ATLANTA—Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski missed his first game since 1995 Tuesday after not traveling with the team for the Blue Devils' game at Georgia Tech.
Despite Krzyzewski’s absence, the Blue Devils outlasted the Yellow Jackets 80-71 behind a 27-point outburst from sophomore Grayson Allen.
Krzyzewski felt "under the weather" following Monday's team meal and was evaluated at Duke University Hospital, according to a statement released by the team Tuesday evening prior to tip-off.
Associate head coach Jeff Capel led the Blue Devils from the sideline in Krzyzewski's absence. It was the first time the 68-year-old Krzyzewski has missed a game since he sat out for the latter portion of the 1994-95 season while he dealt with back troubles.
Following the win, Capel said that Krzyzewski felt ill Monday night when the team was about to leave for the airport to fly to Atlanta. Krzyzewski’s doctors directed that he not travel with the team.
“[Tuesday] morning is when we found out that he wasn’t going to make the trip at all,” Capel said. "It was unnerving. He's our coach."
Krzyzewski is "expected to return to the team soon," according to the team statement.
In 2014, Krzyzewski suffered from dizziness and lightheadedness during a road loss at Wake Forest, and was checked by trainers following the game. He did not attend the postgame press conference, but did not miss any ensuing games.
As soon as the team found out that Krzyzewski would miss Tuesday's contest, Capel—who was a member of Duke's 1994-95 team—and assistant coaches Nate James and Jon Scheyer talked with the players, helping them ready themselves to overcome Krzyzewski's absence.
"[We were] talking to them, asking them 'How [do] you feel?' What are you thinking? What's going through your head?'," Capel said. "We were very open and honest and thing we talked about is, 'Look, we're prepared. [Krzyzewski] has us prepared.' We were incredibly positive around our guys because we were confident. It's been a very emotional past 48 hours."
Capel—who has head coaching experience from his time at the helm at Virginia Commonwealth and Oklahoma —helped guide a young Duke squad through Krzyzewski's absence. Although the Blue Devils had prepared to play mostly zone defense against Georgia Tech, Capel switched to man-to-man in the second half after the Yellow Jackets found success time and again down low against the Duke zone.
The decision proved to be pivotal. After shooting 58.1 percent from the field in the first half, the Yellow Jackets made just 13 of their 42 shots in the final 20 minutes.
ESPN's Andy Katz reported Wednesday that Krzyzewski intends to coach Saturday's game at N.C. State.
This story was updated at 8:25 p.m. Wednesday to include Katz's update.
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