Georgia Tech Looking for Upset of Duke At McCamish
Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports
After coming off the buzzer-beater victory over the Boston College Eagles, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets hope to ride that momentum into their matchup against a tougher foe in the No. 5 ranked Duke Blue Devils on Tuesday night.
Date: 2/18/14
Game Time: 9 pm EST
Venue: McCamish Pavilion Atlanta,GA
Series Record: Duke leads series 63-23
Last Meeting: January 7, 2014 – Duke defeated Georgia Tech 79-57 at Durham, NC
Records: Duke (20-5, 9-3 ACC) Georgia Tech (13-12 , 4-8 ACC)
Current Odds: Duke -11.5
Injuries: GT: Travis Jorgensen – Out For Season (knee), Jason Morris – Out indefinitely (foot), Trae Golden, questionable (groin); Duke – None
TV: ACC Network , ESPN3
Radio: 106.7 FM
Georgia Tech can look at their dramatic 74-71 win over the Boston College Eagles two ways. They can look at it as a hard fought win that they got without leading scoreer, Trae Golden, on the floor, or a tough game against a team that they really should have run out of the gym even with the injuries they suffered.
Now true, B.C. has given the Jackets issues of late, but that game should not have come down to Marques Georges-Hunt having to save the day.
Enough about that game, lets get to the game at hand where Tech will be taking on a No. 5 Duke Blue Devils team that has found it’s stride since the last time these two met on January 7th. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s bunch has won eight of their last ten games and their last three in a row since losing to Syracuse on February 1st.
After a slow start in the beginning of conference play, Jabari Parker has found his game and is playing like the force he was expected to be coming into his Freshman campaign. Parker is the leading scorer for the Blue Devils at 19.6 ppg and is shooting 47.8% from the floor. Parker has scored 20 or more points in four of his last five games and is averaging 21.8 ppg over that span. Rodney Hood has been equally as steady for Duke dropping 16.3 ppg and shooting 44.3% from three-point range this season.
Georgia Tech is running out of chances to get a win over a ranked team this season. If they don’t beat Duke on Tuesday, their last chance for a win over a ranked team will be when they play on the road against Syracuse on March 4th. So if they want to get a big win, now is the time.
But to get a win over Duke, they are going to need huge performances out of Marques Georges-Hunt, Kammeon Holsey, and Daniel Miller again. Those three played huge against Boston College.
Holsey and Miller owned the paint, combining for 12 of 17 shooting, 33 points and 10 rebounds. Georges-Hunt had a solid game as well going 5 of 10 for 15 points. He needs to string together back-to-back productive games for once. Finally, the Jackets need to own the boards against the Dukies. In their last game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke outrebounded Tech 33-25. That is going to have to be remedied Tuesday night.
Getting to the line and making some free throws (which ended up being a huge difference in the first meeting) would be advisable for the Yellow Jackets as well. Giving the Blue Devils a huge advantage at the charity stripe is a sure fire way to lose the game.
Brian Gregory’s squad has played hard all year and truly does deserve to have a game where the students storm the court, and this might be their last chance to make that happen at McCamish.
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