In each of the past two games, J.J. Redick has had a chance to break a record, and both times he has succeeded.
Against Wake Forest Feb. 14, the Blue Devil guard needed two three-pointers to break Curtis Staples' NCAA record, and he hit four in Duke's win. In the Blue Devils' last game, a win over Miami Feb. 19, Redick needed 30 points to pass Johnny Dawkins as Duke's all-time leading scorer, and once again, the superstar guard did it.
Now, Redick has a chance to make it a perfect 3-for-3.
The program's all-time leading scorer enters tonight's game against Georgia Tech 31 points away from passing former Wake Forest forward Dickie Hemric to become the ACC's all-time leading scorer. The No. 1 Blue Devils (25-1, 13-0 in the ACC) play the Yellow Jackets (10-14, 3-10) at 7 p.m. in Atlanta.
"The thing that you are very impressed by when you watch him and prepare for him is his conditioning level," Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt said of Redick. "Here's a guy that just keeps moving and keeps moving.... I'm not sure I've ever seen a guy move consistently as well without the ball as Redick, that's what makes him hard to prepare for."
Redick, who was named the ACC Player of the Week Monday for the sixth time this season, has been on a tear. He averaged 31.5 points per game and 3.5 steals per contest in his last two games. His player of the week honor was the 11th of his career, one shy of former North Carolina forward Antawn Jamison's conference record.
For an encore, the senior guard will try to break Hemric's half-century-old mark against a Yellow Jacket team that Hewitt said has improved significantly in its most recent games.
Georgia Tech is 1-3 over its last four contests, but all three losses were on the road and were by a total of just 11 points. The win, over N.C. State Feb. 12, was the Yellow Jackets' first conference victory in more than a month. Before beating the Wolfpack, they had lost eight consecutive conference games since defeating Boston College Jan. 8 in their second ACC game of the season.
"I'm happy with the fact that our players have not put their heads down obviously, and they've continued to play hard," Hewitt said. "We've made some lineup changes and guys have responded to coming off the bench well and guys have responded well to getting the opportunity to start. But all in all, its disappointing-there's no question.... We understand that we're being competitive but we certainly don't feel like we're living up to what we're capable of."
After a 17-point home loss to Miami Feb. 4, Hewitt shuffled his lineup. Guard Mario West and forwards Lewis Clinch and Theodis Tarver moved into the starting lineup. Forward Jeremis Smith and guards Zam Fredrick and D'Andre Bell now come off the bench.
All three of the players demoted from the starting lineup still get significant playing time-only Bell has averaged fewer than 20 minutes per game over the team's past three contests.
"When you bring a guy like Jeremis Smith off the bench you've got a guy that's a strong rebounder, a very strong offensive player and that is strong with the ball," Hewitt said. "And Zam Frederick, it's helped him a lot to try to keep his minutes down a little bit.... We've gotten some improved depth out of it and just the quality of the play has improved."
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