What Duke’s winning streak shows about what could lie ahead for the No. 11 Blue Devils
When No. 11 Duke resumes play Saturday after a week off, the Blue Devils’ next two games will be against Pittsburgh and Louisville, two of the teams currently tied for last place in the ACC.
Having won eight games in a row, Duke (13-3, 4-1 ACC) is solidly in position to match the 10-game winning streak it produced last February and March that included the three ACC Tournament wins that brought a league championship.
The important thing, though, is that this year’s Blue Devils find a way to improve on what last year’s team produced. While the ACC title was a significant accomplishment, adding another banner to Cameron Indoor Stadium’s rafters, Duke’s standards include that and more.
With that in mind, and with four starters back from last season’s 28-9 team, this season’s Blue Devils clearly are thinking and acting like a group aiming for major accomplishments at season’s end.
Saturday’s 84-79 win over Georgia Tech, which meant overcoming the Yellow Jackets’ uncharacteristically high 55% shooting on 3-pointers and 54.5% shooting overall, is an example.
Sophomore forward Mark Mitchell missed the entire game with a sprained knee. Senior guard Jeremy Roach injured his knee with 8:22 to play and only played 59 seconds the rest of the game.
Yet, missing those two starters, Duke rallied from 10 points down in the second half against the same Georgia Tech team that beat the Blue Devils, 72-68, in Atlanta last month.
Graduate student Ryan Young, another team captain, glanced forward on the calendar when saying how this win would help the Blue Devils.
“These kinds of wins, I think, are huge for us,” Young said. “We learned a ton from it. How to gut out a victory like that. These kinds of games, if you want to go deep in the tournament, if you want to hang banners and win championships, these are the kind of games you’ve got to learn how to win.”
Last season, in Jon Scheyer’s first as Duke’s head coach, the Blue Devils suffered road ACC losses at Wake Forest, N.C. State, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Miami and Virginia — all before Valentine’s Day.
It took that long for them to work out the kinks. Their 10-game winning streak followed the 69-62 overtime loss at Virginia last Feb. 11.
This season, the Blue Devils are confident they’ve carried those harsh lessons forward to gel quicker.
“I think we have a lot more poise,” Duke sophomore forward Kyle Filipowski said. “We don’t separate when things get tough, too. I think that’s a big part of it. I think we’ve got a great thing going with our team. You know, holding each other accountable, having positivity, positive, constructive criticism with each other. I think that goes a long way.”
That doesn’t mean it’s been smooth sailing. A 78-73 home loss to Arizona on Nov. 10 marked the only time Duke has lost at home in Scheyer’s two-season tenure. Then came back-to-back road losses at Arkansas, 80-75, on Nov. 29, and at Georgia Tech on Dec. 2.
Sophomore guard Tyrese Proctor suffered a sprained ankle early in that Georgia Tech game that sidelined him for four weeks. The Blue Devils found themselves at an early crossroads.
Since then, the eight-game winning streak blossomed. It includes Duke’s most impressive non-conference win, a 78-70 triumph over Baylor on Dec. 20 at Madison Square Garden. The Blue Devils have also claimed ACC road wins at Pittsburgh and Notre Dame.
Saturday came revenge against Georgia Tech, a win that didn’t come as easily as the Blue Devils wished. They aimed to take the fight to the Yellow Jackets early, hoping to take them out of the game in the first four minutes.
Duke jumped to 28-18 lead a little more than 10 minutes into the game but its shooting went cold. The game was tied 39-all at halftime before Georgia Tech built a 53-43 lead with 14:35 to play.
That’s where that poise Filipowski referenced made a difference for Duke. On his way to a career-best 30-point scoring day, Filipowski spearheaded an 8-0 Blue Devils run that took just 58 seconds. He hit a 3-pointer, rebounded a Georgia Tech shot that teammate Jaylen Blakes blocked, then assisted on Roach’s fast-break basket.
Filipowski’s steal led to his own layup and Duke trailed by just a bucket with 13:37 to play.
After a Georgia Tech basket, another Filipowski 3-pointer cut the Yellow Jackets’ lead to 55-54.
Duke was back in business. Cameron rocked. Though the Blue Devils didn’t take the lead for good until after Roach was injured, when Proctor swished a 3-pointer with 5:53 to play, they certainly showed their mettle.
Having rewatched film this week of his team’s loss to Georgia Tech as he prepared for the rematch, Scheyer realized it was mostly useless. His team’s growth since then makes what he watched on film unrecognizable.
“To see the growth, to see the mental makeup of the guys on this team, they’re tough,” Scheyer said. “I’m talking mental toughness, not just the physical toughness on the court. I’m really proud of the growth we’ve made and really since that game. I do think we’ve been a different team.”
March remains six weeks away. That’s an eternity in college basketball. A year ago in mid-January, Duke looked nothing like a team that would be cutting down the nets at the ACC tournament.
While neither Mitchell nor Roach’s injuries are considered severe, their availability in the short team is uncertain.
So tests must be passed. With a Jan. 23 game at last-place Louisville among them, Duke has seven ACC road games to play.
Perhaps the best lesson, what the Blue Devils hope is a harbinger of good things to come, is how Duke responded to the game’s final minutes without Roach, its steady senior leader.
“Him going out was obviously tough and all,” Filipowski said, “but I don’t think that there was one second of doubt that we were going to lose this game. I think we had a lot of trust in each other.”
This story was originally published January 15, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "What Duke’s winning streak shows about what could lie ahead for the No. 11 Blue Devils."