Once again, it was not a slow start for the Blue Devils Saturday against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
Duke actually jumped on the Yellow Jackets to the tune of an early 15 point lead. Duke seemed to be clicking on all cylinders, but there was a palpable let up in intensity, starting with missed free throws and ending with some bad defensive possessions that led to a 13-4 run over the last 3:30 of the first half to draw Georgia Tech within 5. Jon Scheyer’s club shot the ball well in that first stanza, going 6-13 from 3-point range and shooting 63% overall, but the Blue Devils missed 4 free throws, and turned the ball over 6 times, leading to 7 points for the Yellow Jackets. That’s one way to cut a 15 point lead down to 5.
The Blue Devils have shown throughout the season they are a second half team, and they wasted no time in the second half getting things back on track, using the first 9:44 of the second half to go on a 23-8 run, essentially ending the game and giving Jon Scheyer room to tinker with lineups.
The Blue Devil faithful had been waiting on freshman Kon Knueppel to get going and Georgia Tech, fortunately for Duke and unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets, today was that day. The freshman forward scored 18 points on 7-11 shooting and most exciting was he seemed to regain his touch from the outside, going 4-8. Most impressively from the freshman was his floor game, where he dished 5 assists and had 0 turnovers, working the pick-and-roll with fellow freshman Khaman Maluach to perfection. Birthday boy Cooper Flagg added 13 points on 5-11 shooting with 4 rebounds. Khaman Maluach had a monster game from the center position, hitting on 5-5 from the field and 5-6 from the free-throw line, being the recipient of several of Knueppels’ dimes has its privileges. The 7’2 freshman also added 8 boards and 2 assists. Junior Tyrese Proctor rounds out Saturday’s double figure scores for Duke with 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting, including a nifty and-1 in the first half on a twisting baseline drive.
The Blue Devils got 19 points from their bench in this game, which is becoming a bigger and bigger part of their tally as of late. Duke won the rebounding battle decisively 28-16 and shot much better against the Yellow Jackets, going 56% from the field and 40% from 3-point range. Duke moves to 10-2 on the season and is now 2-0 in ACC play with 2 road wins in their pocket going into a 10-day layoff before a date in Cameron with Virginia Tech on New Year’s Eve.
