Game Preview: Duke at Georgia Tech

The 5-2 Duke Blue Devils battle the 3-2 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, GA in the first game of their ACC slate.

Series

Overall Duke leads, 77-24
In Durham, NC Duke leads, 38-5
at Cameron Indoor Stadium Duke leads, 38-5
In Atlanta, GA Duke leads, 30-16
at McCamish Pavilion Duke leads, 26-14
Neutral Sites Duke leads, 9-3
Last Meeting Duke, 86-43 (Jan. 28, 2023)

Game Info

Stream The CW
Play-by-Play Tom Werme
Analyst Mike Gminski
Producer Ken Neal

Radio Blue Devil Sports Net.
Play-by-Play David Shumate
Analyst John Roth
Engineer John Rose
In Durham 96.5 FM & 620 AM
SiriusXM 137 or 194

The Teams

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Fresh off a home court victory over a top-25 team earlier this week, Georgia Tech opens Atlantic Coast Conference play at home Saturday afternoon, hosting No. 7 Duke at 2:15 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion.

Tech (3-2) stopped a two-game skid Tuesday night by defeating No. 21 Mississippi State, 67-59, in the ACC/SEC Challenge. The Yellow Jackets played their best defensive game of the season in shaking off losses to UMass Lowell and Cincinnati. Tech began its first season under head coach Damon Stoudamire with a pair of home court victories over Georgia Southern on Nov. 6 (84-62) and a come-from-behind 88-85 win over Howard on Nov. 9, and is 3-1 at home.

Tech has yet to play a game with its full complement of 13 scholarship players due to injury. Senior guard Lance Terry, Tech’s second-leading scorer last season, has been sidelined the entire season, while freshman forward Baye Ndongo missed the first three games. Sophomore forward Tafara Gapare has missed the last two games.

Three of Tech’s four freshmen have now seen action for the Yellow Jackets. Forward Ibrahima Sacko has played in all five games, averaging 16 minutes, while forward Baye Ndongo and guard Naithan George debuted at Cincinnati and have played the last two.

Tech’s four returning scholarship players – Miles Kelly, Lance Terry, Dallan “Deebo” Coleman and Kyle Sturdivant – accounted for 59.4 percent of the Yellow Jackets’ points and 56.5 percent of the minutes during the 2022-23 season. They collectively shot 35.6 percent from three-point range. This season the group (minus Terry) has accounted for 53.8 percent of the points and 38.6 percent of the minutes. Tech has a total of nine scholarship newcomers on its roster, five transfers who were judged the 17th best transfer class in the country by 247Sports, and four freshmen.

The Jackets have three players averaging double-digit scoring so far this season, led by Miles Kelly’s 19.4 points per game, Kelly also averages 6.6 rebounds per game good for second on the team. Dallan Coleman and Kowacie Reeves are both averaging 10.8 points per game with Reeves adding 4.4 rebounds per contest. The Yellow Jackets are paced on the boards by Baye Ndongo who averages 7 per game.

Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire is in his first season with the Yellow Jackets after serving as an assistant coach of the Boston Celtics (2021-23) and head coach at Pacific (2016-21).

Duke Blue Devils

The 5-2 Blue Devils are playing their second straight true road game after falling at Arkansas, 80-75, Wednesday night in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Duke returns 60.4 points per game from last year’s roster, the most by a Duke team since the 2008-09 season, and brings back 77.9% of points scored in 2022-23 — the most since the 2007-08 Duke team returned 81.3%. Each of the Blue Devils’ top-four scorers from a year ago are on the 2023-24 roster, which is the first time since at least 1997 — as far back as research allows — according to ESPN.

Kyle Filipowski leads the Blue Devils at 19.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Sophomore Tyrese Proctor leads the Blue Devils in assists, averaging 5.4 per game and just 1.1 turnovers, Proctor also averages 11.7 points per game. Mark Mitchell and Jeremy Roach round out the double figure scorers for the Blue Devils at 11 and 13 points respectively.

As a team the Blue Devils are shooting 34.2% from beyond the arc and 52nd in the country in total field goal percentage. Duke tops the ACC and ranks eighth nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.84).

Thoughts

With neither team lighting it up from the outside, points in the paint will be at a premium. Duke should have the advantage in the frontcourt but if the Yellow Jackets decide to pack the paint and dare Duke to shoot, it may be a long night if the Blue Devils cannot hit their open 3’s.

Rebounding

As a whole the Yellow Jackets are 21st in the nation in offensive rebounding and 59th in the country in rebounding overall. The Blue Devils have not been impressive on the boards so this should be a huge point of emphasis for Duke going into Saturday. One thing that The Yellow Jackets do well is rebound from the guard position, where their starting backcourt is averaging 13.5 rebounds per game to just 9.6 for the Blue Devils. Duke will need to balance going hard to the offensive glass with not allowing runouts for easy buckets for Tech – don’t make the game easy for them. On the defensive end, as a team, the Blue Devils need to box out to prevent second chance points – that could be a huge stat for Saturday. Securing the defensive possession is going to be of huge importance – getting out on the break is great, but securing the rebound that leads to the break is the most important part of the fast break.

Offense

What we haven’t really seen from the Blue Devils are actions deliberately focused on getting their shooters open. That doesn’t mean the Blue Devils have been taking bad shots but running specific actions could really put shooters in a better rhythm.

Aggression

On the fan wishlist for the Blue Devils are much more aggressive efforts from Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell. Filipowski is putting up good numbers but has definitely not put together a concerted effort for 2 halves of basketball. Some of Filipowski’s issues have been self-inflicted with committing needless fouls and taking himself out of the game but he has also been routinely blocked and stymied by smaller players and hasn’t shown the lift expected after his hip surgery. Mitchell is off to a horrific shooting start and teams are starting to play off of him, Mitchell needs to either see some go down or Duke has to adjust their offense to account for Mitchell not being a shooter. Something there has to give.

KEYS

• Rebounding
• Offensive flow
• Aggression / Passion