Switch to man, other adjustments key for Blue Devils against Yellow Jackets

ATLANTA—After dropping four of its last five games and falling out of the AP top 25 for the first time since 2007, Duke’s tilt at Georgia Tech Tuesday night was a must-win.

Not only did the Blue Devils obtain the win they so desperately needed, but they did it without the winningest coach in Division I men’s college basketball history on their sideline.

With Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski back in Durham after falling ill Monday night, Duke outlasted Georgia Tech 80-71, turning a four-point halftime deficit into a lead that stretched to 17 at one point. The Blue Devils relied on the head coaching experience of associate head coach Jeff Capel—who filled in for Krzyzewski—to make the necessary adjustments to secure the win.

“We know [Krzyzewski] is a part of the team, whether he’s here or not,” sophomore guard Grayson Allen said. “He was with us for all of our preparation. So we were ready to play tonight.”

Early on, the Yellow Jackets created the same issues that have plagued Duke during its recent slide, namely an inability to defend the paint. As they did Jan. 25 at Miami, the Blue Devils opened in a zone defense, trying to conserve energy for their six-man rotation. But throughout the first half, Georgia Tech pushed the ball in transition and attacked the interior of the Duke zone for easy drives and dishes. Yellow Jacket post players consistently carved out deep positions against Brandon Ingram, Marshall Plumlee and Chase Jeter, and scored eight of the home team’s first 12 points in the paint, including two dunks in three possessions. The Blue Devils headed to the locker room having allowed Georgia Tech to score 28 of its 40 halftime points in the paint.

Capel—who once paced the sidelines at Virginia Commonwealth and Oklahoma—then decided to adjust Duke’s defense, choosing to go back to the Blue Devils’ more traditional man-to-man defense, rather than continue to get pounded inside with the zone.

He could not have asked for a better result.

The man-to-man ignited Duke’s defense. After making 18 of their 31 shots in the first half, the Yellow Jackets shot just 31 percent in the final 20 minutes. Starting at the 11:35 mark of the second half, Duke’s man defense surrendered just two points in a six-minute span. 

“It’s interesting because we didn’t walk through or go through a single man play of Georgia Tech’s. All we had worked on in preparation was zone,” Capel said. “We liked the [man] and we played it exclusively in the second half.”

And as is so often the case, the revamped effort on the defensive end helped fuel the Blue Devil offense.

Duke's offense was average at best in the first half while they played zone. Although Allen scored 11 points and drained three of his four 3-point attempts, freshman Brandon Ingram shot just 2-of-10 from the field and Duke missed 17 of their 29 shots.

Once the Blue Devils switched over to man, they converted defensive stops into points in transition. Freshman point guard Derryck Thornton—who scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half—was especially aggressive and attacked the rim off of Georgia Tech misses. During Duke’s 16-2 run in the second half, the Chatsworth, Calif., native consistently drove to the basket where he either finished at the rim, drew a foul or passed out to an open Allen on the perimeter.  

“Derryck Thornton for the majority of the game was really, really good. He made some big shots for us...he was tremendous tonight,” Capel said. “He has struggled like every freshman in the country.... I thought he did a really good job at N.C. State against [Anthony] ‘Cat’ Barber, which is very tough matchup. I think we’re seeing him grow up and figure it out.”

As the Blue Devils move into the meat of their schedule—with a rematch against Barber’s Wolfpack followed by dates with No. 19 Louisville, No. 9 Virginia and No. 2 North Carolina in the next three weeks—Tuesday’s win, and the second half in particular, will be a reminder of how well they can play and what they can accomplish.

After all, there is arguably no bigger obstacle than suddenly losing an icon like Krzyzewski before gearing up for a road game. And Duke passed that test with flying colors Tuesday.