The Duke Blue Devils extended their winning streak to eight games as they defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 84-79, to improve to 13-3 and 4-1 in ACC play.
This victory by the Duke Blue Devils prevented the first sweep by Georgia Tech in the season series since 1996. The Yellow Jackets fall to 3-17 in the last 20 meetings between these teams.
Graduate center Ryan Young came off the bench to provide 10 points and 9 rebounds. The star of the show for the Blue Devils was sophomore center Kyle Filipowski. He set a career-high in points with 30, while adding 13 rebounds. This was good enough for his 22nd career double-double. The Yellow Jackets (8-8, 1-4 in ACC) were led by junior guard Miles Kelly with 16 points and 11 rebounds, good for his second double-double of the season.
Takeaway #1: The injury bug strikes again, but it is next man up
Sophomore forward Mark Mitchell was ruled out due to a sprained knee, forcing both teams to adjust their lineups. This gave sophomore guard Tyrese Proctor his first start since returning from injury.
The Sydney, Australia native put in a shift, scoring 17 points and 2 assists. “You need somebody to step up, and I thought Tyrese stepped up and hit some big shots,” said head coach Jon Scheyer.
Scheyer would go on to say that he believes Proctor started to trust the work that he has gotten back into since the injury.
In the second half, another starter went down as senior guard Jeremy Roach limped off the court after a big play in transition. He tried to come back for a few minutes but left again for the rest of the game.
Both Mitchell and Roach are being evaluated. Their status for the Pittsburgh game is unknown at this time.
That is when the next-man-up mantra was put into practice. Young, a native of Stewartsville, NJ, helped change the tone of the game for the Blue Devils. All of his points came in the second half when the team was battling Georgia Tech basket for basket.
“I think that’s where his experience really pays off,” said Scheyer. “Ryan’s been a guy for us the last year and a half. You trust him out there, he’s going to try and do the right thing.”
Even coach Stoudamire heaped praise on Young, comparing him to former NBA player Brian Cardinal for his ability to do a little bit of everything.
Takeaway #2: The Yellow Jackets freshman duo get comfortable in the spotlight
Georgia Tech went toe to toe with Duke throughout most of the game. A large factor in this was the freshman duo of forward Baye Ndongo and guard Naithan George.
George, a native of Toronto, ON, set a career-high with 17 points and shooting 50% from beyond the arc. This was his best performance from three-point land since going 2-for-3 against Cincinnati to start the season.
Ndongo continued his scoring streak, hitting double-digit points for the eighth straight game by notching 16 points.
“When we get stops and we run, we’re a fun team to watch,” said head coach Damon Stoudamire said. “We got a lot of athleticism and it ignites us.”
This does not include the contribution from Kelly, who also recorded 4 assists.
Stoudamire is looking to build a program with sustainability to grow it as a power in the ACC. Seeing young players have breakout games in environments like Cameron Indoor can only help his vision for the program in the long term.
“We just got to continue to build,” said Stoudamire. “For me, this is a big picture now. I’m not wavering in my program.”
Takeaway #3: Filipowski displayed mental toughness after a rough first half
The Westtown, NY native’s first half could best be described as a tale of two halves.
For the first few minutes, he scored 10 points on four of five shooting. After the first media timeout, he became colder than a playoff game in Kansas City. He ended the half missing eight straight field goals.
Scheyer said that Filipowski stepped up, especially with Mitchell being out of the game.
Once his next shot went in, a three-pointer with over 14 minutes left in the second half, his shot confidence started to come back. Even on the fast break, when he went coast to coast after a steal to put Duke up by two with 13:37 left.
It is the one thing Scheyer has been preaching all season long, mental toughness. When things are not going your way, it is how a player responds to that adversity.
“We knew the game plan,” said Filipowski. “We needed to execute well and do it play by play. We just needed to be patient with them.”
This showed in the analytics, where he was one of three Blue Devils to have a floor percentage over 50. This means at least 50% of the time he was on the court, at least one point was scored.
Duke will have a week to get their roster back to full strength before Pittsburgh visits for their rematch. Georgia Tech, meanwhile, will stay on the road to face off against a Clemson team looking to get back on track.
Next game for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: at Clemson (Jan. 16 – 9 p.m.)
Next game for the Duke Blue Devils: vs. Pittsburgh (Jan. 20 – 8 p.m.)