No. 5 DUKE 79, GEORGIA TECH 57, FINAL:
Put another win on the board for Duke, as it gets its 10th conference win in a row with a 79-57 rout of Georgia Tech. Check The Chronicle tomorrow for more coverage of tonight's game.
No. 5 DUKE 75, GEORGIA TECH 50, 3:32 REMAINING:
Singler is one rebound away from a double-double, which would be his second of the season and first since the Maryland game in early January. Play was stopped at the 5:30 mark when Shumpert jammed his finger. He leads Georgia Tech (per usual) with 13 points.
After Georgia Tech had about four put back chances on an offensive rebound, Mason committed his fifth foul of the night, ending with nine points and 10 rebounds.
Smith continues to shine, and he now has 26 points. He was a part of Duke’s (arguably) most highlight-worthy play of the night in a version of the three-man weave. After receiving the ball around midcourt, Smith stopped, switched directions and shoveled the ball to Curry for the lay-up. "Oh baby!"
No. 5 DUKE 67, GEORGIA TECH 44, 7:48 REMAINING:
The fans and Duke coaching staff are still riding the refs hard, and we went into the media timeout on a questionable travel call on Singler.
Georgia Tech just can't make a shot. Part of that is due to the Duke defense, and part of it just continues the shooting woes this team has had all season. The Yellow Jackets are shooting 32 percent from the floor.
No. 5 DUKE 67, GEORGIA TECH 42, 8:39 REMAINING:
After media timeout, chants of “Kyle Singler!” rang out from the student section. Mason was the next to get the Crazies’ call out as he tripped coming off the bench into the game.
After Smith went down on a layup attempt without a foul call, Coach K just looked to the refs and raised his eyebrows. With a 23-point lead, the stakes aren’t near as high as they were in the tight first half—there’s no need to pick up another technical. Singler picked up a tipped pass in the Georgia Tech end and went hard to the basket, drawing the foul.
Smith left the game with a little more than nine minutes remaining and is getting medical attention. It started with his right elbow and has now moved down to around his right knee. He looks fine now though and went into the huddle under his own power.
No. 5 DUKE 61, GEORGIA TECH 37, 2ND HALF, 11:55 REMAINING:
It’s the Nolan Smith show time!
Miller missed his two free throw attempts to add insult to injury after missing that dunk. Mason took a few dribbles on Duke’s next possession and was promptly yelled at by Coach K to give the ball up to Smith. Singler had his shot blocked hard, and fell to the floor. No call though. Smith had the ball in space and tried an ally-oop to Kelly. The timing was a bit off, but Smith collected the offensive board and tipped it in. He made another three to give himself 20 on the night. The Smith show continued with a drive to the basket that ended in a reverse layup.
Smith is still content to share the spotlight—off of yet another Georgia Tech miss, Smith pushed the ball up the court in a 2-on-1 drive. He dished to Singler, who threw down a one-handed dunk to the delight of the crowd.
No. 5 DUKE 50, GEORGIA TECH 35, 2ND HALF, 15:48 REMAINING:
After preventing a turnover, Mason threw the ball away down low and then picked up his second foul on the other end of the court. “Daddy’s better” chants may have caused Rice to miss his first free throw, but “Daddy would have made it” proved no deterrence for the second. Singler made his next shot, giving him 10(!) for the game.
In an odd looking moment, Smith had the ball knocked away but wouldn’t touch it for fear of a double dribble on Duke’s next possession. Georgia Tech scooped it back up, but Smith answered with a highlight-worthy hook shot on the next possession. Miller missed on a two-handed stuff to send us to the first media timeout of this half.
As the outcome of this game becomes more and more apparent, I'll shift away from play-by-play and focus more on analysis, with plenty of updates on the Kyle Singler watch.
No. 5 DUKE 44, GEORGIA TECH 30, 2ND HALF, 18:31 REMAINING:
The start of Duke’s pulling away?
Singler hit a two to open the half. Mason left Storrs open to answer with his own two points. Mason grabbed a Curry miss to atone, and Duke had its first double-digit lead. Nolan Smith extended that to 14 with a 3-point shot, and Georgia Tech called timeout.
