Ranked in the top five for the first time since the second week of the season, No. 5 Duke travels to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech Tuesday at 9 p.m. This is the first game during a tough week for the Blue Devils, who play rival North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Thursday and then host new ACC foe Syracuse on Saturday. But first thing’s first—here are the keys to a Duke victory over the Yellow Jackets:
How will Trae Golden play?
Trae Golden has been an immediate sparkplug for the Georgia Tech offense since transferring from Tennessee last offseason. Golden leads his team in scoring and assists averaging 13.4 points and 3.1 assists per game, but he has been hampered the past two games by a groin injury. After seeing limited minutes in a loss to Virginia, Golden did not see the floor at all against Boston College and is questionable for the Duke game. If Golden does not play it does not mean that the Yellow Jackets offense will be scrounging for ways to score—they put up 77 points in their win against Boston College last Thursday—but their offense is certainly a lot more effective and versatile when Golden is on the floor. If Golden does suit up, will he be a factor, or will he be significantly slowed by the injury?
Get the shooters going
Duke is coming off its worst shooting performance of the season and it cannot afford to have another night like the one they had against Maryland on Saturday. It is going to be key to get into a rhythm early by moving the ball around and setting up easy, open jumpers as well as continuing to drive the lane aggressively. The Blue Devils will need to knock down some 3-pointers early on as well after shooting just 20.8 percent from 3-point range on Saturday. Getting the long-range specialists—Dawkins, Sulaimon and Hood with help from Thornton and Cook—some easy looks will help Duke settle down and allow it to be more comfortable later on in the game.
Do not look ahead
This is an incredibly difficult week for Duke. After traveling to Atlanta on Tuesday, the Blue Devils have to gear up right away to play a hot North Carolina team on the road in Chapel Hill on Thursday and, after all the emotion that will follow that game, the tam has to turn right back around to Durham to face Syracuse in a highly anticipated rematch of the overtime classic in the Carrier Dome. If ever there was a trap game on Duke’s schedule, this is it. It could be very easy to look past a Georgia Tech team that is hovering right around .500, may or may not be playing with their best offensive weapon, and is sitting near the bottom of the ACC standings. Weirder things have happened, though, then a talented albeit not great team playing at home with a chip on its shoulder beating a highly ranked team. In fact, that is something that has happened already this season to Duke at Clemson. If the Blue Devils want to come home from Atlanta with a victory, they are going to have to focus entirely on Georgia Tech and push North Carolina and Syracuse from their minds.
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