DURHAM – No. 11 Duke (13-3, 4-1) used a career-high 30 points from Kyle Filipowski to help secure an 84-79 win over Georgia Tech (8-8, 1-4) on Saturday evening. Jeremy Roach added 18 points, Tyrese Proctor logged 17 points, including three second-half three-pointers, and Ryan Young rounded out Duke’s double-digit scoring with a season-best 10 points on 4-of-5 (.800) from the field.
The victory marked head coach Jon Scheyer‘s 400th win at Duke, having won 115 as a player and now 285 when on Duke’s coaching staff.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Georgia Tech scored on its first possession with a floater in the lane. Duke got on the board quickly with a jumper from Tyrese Proctor and took its first lead, 7-5, after a three-point play by Kyle Filipowski. The sophomore made it 10 straight points with a three-pointer at the 15:05 mark and sent the Blue Devils into the first media timeout ahead by three, 14-11.
- Three-pointers by Jeremy Roach and Caleb Foster pushed the lead to six, 21-15, after just over seven minutes of action. The Blue Devils went up by double-digits for the first time, 28-18, following a Proctor layup, giving the sophomore six early points. The Yellow Jackets drew within one, 29-28, after a 10-1 run spanning just over three minutes and knotted the score at 31 at the final media break of the first half.
- Duke was held without a field goal for over six minutes and the Yellow Jackets remained hot from beyond the arc, banking in a three-pointer to take a 35-32 lead at the 3:07 mark. The two teams entered the halftime break tied at 39. Filipowski, after 14 points and eight rebounds in the first half, opened the second half with a layup. The Yellow Jackets scored the next eight points, taking their largest lead of the contest at 47-41, and forcing a Duke timeout with 16:40 on the clock.
- Duke emerged from the under-16 media timeout down by 10, 53-43, but erupted for an 8-0 run in less than a minute after a three-pointer by Filipowski, a three-point play by Roach and a fast-break layup from Filipowski. A put-back layup by Ryan Young put Duke back in front, 56-55, and capped off a 13-2 run in two minutes of play.
- Proctor drilled a corner three-pointer with 8:48 on the clock to draw the Blue Devils within one, 64-63, but Georgia Tech answered with a long-range shot of its own. Filipowski sent home his fourth three-pointer on Duke’s next possession, giving the forward 27 points on the game. Proctor reached double-digits with a three-pointer out of the under-eight media timeout and knotted the score at 69.
- Duke made its seventh straight field goal with a Young layup, which gave the Blue Devils a 74-69 edge and forced a Georgia Tech timeout with five minutes to play. Two free throws by the visitors snapped their three-minute scoring drought and narrowed Duke’s lead to five, 76-71.
- A layup by Young and two free-throws by Proctor helped the Blue Devils close out the 84-79 victory.
NOTES
- Duke committed a season-low four turnovers on Saturday evening, besting its previous season-low of five turnovers in its win over La Salle.
- The Blue Devils dished 16 assists, finishing with a 4-to-1 assist-turnover ratio.
- After going down by 10 points, 53-43, with 14:35 remaining in the second half, Duke responded with eight points in less than a minute, drawing within two, 53-51, with 13:37 on the clock.
- Trailing by three points, 69-66, at the under-eight media timeout (6:52, 2nd), Tyrese Proctor made a pair of 3-pointers to provide the Blue Devils with a lead they would not relinquish.
- Kyle Filipowski secured his second consecutive double-double, scoring a career-high 30 points and snagging 13 rebounds, while adding four assists, two steals and two blocked shots without committing a turnover. The sophomore now has six double-doubles this season and 22 in his career.
- Filipowski is the first Blue Devil to score at least 30 points since Matthew Hurt tallied 37 against Louisville on Feb. 27, 2021, and is the first Duke player with a 30-point double-double since Vernon Carey Jr. had 31 points and 12 boards versus California on Nov. 21, 2019.
- Filipowski finished 10-of-24 from the field, including 4-of-5 (.800) from beyond the arc. It marks the second consecutive game that he has matched his career-high of four 3-pointers in a game. The sophomore center has connected on 8-of-9 from behind the arc in the past two games.
- Tyrese Proctor scored 17 points, with 11 coming after halftime, on 5-of-10 shooting. He went 3-of-5 (.600) from deep, making all three of his long-range shots in the second half. The sophomore captain connected on all of his second-half three-pointers within a span of 2:55 (8:48-5:53), bringing Duke from down four (64-60) to up three (72-69).
- Ryan Young scored 10 points, setting a new season-high, while also finishing one rebound shy of a double-double with a season-best nine boards.
- After converting his first five free throws against Georgia Tech, Jeremy Roach capped his career-long streak of made free throws at 20.
- Duke now leads the series versus Georgia Tech, 78-25, and has won 13 straight home games against the Yellow Jackets.
QUOTES
- “That was a big time win for us. I thought it was a gutsy win to go into this game without Mark [Mitchell]. He’s such an important guy for us. I call him a connector, and when you remove him from the equation, I thought it took us part of the game to overcome that. I thought we came out with good energy, but [without Mark], it puts everybody in a different spot, no matter what. I thought we missed him, but it’s no excuse for us, it’s next man up. Give Georgia Tech credit. I thought they hit some really tough shots. I think some of them were on us, but you’ve also got to give them credit. That is the best they’ve shot the ball from three recently. They had some really tough shots in the paint and again, you’ve got to give them credit and tip your hat to the shots that they made” – head coach Jon Scheyer
- “Going into that timeout when we were down eight or 10 points, we weren’t getting discouraged with ourselves or pulling away from each other. In fact, we got a lot closer. We knew the game plan, we needed to execute well and do it play by play. Coach Scheyer didn’t say that we’d get it back right away. We just needed to be patient with them, make it a process, get those stops on defense, and that’s exactly what we did.” – sophomore Kyle Filipowski
UP NEXT
- No. 11 Duke (13-3, 4-1 ACC) returns to the court next Saturday, welcoming Pittsburgh (10-6, 1-4 ACC) to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 20. The game tips at 8 p.m. on the ACC Network.
To stay up to date with Blue Devils men’s basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching “DukeMBB”.
