Duke Travels to Georgia Tech Wednesday

Feb. 25, 2003

[6/5] DUKE (19-4, 9-4) at GEORGIA TECH (12-11, 5-7)
February 26, 2003 * 7:00 PM ET
Alexander Memorial Coliseum * Atlanta, Ga. * ESPN

Coach Krzyzewski Quotes

Duke vs. Georgia Tech

Duke (19-4, 9-4 ACC), rated sixth in the nation by the Associated Press and fifth by ESPN/USA Today, faces Georgia Tech (12-11, 5-7) on Feb. 26 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM.

This will mark the 71st meeting between Duke and Georgia Tech with the Blue Devils holding a 50-20 series advantage. Duke has won 13 consecutive games vs. the Yellow Jackets, including its last six at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Under Mike Krzyzewski, Duke is 35-15 vs. Georgia Tech.

The Duke-Georgia Tech game will be televised to a national audience by ESPN with Mike Patrick (play-by-play) and Dick Vitale (color) calling the action.

Storylines

* Duke is just one victory shy of reaching 1,700 in program history. Duke would become just the fourth school to accomplish that feat. Through Feb. 23, the Blue Devils trail only Kentucky (1,839), North Carolina (1,803) and Kansas (1,791) in all-time victories
* Duke has won 13 in succession vs. Georgia Tech dating back to 1997
* Duke is one of only five teams in the nation to be ranked in the top 10 (AP) for the entire season (the others are Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Pittsburgh)
* Both Duke and Maryland are 9-4 in ACC play, one-half game behind 9-3 Wake Forest in the league standings
* Georgia Tech has lost just once at home this season - 75-67 setback to Wake Forest in its last game on Feb. 20. The Yellow Jackets are 11-1 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum this year uSaturday's game will mark the 12th in succession that Duke has been ranked in the top 10 at the time of the Georgia Tech contest
* Dahntay Jones averaged 20.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals as Duke avenged earlier defeats to Maryland and N.C. State with two wins this week
* Duke's Patrick Johnson, a sophomore walk-on, attended Grady High School in Atlanta. Though he did not play organized basketball as a prep, the 6-9 Johnson walked-on at Duke prior to the 2002-03 season
* Duke is one of two ACC teams that has not lost a home game this season. As of Feb. 24, Duke (14-0) and Wake Forest (14-0) were perfect at home in 2002-03
* Georgia Tech is the 18th consecutive opponent that Duke has faced with a .500 or better record. Duke's strength of schedule is rated 27th in the latest RPI rankings
* Chris Duhon has 12 assists and just one turnover in his last three games (114 minutes played). Duhon has also been playing excellent defense in recent games
* Duke assistant coach Chris Collins and his wife Kim are new parents. Ryan Christopher Collins was born on Feb. 20 (Collins' number at Duke was 20)

Looking for 20

Duke will be looking for its 20th victory of the 2002-03 season on Wednesday night. The Blue Devils have won at least 20 games in six consecutive seasons (1997-2002) and 37 times in school history. Under Mike Krzyzewski, Duke has won 20-plus games 17 times in his 22 seasons. Duke has won 30 or more games seven times since 1986. The seven 30-win seasons under Coach K are an NCAA record by a coach.

Heating Up

After a tough stretch when it lost three of five games, Duke has won five of its last six with the only loss coming in double overtime at 15th-ranked and ACC-leading Wake Forest. The Blue Devils enter the Georgia Tech game coming off successive victories vs. Virginia, Maryland and N.C. State by a cumulative average of 11.7 points. Duke has forced 52 turnovers and blocked 21 shots in its three-game winning streak. In addition, Duke shot 40 percent or better from the field in each of those three games after shooting a season-low .318 at Wake Forest on Feb. 13.

Road Streak Ended at Virginia

Duke entered the Virginia game on Feb. 15 - its last away game prior to Georgia Tech - having lost four consecutive road games for the first time in seven years. It left Charlottesville snapping that streak as well as its two-game skid at Virginia with a sound 78-59 victory. The Blue Devils were paced by freshman Shelden Williams, who had a career-best 20 points, eight rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals in 31 minutes. Duke limited Virginia to 59 points - its lowest home scoring output since a 100-54 loss to Duke on Feb. 11, 1999 - and .400 shooting (.211 from three-point range). The Blue Devils also outrebounded the Cavs, 43-36. Duke will finish the regular season with three of its last four contests on the road.

The Last Meeting

Third-ranked Duke responded to back-to-back losses with a 91-71 victory over Georgia Tech on Jan. 25 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils were led by Dahntay Jones, who had a team-best 21 points. The victory gave Mike Krzyzewski his 650th career win and he became just one of 21 coaches in Division I history to amass 650 or more wins.

Duke's inside players of Shelden Williams, Casey Sanders, Nick Horvath and Shavlik Randolph combined to go 13-for-21 from the field with 24 rebounds. That same group limited one of the nation's best freshman - Georgia Tech's Chris Bosh - to just five points in the game. B.J. Elder led the Yellow Jackets with a game-best 22 points.

The Captains

Junior Chris Duhon, senior Dahntay Jones and redshirt junior Nick Horvath serve as Duke's tri-captains this season. Duhon was the team's lone captain until Feb. 10 when coach Mike Krzyzewski named Jones and Horvath to serve in that capacity as well. The move marked the third consecutive season that Krzyzewski has named additional captains during the year. In 2001, J.D. Simpson was added along with Shane Battier and Nate James and in 2002, Carlos Boozer was added to Mike Dunleavy and Jason Williams.

