Duke Basketball: Takeaways from Blue Devils gritty win over Georgia Tech

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 31: The Duke Blue Devils bench reacts after a three-point shot by Wendell Moore Jr. #0 of the Duke Blue Devils during the second half of their game against the Boston College Eaglesat Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 31, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 88-49. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

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EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN – DECEMBER 03: Vernon Carey Jr. #1 of the Duke Blue Devils (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

2. Duke can survive the occasional off-night from Vernon Carey Jr.

At Busting Brackets we have discussed the idea that Vernon Carey Jr. is the best college basketball player in the nation. And while Wednesday’s 14-point, 6-rebound effort certainly didn’t help his National Player of the Year case, it helped Duke’s case to be regular-season ACC champions for the first time since the 2009-10 season.

Carey is a very high-usage player for this year’s Duke squad, bereft of players who can create their own shot. And while he is not a traditional shot-creator, Carey is able to easily carve out space in the low post to receive entry passes and go to work in the pant. Per Basketball-Reference, Carey had a massive 40.5% usage rate against Georgie Tech on Wednesday, showing how much the Blue Devils were still feeding him despite his struggles (6-for-14 from the field).

Wednesday night’s game vs. Georgia Tech marked only the second time this season that Carey has shot below 50% in a game, the first time this has occurred since the Duke basketball season-opener against the Kansas Jayhawks. Carey was still able to draw considerable attention from the Yellow Jackets, which in turned help open up Duke’s 3-point shooting.

The Blue Devils shoot 35.9% from the 3-point line but are up to 38.8% from 3-point range in conference play and nights like Wednesday show why.

Though they only took 12 attempts from 3-point range, Duke made them all count. The Blue Devils shot 50% from the 3-point line, with contributions from Alex O’Connell, Jack White, Matthew Hurt, and Tre Jones. Hurt—who went 3-for-7 from 3-point range on Wednesday—was the most aggressive from deep, ending the night as the only Blue Devil to shoot more than two 3-pointers. We have also discussed how vital Hurt’s shooting is to Duke’s NCAA Championship hopes and he has definitely been on a nice tear as of late.

Wednesday night was the perfect game for Coach K to show that while Vernon Carey Jr. is a handful, this year’s Duke basketball team is greater than the sum of its parts.

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