Duke Blue Devils news and notes from the weekend:
Duke suffers first loss of 2026 season on the road at Georgia Tech
Manny Diaz and Duke suffered a heartbreaking 28-25 defeat at the hands of Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Saturday, falling to 4-1 on the season. A missed chip-shot field goal by freshman Gavin Strange near the end of regulation prevented the Blue Devils from forcing overtime after Nate Sheppard's 42-yard catch-and-run set Duke up in position to tie or take the lead late.
Duke had several missed opportunities before Strange stepped on the field late to try to tie the game. Duke's defense failed to make a stand after the offense scored to give the Blue Devils a 25-21 lead with less than three minutes to play. The Yellow Jackets marched right down the field and took the lead with less than a minute to go.
Duke marched down the field quickly, but a couple of missteps - a false start and CJ Campbell wasting precious time by not getting out of bounds, limited the opportunities for Walker Eget to put the ball into the endzone.
Duke will have to leave that frustrating loss behind - and quickly - with North Carolina heading to Durham this weekend for a pivotal rivalry matchup.
Duke picks up two crystal ball predictions for 5-star Colton Hiller
Two experts on 247Sports logged predictions over the weekend for Duke to ultimately win the Colton Hiller sweepstakes.
Duke is hoping to get Hiller to reclass into the 2027 cycle and arrive at Duke a year early to follow the Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje path. That would allow Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils to keep Hiller in Durham for two seasons, as he will not be eligible for the NBA Draft until the 2029 cycle.
Hiller's recruitment appears to be down to Duke and Florida, and the Blue Devils appear to be carrying some significant momentum.
Other Duke sports in action over the weekend
- Duke men's soccer had the displeasure of facing No. 1 SMU on the road on Saturday. It went about how you would expect, with the Mustangs earning a dominant 6-0 win.
- The news was better for the women's soccer team, which went on the road and knocked off Boston College 2-1. Mia Minestrella and Avery Oder netted goals in the first half as the Blue Devils earned the win.
- Duke volleyball outlasted Virginia Tech 3-2. After winning the first set, the Hokies took the next two to put the Blue Devils on the verge of defeat. Duke rallied, earning a close win in set four, and then taking the winner-take-all set five to win the match. Ashby Zubchevich led the way with 19 kills.
- No. 3 Duke field hockey earned a 3-2 road win over No. 14 California in a game that went the distance. The Blue Devils won in a shootout to earn a huge ACC victory.
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