miss Saturday"s contest, and head coach Paul Hewitt is not sure when he will return.
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'I"ve kind of let them down this year so far, in that we have not adjusted yet to the loss of B.J. Elder"s points,' Hewitt said. 'For some reason I"ve not been able to get us to move the ball the way we are supposed to move the ball.'
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Hewitt revived the Georgia Tech program last season with an athletic team that ran circles around opponents. The national championship runners-up remain largely intact but have already lost five games on the road. The tumble began in earnest when Elder went down and ACC play began.
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'Our problems have been more just lapses in concentration, both offensive and defensive,' Hewitt said. 'We"re a veteran ballclub, but there are times that we play like a young team and just make some immature decisions.'
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Still, during last season"s run, the Yellow Jackets handed the Blue Devils their only loss in Cameron Indoor Stadium, a 76-68 defeat during which 7-foot-1 center Luke Schenscher controlled the paint at the end of the game. After the loss in Cameron, Krzyzewski figured out the Yellow Jackets in time for an ACC Tournament semifinal victory, limiting Schenscher to just five points.
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Duke"s Shelden Williams has scored 19.3 points per game in his last five, and except for the Wake Forest game Wednesday when he was matched up against the bigger Eric Williams, he has remained out of major foul trouble.
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Both teams possess backcourts capable of scoring in bunches. The Yellow Jackets love to run, taking advantage of their athleticism, but since Duke lack"s a true point guard, Krzyzewski will likely try to slow the game down.
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'The biggest thing is not to get rattled, especially at Duke,' point guard Jarrett Jack said. 'When they start to really pressure you and get up in the passing lanes, you have to keep your cool. If you get rattled and turn the ball over, they will go on a run. We have to keep that from happening.'
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