Blue Devils Fall in Heartbreaker, 72-68, at Georgia Tech

Saturday, December 2

Atlanta

2:15 p.m.

Duke University

5-3,0-1ACC

Georgia Tech

4-2,1-0ACC

Duke

Georgia Tech

Blue Devils Fall in Heartbreaker, 72-68, at Georgia Tech

12/2/2023 5:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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ATLANTA, Ga. – The Blue Devils fell, 72-68, at Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon. Jeremy Roach scored a team-high 20 points, while logging a career-high eight rebounds, but the Blue Devils (5-3, 0-1) eventually dropped its ACC opener for the first time in six seasons.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke opened the game with a bucket on its first possession, coming from a post-up by Kyle Filipowski. Georgia Tech responded with four straight three-pointers to take a quick 10-point lead, 12-2, resulting in an early timeout by the Blue Devils.
Consecutive baskets from Mark Mitchell and Jeremy Roach narrowed the deficit to five, 14-9, at the 12:26 mark. The margin remained the same, 16-11, at the second media timeout of the first half.
Caleb Foster scored six straight in the span of just over 60 seconds, pulling Duke within one possession, 21-18, forcing a timeout by the Yellow Jackets with 8:24 on the first-half clock. A steal and layup by Jaylen Blakes out of timeout made it a one-point game, before a step-back three-pointer from Roach gave the Blue Devils the lead.
Roach became the first Duke player in double-figures with a drive and layup, giving the senior 11 first-half points. At the half, Georgia Tech held a slight lead, 35-31.
Three free throws by Roach at the 16:43 mark halted a 10-3 start to the second half by the hosts. Duke's deficit fluctuated between three and eight points through the first two media timeouts of the second half, with the Blue Devils trailing, 49-44, at the 11:36 mark.
A quick 7-0 burst by Duke courtesy of TJ Power, Roach and Foster cut the Georgia Tech lead to just three, 56-53, with just over eight minutes left to play. Filipowski leveled the score, 60-60, with two free throws at the 4:15 mark.
Two thunderous dunks by Mitchell gave Duke the lead, 66-64, with just over two minutes left to play in the contest. Following two technical free throws by the Yellow Jackets, the two teams traded baskets and remain deadlocked, 68-68, when Duke called a timeout with 1:18 remaining.
Georgia Tech scored the final four points of the contest, capping off the 72-68 win.

NOTES

Duke dropped its ACC opener for the first time since 2017 and is 53-19 all-time in the first ACC game of a season.
The Blue Devils move to 77-25 overall against the Yellow Jackets. The two teams have now met in an ACC lid-lifter just three times and Duke holds the advantage, 2-1, in those games.
Duke is now 18-7 when playing on Dec. 2 and lost for just the second time in the last 10 contests when playing on that date.
Duke's defense held Georgia Tech to 72 points, 0.8 points below its season scoring average of 72.8. The Blue Devils have now held each of their eight opponents below their respective scoring average.
The Blue Devils out-scored the Yellow Jackets, 17-2, in points off turnovers and held a 17-0 advantage in second-chance points.
Duke has now connected on at least one three-pointer in 1,197 straight games, the second-longest streak nationally.
Jeremy Roach scored a team-high 20 points, on 6-of-12 (.500) shooting. It is his fifth game scoring in double-figures this season, second straight and 54th time in his career. The Blue Devils are now 40-14 when he scores at least 10 points and 7-3 when he has a 20-point outing.
The senior also reeled in eight rebounds, setting a new career high.
Kyle Filipowski finished one rebound shy of his third consecutive double-double, scoring 12 points to go along with nine rebounds.
The sophomore blocked a career-high four shots, eclipsing his previous best of three – a mark he had logged twice previously and most recently versus Southern Indiana on Nov. 24, 2023.
Caleb Foster played a career-high 36 minutes, tallying 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field for his second double-figure scoring effort of the season.
Mark Mitchell scored 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting. For just the second time, Duke did not win when Mitchell scored at least 10 points. The Blue Devils' record when Mitchell scores 10+ is 18-2.
Tyrese Proctor only played 76 seconds before exiting the game with a lower-body injury.

QUOTES

"It was a tough day for us. One, losing Tyrese [Proctor] right away is a thing you have to react to in real time. Really, from the start of the game, we gave them some life with the threes. I thought they hit some tough shots, but for us, we have to do a better job starting off the game. And we didn't start off well. The entire game, we're fighting and clawing our way back. We've got something inside of us, because we did. We go up four. This is a time for us, for our team – we have a week of practice. We have to stick together. We've got to get together even closer." - head coach Jon Scheyer

UP NEXT

No. 7 Duke returns home after a two-game road trip, taking on Charlotte at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 9. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:15 p.m., with the game broadcast on The CW,

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