Winning Continues at Duke

Although it has a youthful roster (six freshmen) and it suffered the early departure of three players selected among the top 35 in the 2002 NBA Draft, Duke has posted a 19-4 overall record in 2002-03. The Blue Devils have now won at least 19 games for seven consecutive seasons. Its .826 winning percentage to date is the 11th time in the Mike Krzyzewski era at Duke (23 years) that the team has won 80 percent or more of its games. The school is one victory shy of its seventh consecutive 20+ win season.

Rebounding Improves

The Blue Devils have improved their rebounding in recent games. Duke has outrebounded seven of its last 10 opponents, including a +11 margin vs. North Carolina on Feb. 5. The Blue Devils have a 380-340 advantage on the glass during that 10-game stretch, an average of 4.0 more boards per game than their competition. On the season, Duke has a +2.6 rebounding margin and has a 13-1 record when outrebounding its opponents.

Duke in February

Duke has posted a 135-51 record during the month of February in 23 years under Mike Krzyzewski. The Blue Devils have won 46 of their last 57 February games dating back to 1997.

Duke and the Rankings

Duke enters the Georgia Tech game ranked sixth nationally in the Associated Press poll and fifth in the USA Today/ESPN poll. Including 16 AP polls this season (through Feb. 24), Duke has now been ranked in 126 consecutive AP polls, the longest such streak in the nation. The Blue Devils also have been ranked among the nation's top 10 teams in 66 consecutive polls dating back to 2000.

Duke, which was sixth in both major preseason polls, has been ranked in the preseason top 10 23 times, including 16 times under Mike Krzyzewski. In fact, Duke has been a preseason top 10 pick in 15 of the past 16 years (the Blue Devils have ended the season ranked in the top 10 in 11 of those seasons).

As the AP's sixth-ranked team, Duke has posted a 75-19 record all-time (.798).

Block Party

Duke, which averages 5.3 blocked shots per game, has recorded at least four blocks in 17 of 23 games this season, including a season-best 13 vs. 13th-ranked Maryland on Feb. 19. Senior Casey Sanders currently leads Duke with 32 blocked shots (1.39-fourth in ACC). Freshman Shelden Williams (1.35-sixth) and Shavlik Randolph (1.00-11th) also rank among the league's top 15 in rejections. In the latest NCAA statistics report (Feb. 17), Duke's blocked shots average ranked 28th nationally.

ACC Consistency

Duke has won at least 12 regular season games in the ACC for six consecutive seasons, becoming the first team in league history to accomplish that standard of excellence. The Blue Devils (9-4) will have to win their remaining three ACC games to achieve this in 2002-03. To illustrate how difficult this is to achieve, the longest stretch of 10 or more victories in succession in ACC history was seven straight years by North Carolina from 1993-99. The longest such streak of 12 or more wins prior to Duke's current six-year run was three seasons four different times.

Trey Streak Alive

Duke has made at least one three-point field goal in a school-record 470 consecutive games, the seventh-longest trey streak in the nation. As of Feb. 18, Duke trailed only UNLV (530), Vanderbilt (526), Kentucky (496), Georgia Tech (494), Arkansas (480) and Western Kentucky (471) in games with at least one three-pointer. The last time Duke did not record a three-point field goal was on Dec. 30, 1989 vs. Hawaii in the Rainbow Classic. Duke made at least four three-point field goals in 93 of its last 96 games. UNLV, Vanderbilt and Princeton are the only three schools to make a trey in every game since its inception in 1986-87.

Duke Against Unranked Opponents

Duke has won 68 of its last 73 games vs. unranked opponents. Including two losses this year, Duke has won 70 of its last 74 vs. unranked ACC competition, including league tournament play. Duke has won 132 of its last 138 games overall vs. unranked opponents (both ACC and non-league foes).

What's Next for Duke

Following the Georgia Tech contest, Duke travels to St. John's for a non-conference showdown in Madison Square Garden on March 2 at noon. The game will be televised nationally by CBS.

Devil Tales

Duke forced 24 turnovers vs. N.C. State on Feb. 22. It was a season-high turnover total by the Wolfpack ... The Blue Devils also had 13 steals vs. N.C. State, which was a season high vs. an ACC opponent for Duke ... Duke blocked a season-best 13 shots vs. 13th-ranked Maryland on Feb. 19. The 13 rejections were the most in a game by Duke since a 17-block performance vs. Virginia on Jan. 10, 1999 ... Despite four road losses this season, Duke has still won 100 of its last 119 away from Cameron Indoor Stadium, including 61 of the last 71 ... J.J. Redick's .933 free throw percentage leads the nation and is currently the highest single season percentage at Duke (Trajan Langdon set the record with an .897 free throw percentage in 1997). Redick has missed just two free throw attempts in ACC play this season (44-of-46, .957) ... Five Duke basketball players - all of whom played under Mike Krzyzewski - were named among the ACC's Top 50 Male Athletes as part of the league's 50th anniversary celebration. Current Blue Devil associate head coach Johnny Dawkins was joined by Shane Battier, Grant Hill, Christian Laettner and Jason Williams as Duke basketball's five representatives on the prestigious list ... Duke has seven McDonald's All-Americas on its 2002-03 roster, including four newcomers - Sean Dockery, Shavlik Randolph, J.J. Redick, who was the game's MVP last year, and Michael Thompson.

Duke Travels to Georgia Tech Wednesday

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