The Duke Basketball team was able to defeat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets behind a large second half run and elite defense.
The hype behind this game was the return of Tre Jones from his shoulder injury, but that might have been the only bright spot for the Blue Devils in the first 25 minutes.
The Yellow Jackets took a 29-27 lead into halftime, and then extended its lead to as many as eight in the early minutes of the second half.
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The sequence of a Jack White steal, followed by a Cam Reddish 3-pointer, then another steal by R.J. Barrett, finished off by a Tre Jones layup tilted the momentum in the favor of the Blue Devils and Duke did not look back.
Following a Georgia Tech timeout, Zion Williamson threw down a dunk to tie the game and then Barrett sunk a floater to give the Blue Devils the lead at 40-38 which was in the midst of a 13-0 Duke run.
In the second half, Mike Krzyzewski opted to use the “small ball” lineup of Tre Jones, Cam Reddish, Alex O’Connell, R.J. Barrett, and Zion Williamson.
Marques Bolden was one of the few Blue Devils to play well in the first half, but he had his foot stepped on late in the half and left the game. Bolden did return to start the second half, but did not play much in the final 20 minutes.
A bigger development in Saturday’s game was the lack of playing time by Javin DeLaurier, who was jumped in the rotation by Antonio Vrankovic.
Vrankovic was the first man off the bench for the Blue Devils today and DeLaurier was only able to log just over a minute in the entire game, replacing Vrankovic as the first half came to a close.
Once again, the Blue Devils were led by Barrett and Williamson. Barrett led the way with 24 points and was much more efficient in the second half, shooting eight of sixteen from the floor and not attempting a 3-pointer in the second half after going one of five in the first half. Barrett also made seven of eight free throws to go along with his 11 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.
Zion was his dominant self as always with 22 points, seven rebounds, two steals, and three blocks on nine of twelve shooting and making four of five from the free throw line.
Cam Reddish struggled shooting once again this afternoon, shooting one of eleven from the field and one of eight from 3-point range, but the one he made did spark the Blue Devils run. Reddish finished with seven points but was very effective in all other aspects of the game finishing with six rebounds, six assists, five steals, and one block.
In his return, Tre Jones was held scoreless in the first half, but finished the game with six points, four rebounds, four assists, and a steal.
Alex O’Connell was very effective off the bench. He only scored four points, but he grabbed two offensive rebounds where he came from no where and crashed the glass, and he was able to get one steal.
The Blue Devils were horrific from 3-point range against Georgia Tech’s zone, just making two of twenty one attempts, but the Duke defense was sensational, forcing 19 turnovers from the Yellow Jackets and turning those turnovers into 24 points.
The loss drops Georgia Tech to 11-9 overall and 3-4 in the ACC while the Blue Devils rose to 17-2 and 6-1 in the ACC.
The Blue Devils will have a quick turnaround and hit the road for a game on Monday against the always tough Notre Dame Fighting Irish at 7:00 pm ET on ESPN.