It’s been an unorthodox time for Duke basketball, as head coach Jon Scheyer said.
The No. 5 Blue Devils had a three-game stretch from Thanksgiving to early December against ranked opponents, going 3-0 during that span with wins over Arkansas, Florida and Michigan State. That was followed by a 10-day break for finals, followed by another two games: Lipscomb and Texas Tech, dropping the latter of the two by 1-point after dropping a 17-point lead for their first loss of the season.
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Again, what waited for Duke after its loss to Texas Tech was another break, this one for 11 days. What was on the other end of this one was ACC play, with Duke opening its conference slate against Georgia Tech at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday, Dec. 31.
For Scheyer during the break, he was preaching to his team to focus on the controllable things: their defense, effort and awareness, to name a few.
“We had a mindset that we just need to be better,” freshman Cameron Boozer said. “Obviously Texas Tech is a great team, but we should have won that game. And then we come back and we have a game like this. Obviously, there’s somethings we just gotta clean up and just be better for the next one.”
It was Georgia Tech who came out firing. The Yellow Jackets shot 67.9% from the field across the first 20 minutes despite turning the ball over 11 times. They held the 43-39 lead going into the break, just the third time this season the Blue Devils trailed at half, as Duke shot just 36.7% from the field.
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In total, Georgia Tech led for 13:20 of the first half and Duke 2:25.
“I feel like we should have come out more hungry and more with an attitude, I don’t think we started off that way,” sophomore Isaiah Evans said. “I think we still started not like we had a chip on our shoulders. We gotta figure that out.”
Georgia Tech came out of the break with a steal and ensuing dunk to make it a six-point game, but Cameron Boozer responded with a dunk of his own. Duke eventually regained the lead after a pair of Nik Khamenia free throws followed by a 3-point play by Boozer at the 13:25 mark to make it a multi-possession game for the first time.
Georgia Tech stayed within striking distance. The Yellow Jackets never trailed by more than seven and got within one on two occasions, but they were never able to regain the lead after they were outscored 46-36 by Duke in the second period as the Blue Devils won 85-79.
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“They gave us everything we can handle,” Scheyer said after the win. “I’m proud of our guys figuring out a way to win. I feel a little badly for them, like it’s expected we’re just supposed to roll through everybody we play. That’s not the reality.”
Boozer, who is averaging a double-double on the season, finished with his seventh of the season just 13 games into the season, adding 26 points and 12 rebounds. Four other Blue Devils finished in double-figures: Isaiah Evans (17), Cayden Boozer (13), Caleb Foster (12) and Patrick Ngongba II (11)
The Blue Devils move to 3-0 in games when trailing at halftime.
“I think for us, clearly, we got to find our rhythm,” Scheyer said. “And I think knowing this group, some of these games, although it felt ugly, you won, but it’s going to help motivate us to find our rhythm as quickly as possible.”
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ACC play continues for Duke, as it now looks ahead to their first conference road trip of the season, heading to Tallahassee, Florida to take on Florida State on Saturday, Jan. 3.
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@usatodayco.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke basketball looking for its rhythm after win against Georgia Tech