No. 5 DUKE 37, GEORGIA TECH 28, HALFTIME:
The teams traded missed threes, and Duke took a timeout with 42.4 seconds remaining. Tyler Thorton converted on a jumper from the paint to give Duke its biggest lead of the game to go into intermission.
Interestingly enough, there were no more fouls called on Duke after Coach K got rung up with that technical foul. That's a testament to the strong defense the Blue Devils have been playing—Georgia Tech started off hot and has since cooled down dramatically in terms of shooting. The Yellow Jackets finished off the half shooting 35.7 percent from the field and 33.3 from downtown, and they've been forced to take several shots with the shot clock winding down to zero. Duke should continue to try to limit its fouls, as Georgia Tech is a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.
Singler continues to struggle. His line reads as follows: 2-for-8 from the floor for six total points. He is tied for the team lead with six rebounds, which is definitely a bright spot. He was the only Duke player not the leave the floor in the first half, so it's fair to assume that he will be allowed to shoot his way out of his funk.
No. 5 DUKE 31, GEORGIA TECH 28, 2:05, 1ST HALF:
Mason Plumlee, only shooting 40.8 percent from the charity stripe entering this game, went 1-for-2 on his 1-and-1 free throw attempts. On Duke’s next possession, though, he collected an offensive rebound, fed the ball back outside, and Curry swished a three to give Duke its first lead of the night at 23-22.
Now I don’t pretend to know the inner workings of a man’s mind—ever—but you have to wonder what Singler is thinking. He left two straight 3-point shots attempt short and was kicked down after the second. He pulled himself up, jogged up the floor and watched Georgia Tech convert to take back the lead. There was not any visible frustration. Smith then converted his own 3-point shot attempt.
Singler did show some frustration on the next Georgia Tech possession. He fell to the floor once again in a tangled heap with Rice, and they kicked at each other. The Yellow Jackets’ Morris converted a lay-up to tie the game, and Singler looked at the ref in disgust.
The back-and-forth nature of the half continued as the teams traded points. Curry stablished a bit of separation with a 3-pointer. Smith missed short on another 3-point attempt. To the Blue Devils’ credit, Georgia Tech has been putting up some ugly shots. The Yellow Jackets' field goal percentage is now down to 40 percent.
No. 5 DUKE 19, GEORGIA TECH 20, 7:22, 1ST HALF:
If words could kill, these refs would be dead.
Right off of the Dancing Devils presentation of its seniors, we had a senior moment here on the court. Smith missed a three pointer, but Singler collected the long rebound and fed his classmate right back. This time, Smith’s shot rang true, and Duke pulled to within one.
Tyler Thronton provided his trademark tight defense and forced Shumpert into taking a shot in order to avoid a shot clock violation. He missed, but Smith picked up his second foul in the process and went to the bench. After another foul was called on Duke, coach Mike Krzyzewski picked up a technical foul—you don’t see that too often. Cameron was literally as loud as I’ve ever heard it for Shumpert’s two free throw attempts. He made them though. Shumpert then converted his two one-and-one free throws to the tune of, “I’m blind, I’m deaf, I wanna be a ref.”
Singler swished home a baseline jumper to pull Duke back within three. After the teams traded off easy lay-ins, Thorton stole the ball and flipped it to Mason for a dunk to pull within one. Miller air-balled a fade-away with the shot clock ticking down. Singler took a similar shot (without the shot clock pressure) and also failed to convert.
No. 5 DUKE 10, GEORGIA TECH 14, 11:39, 1ST HALF:
Off of the timeout, Smith drove to the hole for an easy two points. Nate Hicks, in off the bench for the Yellow Jackets, was left all alone down low and even had time to reposition himself before converting the put-in. Smith tried to drive again, but couldn’t get the shot off amidst several Georgia Tech arms.
Andre Dawkins and Miles Plumlee entered for the first time, subbing Kelly and Mason, respectively. Miles, though, was quickly replaced by his brother. A Georgia Tech air ball as the shot clock expired fired up the Crazies and led them into the “air ball” chant that made them famous. Mason dropped in his first bucket of the game. Smith couldn’t convert on the full-court drive, and the fans wanted a foul. Georgia Tech’s shooting has cooled down, as they are now shooting “only” 55.6 percent from the floor.
