Third-seeded Duke improved to 25-5 overall with its 69-64 victory over fifth-seeded Georgia Tech on Sunday afternoon. Duke won its 15th ACC Championship with the victory, including its ninth under Mike Krzyzewski.
With its victory over Georgia Tech on Sunday, Duke has now won six of the last seven ACC Championships.
Duke improved to 15-11 in the ACC Championship game, including 9-4 under Krzyzewski.
Duke senior Daniel Ewing has a league-best 11 ACC Tournament victories to his credit and closes out his career with an 11-1 record at the tournament. The next-closest players are Duke's J.J. Redick, and Shelden Williams with eight wins apiece.
J.J. Redick scored 26 points and hit 10-of-10 free throws, including 6-of-6 down the stretch against Georgia Tech in Sunday's final game ...
His 76 points in the ACC Tournament ties the second-highest point total for a Duke player in the tournament. He ties Bob Verga's 76 points
in the 1967 ACC Tournament and only Art Heyman's 1961 Tournament run with 80 points is more.
His combined 12 three-pointers is the most by a Duke player at the ACC Tournament and is tied for the second-most by any player in
tournament history.
It marked the 21st time this season and 42nd of his career that he has scored 20 or more points.
It marked the 29th time this season, including 18th straight, and 84th time in his career he's scored in double figures.
Daniel Ewing joined Shane Battier (1998-01) and Chris Duhon (2001-04) as the only players in Duke history to play in all 12 possible ACC Tournament games. Ewing's 11-1 record also ties Battier and Duhon for the most wins by a Duke player in ACC Tournament action.
Ewing's 15 points marks his 26th game this season and 85th of his career scoring in double figures.
Shelden Williams recorded six blocks against Georgia Tech and that marks the 10th game this season and 20th of his career that he has had five or more blocks. Williams broke a tie with himself of a season ago for most games in a season with five or more blocks and he also tied Mike Gminski (1977-80) with the 20th five-plus block performance of his career.
Williams recorded 16 points and 13 rebounds in the game, as well, and that marked his ACC leading 18th double-double of the season and 36th of his career. Additionally, his 16 points marked his 28th game this season and 65th of his career in double figures. His 13 rebounds marks his 20th game of the season with 10-plus boards and 41st of his career.
The Blue Devils have won six of the last seven ACC Tournament championships. Overall, Duke has posted a 77-37 record (.675) in the ACC Tournament. Duke has won 15 league championships, the second-highest championship total by any team in the league. Duke's league tournament titles came in 1960, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1978, 1980, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005.
Under head coach Mike Krzyzewski, Duke is 39-15 (.722) in the ACC Tournament. Coach K's Blue Devils have won nine ACC Tournament titles (1986, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005). Coach K is the only one of the 11 ACC head coaches to have earned two or more league championships.
Since the 1998 ACC Tournament, Duke has separated itself from the rest of the league with six tournament crowns in those eight seasons and a league-best 22 victories, 13 more than the next-closest team. Duke is followed by North Carolina (9-7), Maryland (9-7), N.C. State (9-8), Florida State (4-8), Georgia Tech (4-8), Wake Forest (3-8), Clemson (3-8), Virginia (2-8), Miami (0-1) and Virginia Tech (0-1).
Duke's defense has allowed its last seven opponents to average 62.1 points per game.
Senior Daniel Ewing has distributed the basketball well his last five games -- he has 34 dishes in that stretch (6.8 per game).
Duke has been forced to work around injuries all season as four of its 10 scholarship players -- Reggie Love (12 games - broken foot), David McClure (seven - left knee), Sean Dockery (six - right knee) and Shavlik Randolph (four - mono) -- have missed a combined 29 games. Dockery suffered a torn MCL in his right knee on Feb. 23 at Georgia Tech and is out indefinitely for the Blue Devils.
Duke has allowed just one opponent to shoot better than .500 from the field this season (No. 5 Wake Forest on Feb. 20). In 16 of 30 games, opponents have shot less than .400 from the floor against the Blue Devils' defense, including a .296 shooting performance by Georgia Tech.
Since failing to make a three-pointer at N.C. State on Jan. 13, Redick has made 79 treys in his last 18 games (4.4 per game).
Redick has a better field goal percentage from three-point range (.417, 115-of-276) than he does from inside the arc (.414, 77-of-186) this season.
In his last 15 contests, Shelden Williams has blocked 59 shots (3.9 per game). Williams has moved into 10th place on the ACC's all-time blocked shots list with 276 career rejections.
Senior forward Reggie Love was named a team captain on Feb. 19. Love joins Daniel Ewing and J.J. Redick as Blue Devil captains for the remainder of the 2004-05 season.
Mike Krzyzewski has 39 ACC Tournament victories to his credit, 25 more than the next closest coach in the league (Gary Williams). The 39 victories are the second-most by a coach in league history (Dean Smith had 58 ACC Tournament wins).
Coach K is one of only two active coaches in the ACC to have won the league tournament. Krzyzewski has won nine ACC Tournament crowns, seven more than the next-closest coach in the league (Gary Williams of Maryland has one).