When Duke takes the floor against Georgia Tech Sunday, something will be missing.
For the first time in four outings, the cloud of a previous defeat will not be hanging over the Blue Devils-and they certainly will not miss it.
Duke put together one of its most complete games of the season Wednesday in a 78-70 victory at Boston College, snapping a four-game skid that had dropped the team below .500 in conference play. The Blue Devils will look to prove they can repeat the feat when they take on streaking Georgia Tech at 1 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"More than ease the pressure, I think the win allowed us to gain some confidence," assistant coach Chris Collins said. "We had a few close losses, and it's human nature to be shaken a little bit in your confidence. It really gave our guys a boost in confidence to go on the road and get a win, especially against a team that is leading our conference."
The Blue Devils likely will need that confidence against a Georgia Tech team that beat them 74-63 in Atlanta Jan. 10 for only the second time in their last 22 meetings.
Since the two teams last met, however, the Yellow Jackets have had their own experience in bouncing back from a losing streak. Georgia Tech dropped four in a row to fall to 2-6 in ACC play, but the Ramblin' Wreck has rattled off four straight wins, including a 63-57 road victory over Florida State Tuesday.
The Yellow Jackets are one of a number of ACC teams trying to play their way into the NCAA Tournament, as some experts are projecting as many as nine teams from the conference making the Big Dance, which would break the NCAA record for most teams from a single conference.
"I'm like anybody else-I speculate," Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt said before the Florida State victory. "When I look at our basketball team, we haven't been as consistent as we need to be to be considered a bona fide Tournament team... My feeling is we've got more work to do."
Barring a collapse to end the year, Duke has likely clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament. But the Blue Devils still will have to fight to finish in the top four teams in the conference, which would garner them a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament.
The Blue Devils trail all four teams at the top of the conference standings by three games in the loss column. With four ACC games remaining, Duke will need a strong finish and quite a bit of help to avoid playing on Thursday in the ACC Tournament.
Having to play in the first round would present a serious obstacle for Duke's quest for its eighth ACC title in nine years. No team has ever won four games in four days to take the conference title.
"As teams go down the stretch, and they are trying to win the league title or to get into the NCAA Tournament, or whatever their specific goal is, you feel in the last few weeks a real sense of urgency, and every game is a hard fought battle," Collins said.
In addition to climbing up the ACC ladder, the Blue Devils will be seeking to exact revenge for the earlier loss to Georgia Tech. In that game, the Blue Devils forced 28 turnovers but allowed the Yellow Jackets to shoot 56 percent for the game. Duke could not convert those turnovers into points, scoring only six fast break points-an area in which they excelled against Boston College.
"When you turn a team over 28 times and you only score [63] points, then clearly you've done a poor job of converting those opportunities, because you should be getting added possessions to score the ball," Collins said. "We have done a better job of converting on turnovers, and I think [Wednesday] night was the best job we have done at that."
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