Smith couldn’t convert on yet another drive, but Singler finished it off after Duke collected the offensive rebound. That’s now four points for Singler. Nolan Smith was fouled off the ball to lead us into the second TV timeout.
Smith seems to be keeping the ball in his own hands and driving slightly more than usual tonight. So far, that’s resulted in a 1-for-4 performance.
No. 5 DUKE 4, GEORGIA TECH 9, 15:23, 1ST HALF:
Not an ideal start for Duke.
After controlling the opening tip controls opening tip, Kyle missed the first shot of the night—a jumper from the paint. Daniel Miller made a 3-point shot after Curry bit on a shot fake. On the next possession, Singler drove and was fouled. The first free throw shot bounced off the front of the rim but fell in. The second was a swish, giving Singler as many points in the first 1:30 of this game as he had in total against Virginia.
Ryan Kelly lunged for a steal and was fouled by Daniel Miler in the process. On the ensuing possession, Kelly tipped in an offensive rebound. Mason Plumlee picked up his first foul on an open-court block near midcourt. Off of the inbounds, Singler fouled Glenn Rice, Jr. on a 3-point shot, which he made and then converted the free throw for a four-point play. Nolan Smith missed an ensuing lay up. Rice made another three on the next drive. Curry was called for a travel, and Duke picked up its fourth foul. All the starters save Smith now have a foul
Georgia Tech (finally) missed a three, but Rice outmuscled Singler for the rebound. Mason, though, was there to reject his shot attempt.
There have been an absurd number of stoppages in play for reasons that are unclear. The refs keep going to the scorer’s table—I have no idea what the issue is. Kelly missed a three, but Singler flew threw the air to collect the rebound. No points off of it, though.
No. 5 DUKE 0, GEORGIA TECH 0, 20:00, 1ST HALF:
The starting lineups.
For Georgia Tech:
#1 Iman Shumpert, G
#3 Maurice Miller, G
#5 Daniel Miller, C
#10 Lance Storrs, G
#41 Glenn Rice, Jr., G
For Duke:
#2 Nolan Smith, G
# 12Kyle Singler, F
#5 Mason Plumlee, F
#34 Ryan Kelly, F
#30 Seth Curry, G
PREGAME: A bit more info on the visiting Yellow Jackets. With an 11-14 record overall and a 3-8 record in conference play, they sit at second-to-last in the conference ahead of woeful Wake Forest. Georgia Tech has lost its last five conference games and is carrying a 14-game road loss streak. Ouch. Shumpert, the previously mentioned do-it-all guy for the Yellow Jackets, will draw the assignment of slowing down Nolan Smith on defense.
On the flip side, if Duke wins tonight, it will be the first time it has had a 10-game conference winning streak since opening 10-0 in 2007-08.
PREGAME: Welcome to Cameron Indoor Stadium for this Sunday night edition of ACC basketball. We're at T-minus 40 minutes until the opening tip. In the past 48 hours, this game has taken on an increased significance, as all four teams ranked above Duke in the AP poll—Kansas, Texas, Ohio State and Pittsburgh—lost this weekend. After Purdue hung on to beat Ohio State at home this afternoon, CBS Sports analyst Seth Davis (Trinity '92, for the record) said he would be putting Duke at No. 1 in his ballot this week—as long as the Blue Devils beat the Yellow Jackets.
For Georgia Tech, the player to watch is junior guard Iman Shumpert. With his team-leading stat line of 17.4 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game, 3.4 assists per game and 2.7 steals per game, he's on pace to become just the fourth player in ACC history to lead his team in all four categories.
The storyline for Duke is, of course, the Kyle Singler watch. Through the first 22 games of the season, he averaged 18.1 points per game. Over the last four games, though, that number has dropped to 10 points per game, capped off most recently by a career-tying low two points on a 1-for-5 night from the field, including five turnovers and four fouls. The dirty word "slump" hasn't been used too often yet—but let's just say Singler is due for a big night.
Check back for the starting lineups and throughout the game for a mix of play-by-play and thought-provoking analysis.
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