Duke pulls away to beat Georgia Tech

Fifth-ranked Duke stayed on its path toward the ACC's regular-season title with a 79-57 pasting of Georgia Tech on Sunday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Taking a cue from Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who picked up a rare technical foul midway through the first half, the Blue Devils amped up their defense and the game turned into a rout early in the second half.

"The game was just going crazy at that point," guard Seth Curry of the Blue Devils said about the technical. "I think the refs wanted to send a message to calm it down or whatever, and then Coach got the tech and I don't really see him get those a lot. We really got going after that and we wanted to have coach's back because he always has our backs and we went out and did that."

The game started physical and it went that way for most of the night.

The Yellow Jackets went right at the Blue Devils early and led 14-8. With 10:16 left in the first half, the physical play came to a head when Tyler Thornton of the Blue Devils was called for a block in front of the Duke bench. Krzyzewski looked anything like a 64-year-old when he jumped off the bench and official Bryan Kersey called the technical.

Ian Shumpert made four free throws to put Georgia Tech ahead 18-13. Krzyzewski was still livid after the free throws and was in danger of getting another technical as Kersey ignored his pleas. At one point, Krzyzewski was down on one knee yelling to Kersey that he didn't disrespect him.

Thornton, who had one of his better all-around games, acknowledged that the technical foul came at a good time.

"He was mad, but I think that was the turning point for our team," said Thornton, who had six points, two assists and two steals with no turnovers. "It really got us fired up because we got together on the court and said 'Let's do this for Coach' and it really got us fired up and we started getting stops on defense so it really was a turning point for us."

After the technical, the Blue Devils calmed down on defense, tied the game at 28 and then went on a 9-0 run to end the half with a 37-28 lead.

Krzyzewski's last technical came in last season's ACC Tournament against Miami, but he said it's been a while since he had one in the regular season.

"It happens," Krzyzewski said.

"No sense in talking about it, it just happens. Obviously when that happens, you aren't going to agree with it, but it doesn't make a darn bit of difference and you just go on to the next thing."

The Blue Devils finally took charge with the late flurry in the first half — something Krzyzewski said was a product of better defense.

"We were reaching and grabbing and we needed to get back to playing a different way," Krzyzewski said.

Nolan Smith led the way for the Blue Devils with 28 points and six rebounds despite picking up two early fouls that forced him to sit for an extended period in the first half. Thornton, however, did a nice job in Smith's place.

Kyle Singler added 15 points and nine rebounds but was 5 of 16 from the field, but it hardly mattered because once the Yellow Jackets got behind, they couldn't match their early success. Ryan Kelly scored 10 points and Mason Plumlee and Curry each added nine for the Blue Devils.

Singler smiled when asked if the technical foul came at a good time. "Yeah, maybe a little bit," Singler said. "Coach doesn't get many of those, so when he gets one, it usually does spark us."

In the second half, the Blue Devils moved out to a 15-point lead, then Smith went on a 9-0 run by himself en route to a 22-point advantage. When Singler took a nice pass from Smith and scored with 12:18 left, the Blue Devils' lead had swelled to 61-37.

When Curry hit one of two free throws with 9:11 to play, the Blue Devils had their largest lead at 67-40.

"We got stops and rebounded well," Curry said. "We were able to get some easy buckets on our transition, and we can do that when we rebound better."

With the four teams in front of them losing last week, there's a chance the Blue Devils could move up to No. 1 in The Associated Press poll. Krzyzewski said he wasn't too concerned about the ranking. "That doesn't matter," he said.

What did matter to him was the way his team adjusted after the early struggles.

"Once we settled down and played our regular defense, we were fine," Krzyzewski said.

jdell@wsjournal.com

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