Duke to play Georgia Tech in key matchup

By: By John Dell | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: February 04, 2010

The only ranked schools from the ACC in the AP Top 25 poll will meet tonight at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

No. 21-ranked Georgia Tech will play at 10th-ranked Duke at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. The Blue Devils (17-4, 5-2) are in first place in the conference and are trying to rebound after a blowout loss to Georgetown.

For the Yellow Jackets (16-5, 4-3), it's a chance to sweep the season series. They came away with a 71-67 win over the Blue Devils in Atlanta on January 9.

"There are hopefully more days where your team plays well, and we didn't play very well," Krzyzewski said of the 89-77 loss to Georgetown. "They played an outstanding game and we helped them. We didn't do anything to stop them and that's not who we've been the whole year."

The Blue Devils have been built on defense, and on offense have relied on the three-man attack of Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler. When all three are playing at a high level the Blue Devils are tough to beat, especially at home, where they are 12-0 this season.

Krzyzewski said that just because they are coming off a loss to a talented Georgetown team, not much will change. "It's a long season," he said, "you can't look at one game and start changing everything."

The Blue Devils must contain a talented frontcourt that Coach Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech has relied on all season. Derrick Favors is the top scorer among the freshmen in the ACC at 11.5 points a game. Center Gani Lawal and Zachery Peacock, a senior who comes off the bench, will have to be watched, according to Krzyzewski.

"You've got to play 40 minutes against Georgia Tech," Krzyzewski said. "Paul's team is very good, and they play hard, and are athletic, and deep with that three-man rotation of bigs."

In the first meeting Singler had an off game, scoring just nine points as he went 2 of 13 from the field.

"He's too good a player to have a bad shooting day again," Hewitt said. "At home, all three of their perimeter guys have been lights-out. They are a different team at home."

Smith is averaging 18.2 points a game, the biggest improvement (nearly 10 points a game) from last season of any player in the ACC. He has taken on a much bigger role this season. However, Smith attended the funeral of Freddie Miller, his maternal grandfather, Monday in Louisville, Ky., and was back with the team on Tuesday.

"His confidence has been a lot better," Singler said of Smith. "He's the type of player who at the beginning of his career, was more of a defensive player. But now he's that and he's an offensive threat.

"He's a big addition to our offense, and I don't consider him the third scorer for us but just another scorer who can produce."

Smith and Scheyer have been the two ballhandlers on offense, but Krzyzewski would like them to share those duties a little more. Scheyer leads the league in minutes played at 36.2 a game.

"Jon and Nolan have had a terrific year and they play heavy minutes," Krzyzewski said. "Our backcourt has been the strong point of our team."

jdell@wsjournal.com

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