Ugh, I promised myself that this year would be relaxing. Expectations, though high, are not through the roof. There’s no talk of undefeated seasons, and the team would clearly be a work in progress. And then, Duke does what Duke does; it wins, and with those wins, expectations grow.
Then comes Temple and instead of that, oh well, they will get better feeling, it became an agonizing two hours, and maybe the OSU game wasn’t an aberration.
It was too easy to expect a strong recovery from that disappointing effort against Temple. It’s the first game of the ACC season, and Duke is coming off a loss. Duke doesn’t lose back to back games. Back to back losses are like 17 year locusts; you know they are there, but you just don’t expect them until they are flying all around your yard, slamming into your face. Well, Georgia Tech did its best to transform from bees to locusts.
For fans, this was an easy one to chalk up in the win column. I know the mantra, one at a time; no game is an easy game. That’s easy for a fan to say, not so easy to believe. It looked like it was just that type of game as Duke jumped off to an early lead. I wondered, if like Temple’s “remember-who-we-are” subway ride, the engineers of Tech would follow with a jetpack entrance. I didn’t see it, but I’m not sure it didn’t happen.
The starting lineup changed a bit, but barring a start from a walk-on, this isn’t really an unusual Duke move. Quinn Cook started for Tyler Thornton, and Miles Plumlee started for Ryan Kelly. Cook showed his worthiness with a beautiful scoop after a nice drive.Curry followed with a three, and it had the feel of a 20 point lead and a coast to the finish.
What was noticeable, however, was that Duke seemed a bit lethargic.Sometimes they look this way, a step slow. It wasn’t that they weren’t playing hard or giving effort; it was that Brian Gregory’s team seemed to be giving extra effort, playing a little harder.
For most of the game, Tech showed hustle and muscle, outrebounding Duke by 12 and by 4 on the offensive end. And, like the OSU and Temple games, the breaks seemed to be going the way of the Jackets.
With all of that, Duke’s talent showed, and they surged ahead going up 29-14 on a jumper from the Little Landlord, Josh Hairston, who clearly must lead the nation in shots per minute played.
Then the turnovers started to come, Austin Rivers was frustrated, and the Plumlee duo found itself in a bit of foul trouble; Mason picking up his 2nd before three minutes were played. Georgia Tech kept peeling back the lead, and with one big yank in the form of a monstrous alley-oop to Jason Morris at the 1:24 mark, they cut the lead to 8 and the alternative-hive (Phillips Arena) came to life. Some sloppy play eventually resulted in a 40-35 Duke halftime lead.
The first half was a mixed bag: Austin Rivers--0 points; Seth Curry—cold; Plumlee(s)—foul trouble. It seemed that only Kelly’s steady play off the bench and Quinn Cook’s early energy were high points. But it may be important to note that Andre Dawkins battled down low for a tough rebound, then went up strong to the basket drawing a foul, not a play we’ve seen too often.
Duke opened the 2nd half with the same lineup, but the game shortly became reminiscent of one of those 1-8 first day ACC tournament games, the lower seed playing desperately and the 1 rocked a little on its heels by the punch.
The second half was back and forth. Every time Duke made a move to open up the lead (its biggest of the 2nd half, 10, at 8:53) one of Georgia Tech’s big 2 (Rice and Udofia) hit a big shot. Like the Temple game, Duke’s guards had a difficult time stopping the Tech guards and wings.
The final third of the game was marked by a quite amazing performance by Glen Rice Jr. who seems to have mastered the “fall shot.” If he hit one, he hit half a dozen shots, while on the downward momentum of his jumper with a hand in his face, merely inches from the floor. (On a side note, Rice shoots his free throws several inches behind the line. Weird.)
It was something to see. If it wasn’t Rice, it was Udofia freeing himself for open mid-range jumpers, and with two minutes remaining, Duke was holding on for dear life, 68-66.
For Duke the second half was more balanced. Rivers made some tough layups, and while he didn’t play the silencer, hitting a three pointer to swing momentum, he stayed tough and under control despite Rice’s performance against him.
Curry stepped up, having a strong 2nd half, and Kelly hit free throw after free throw, setting a new career high, to seal the victory, 81-74. As Mike might say, the White Raven soared in for the rescue.
What should we make of this game? It’s really hard to tell. It’s easy to view this as a disappointing effort, and it will surely be presented this way by many, but it was a gritty win. A win.
It was a game that Duke could easily have lost, could have withered under Rice’s performance, but they didn’t. They won, and there were some high points. Maybe Miles will stop being the anti-Iverson (Practice!) and continue to make solid all around contributions.
Rivers won’t be held down many times and he stayed in the game scoring a tough 8 second half points. Curry had a clutch second half, and the team as a whole, was solid at the line, hitting 29-36, including Mason’s 3-3 and Kelly’s 14-14, most down the stretch.
At the beginning of the season, this might have been a good, hard-fought victory. Duke never trailed. It held off a determined opponent and won an ACC game on the road.
Once again, though, Duke plays its opponent and its expectations. Right now, Duke is not a 1 and Georgia Tech, if only for a day, was not an 8. Duke is a young team working to get better. Georgia Tech is learning to play with a tough, gritty and enthusiastic effort that reflects their coach.
Gregory was fun to watch. Tech likely won’t make a push to the top half of the league, but they should win a few that won’t be expected. And Duke? As Pete Gillen said, “Duke is Duke.” Patience is a virtue.
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