Even so, the Blue Devils’ opponent on Wednesday in Georgia Tech is coming off an upset win over the North Carolina Tar Heels.
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Justin Moore had 13 points to lead the Yellow Jackets (9-5, 1-1).
Krzyzewski said after the game that he postponed his upcoming lower-back surgery a few days so he could see his team at full strength, and that included Allen running the show as the primary ball handler.
Krzyzewski walked slowly and tried to sit comfortably with his discomfort during the game.
“I don’t think this (situation) is close to back in ’95, ” Capel said. The ACC is said to be the toughest conference in the country, and now this young Duke team is going to have to face the gauntlet without their Hall of Fame coach at the helm. “Although it’s not going to be great to not have the ultimate leader out there, I think from the standpoint of hearing Jeff’s voice, it’s not going to be as different”.
Krzyzewski insisted that a one-game suspension is plenty, and that there’s more to his handling of Allen than missing game time. He found Harry Giles for an alley-oop layup for Duke’s first basket.
Duke is now beginning to look like the powerhouse that everyone had been waiting to see since they landed the commitments of Giles, Tatum and Marques Bolden.
He eventually found his points too.
But following just one game on the sidelines, the junior was back in uniform for Duke Wednesday night. The best players want to go where they’ll win, where they’ll get attention, where they’ll get better at basketball, and where they’ll increase their chances of making the NBA. Duke fans will say, I’m sure, that Allen has already been punished enough. “I talked to coach a lot and just accepted whatever discipline came my way from him and the coaching staff and just try to move on from it”.
Their shooting percentages over the last three games have been 37.3 percent against Tennessee State, 36.5 percent against Elon and 41.8 percent against Virginia Tech.
To the only people he’s responsible to-his employers and his players-Krzyzewski did the right thing in bringing back Allen nearly immediately. The Blue Devils had only eight assists against the Hokies. “He’s a really, really good player and he’s a playmaker”, sophomore Luke Kennard said. “We pretty much had everyone playing”. “We’ve done a good job defensively”. “It is a lot of fun to play that way”. Four players average double digits in points, with 6-10 center Ben Lammers (14.6 points, 10.1 rebounds) and freshman swingman Josh Okogie (14.2 points) leading the way, but only seven players contribute significant minutes. The Blue Devils are 9-3 against the spread in their last 12 home games versus Georgia Tech and are 4-1 at the betting window in their last five games overall versus the Yellow Jackets. I know there are many, many worse things in the world than tripping up somebody on a basketball court, but c’mon.
Duke is now 12-2 and the number eight team in the country.
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Duke’s play over the last three weeks has been in a steady decline.
