Devils' defense locks down Jackets

Staff photo by Chuck Liddy

ATLANTA — This time Duke’s heralded defense had help.

The groans from the Alexander Memorial Coliseum crowd sounded like a buzzsaw each time turnover-prone Georgia Tech gave the ball away.

No. 3-ranked Duke’s ball pressure played a huge role in the 70-56 win Wednesday night at Alexander Coliseum. But Georgia Tech, which had been averaging 16.5 turnovers per game, was sloppy with the ball and lost possession 18 times with a variety of mistakes.

Freshman point guard Iman Shumpert was called for palming twice and was off target so badly on one pass that it caromed off the rim and out of bounds.

Duke mixed in some different defensive looks at the Yellow Jackets in order to confuse them, including what looked like a halfcourt zone trap on one second-half possession. It’s safe to say the Blue Devils don’t use that defense much – and Georgia Tech promptly fumbled the ball out of bounds.

Meanwhile, sophomore forward Kyle Singler shook off a poor early perimeter shooting performance to help the Blue Devils (15-1, 3-0 ACC) remain undefeated in conference play.
Singler missed his first four 3-point attempts but scored a game-high 19 points.

Junior forward Gerald Henderson also scored 19 points just four days after scoring a career-high 25 at Florida State.

Georgia Tech (9-7, 0-3) raced to a 23-15 lead by pounding the ball into the post to Alade Aminu and Zachery Peacock, who combined for 15 first-half points. Meanwhile usually dependable shooters Singler and Jon Scheyer were combining to miss all seven of their first-half 3-point attempts.

But Duke held the Yellow Jackets scoreless over a period of 5 minutes, 54 seconds to bounce back for a 30-25 advantage. Singler made two layups after rebounding teammates’ misses, and Greg Paulus made two 3-pointers and a backdoor layup in the first half.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s frustrations didn’t boil over until late in the first half, when the Blue Devils had actually rallied to take the lead. He clapped his hands angrily after a Lance Thomas defensive mistake allowed Aminu to get the ball in the lane and draw a foul.

Center Brian Zoubek was sent into the game to replace Thomas and promptly fumbled what should have been an offensive rebound out of bounds. Krzyzewski motioned for him to grab the ball next time.

But considering its shooting difficulties, Duke probably was lucky to be ahead. The Blue Devils made just 12 of their 36 field goal attempts but led 31-28 at halftime thanks to 10 Georgia Tech turnovers.