Some unexpected news broke less than two hours before tip-off of last nights Duke at Georgia Tech game.  HOF Coach Mike Krzyzewski would not be coaching his team in Atlanta due to some precautionary measures taken by his doctors to keep him in Durham.

Lead Assistant Coach Jeff Capel would take the reins on the sideline and his effort helped give Duke a much-needed win on the road.  But Krzyzewski's hand prints were all over these Blue Devils despite his absence.  The Duke program is a tight knit group, all knowing their duties no matter what issues arrise.

This was by no means, Capels first rodeo.  Oh no.  He's been at the helm plenty of times in the past where he started out at Virginia Commonwealth and would later recruit Blake Griffin to Oklahoma, And the Duke team has also had their staff which  consists of Nate James and Jon Scheyer in place for a good while now.

What we learned last night is that the Duke staff was ready for the challenge.  It was just that morning when the team learned their leader in Mike Krzyzewski would remain in Durham.  But there was no time for losing focus.  Duke needed a win.

Duke got that win, but early on it seemed like the dark cloud over the team of late would not go away.  Georgia Tech scored on numerous easy baskets which allowed them to take a 4 point lead into the break,

Capel made some half time adjustments and challenged his team to simply play better, and they did.  Duke would return to their old friend, man to man defense, and that was enough to stymie the Yellow Jackets offense where they sputtered down the stretch.

Duke has not been able to play its program staple, man to man defense, at times this season due to depth issues.  In this game, the move to said defense came after a long break, so there were certainly fresh legs.  Trust me, if Duke had the bodies, they would be playing plenty more of man to man.

Grayson Allen nailed a career high three-point shot made shots on his way to 27 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal.  He was up for the challenge of being a leader when Duke needed him most.

Brandon Ingram was a beast on the defensive glass.  After starting off the game slowly on the offensive end, he did what good players do to shake off a slump.  That being he drove the ball to the basket and when he does that, he makes a living at the free throw stripe. Ingram ended the game with an impressive double-double of 14 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

Duke would also be aided timely moments from Marshall Plumlee who grabbed 11 rebounds and did not miss a shot from the field. Luke Kennard, the nation's top free throw shooter would hit said shots from the charity stripe at crunch time for Duke,  And Derryck Thornton played, perhaps, his best game at Duke save some late turnovers.

Perhaps the biggest difference in the game was the Blue Devils ability to knock down threes.  It was that ability which allowed the team to go on a 16-2 run midway through the 2nd half.  Duke would end the game knocking down 11 three pointers at a 48% clip. Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets managed just 2 of 19 from beyond the arc.

When a team has lost some close games a weight develops on them. Imaginary or not, that weight was lifted last night.  It was a program win.  It showed Jeff Capel is the best Associate Head Coach in America.  The win also showed that the Duke players could rally around one another when some serious adversity was in play with Krzyzewski resting in Durham.

Duke will have little time to celebrate in that key games are coming up with N,C, State and Louisville.  The Wolfpack has had a stellar win over Miami since Duke last played them just days ago.  And Louisville is perched at the top of the conference.

According to Capel and the players during last evenings post game talk, they'll take it one game at a time.  That sounds like their coach who wasn't at the game in body, but was certainly there in spirit.

Tidbits

During the bus trip to the flight back last evening, the team got some face time on Matt Jones phone with Mike Krzyzewski.

The game with Louisville will mark the 1000th game played in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

According to Jeff Capel - Duke did not practice anything but zone in preparing for Georgia Tech.