Playing their first home game since Jan. 19, the Blue Devils have some more work to do in the second half.
No. 4 Duke heads to the locker room with just a 38-34 lead against Georgia Tech at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Yellow Jackets are 1-8 in ACC play, but have stuck around in nearly every conference game this season, and Wednesday night's contest has proved no different.
The Blue Devils have applied heavy ball-pressure against the Yellow Jacket guards, looking to turn over the backcourt duo of redshirt freshman Travis Jorgenson and junior Chris Bolden. Tyus Jones and company have created some deflections, but for the most part Georgia Tech has held up well against the aggressive defense.
A balanced scoring attack fueled an early Yellow Jacket run, as Marcus Georges-Hunt and Georgia Tech grabbed an early lead. But back-to-back nifty passes by Jones in transition gave the Blue Devils a slim lead, and the Apple Valley, Minn., native extended it to 21-16 with a wing triple.
After switching to zone and giving up a wide-open 3-pointer to Chris Bolden, the Blue Devils went back to an aggressive man scheme and finally started to fluster the Yellow Jackets. Senior Quinn Cook poked the ball away from Jorgenson momentarily, then Justise Winslow ripped the ball away from Georges-Hunt on the drive and flew downcourt for a transition layup. On the next possession, Cook stripped Jorgenson near mid-court and started the break again, with Winslow finishing a put-back to put Duke ahead 32-23.
Jorgenson scored four straight to bring his team back within six, but Winslow drove strong to the basket for an old-fashioned 3-point play to extend the Blue Devil cushion. Georgia Tech scored the last four points of the half—all off of Jones turnovers—to cut the margin to just four at the break.
Sophomore Matt Jones looked for his shot in the first half, connecting on his first 3-point attempt of the night and finishing an off-target Quinn Cook triple with a tip-in at the rim. The DeSoto, Texas, native has 11 points in 13 minutes at the end of the first frame, two off his season-high set Nov. 26 against Furman.
Here are some observations from the first half:
- Duke looked to apply a more organized full-court press after made baskets or on dead balls. Jefferson joined a guard to attempt a trap in the corner, but the Yellow Jackets didn't have any problems getting the ball across the mid-court stripe.
- Okafor committed a pair of early turnovers dealing with big body Demarco Cox down low and has taken difficult shots farther away from the basket than normal. The Chicago native had six points on 2-of-6 shooting in the first half.
- The Yellow Jackets killed the Blue Devils on the glass early, grabbing four offensive boards before the first media timeout, but Georgia Tech finished the half with just second-chance points.
- Down to just eight active scholarship players, the Blue Devils have seemingly subbed every possession to keep legs fresh.
- Georgia Tech big man Charles Mitchell picked up three fouls in the first half. The forward played his first two seasons at Maryland.
- Matt Jones led all scorers with 11 points and Winslow added 10 to pace Duke. Georges-Hunt has a team-high seven for Georgia Tech.
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