Tech will have to beat a tougher Duke team at Cameron for No. 6

Don't think this is THE yellow jacket, but close?

You can count on one hand the number of times Georgia Tech has beat Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium, where these two teams will match up on Thursday night.

Tech is 5-34 overall at the cramped confines of a certain little building in Durham, N.C. where the Crazies live, and this is since 1946, when Tech played there for the first time six years after Cameron Indoor Stadium opened.

Anyone want to guess the years Tech won? I’ll give you a hint, one was before Mike Krzyzewski got to Duke and for a few others, think Olympic years. Just for fun (I know, get crazy), I’ll wait until the bottom of this blog to answer.

So is this matchup Thursday night between No. 21 Tech and No. 10 Duke going to be one for the other thumb?

(By the way, I see where Duke and Kansas State are tied at No. 10 in this week’s Associated Press poll. I didn’t even know that was possible.)

Well, Tech comes in with the confidence of having already beat the Blue Devils on Jan. 9 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. But as Tech coach Paul Hewitt pointed out about Duke today, “They are a different team in that building.”

The Blue Devils are 17-4 on the season, and all four of those losses have come on the road – at Wisconsin 73-69, at Tech 71-67, at NC State 88-74 and at Georgetown 89-77.

The numbers bear it out:

Duke at Cameron           Duke on the road

12-0                                1-4

89.9 ppg                         69.4 ppg

50.3% shooting             41.9% shooting

42.6% 3-point                30.9% 3-point

40.7 rpg                         33.6 rpg

16.7 TOs forced            13.6 TOs forced

“They shoot the ball much better, they’re much more explosive offensively, they force more turnovers,” Hewitt said. “We’re going to have to play better.”

Meaning Tech will have to do more than on Jan. 9, when the Yellow Jackets held Duke 19 points below its scoring average and to only 6-for-28 in 3-point shooting.

When asked if they’ll press as much this time around – it worked to perfection on Jan. 9 – Hewitt basically said yes, if it makes sense. Tech did it at FSU with some success. Duke’s legs will be fresher this time around in front of the home crowd and with four days’ off since the Georgetown loss, but then again so will Tech’s.

The Yellow Jackets haven’t played since Saturday either, and they got to rest their starters against Kentucky State. And Tech has made a lot of strides on offense since the last two times these teams played.

Favors this time around

One of the guys who has made a big jump since the last two times these teams played is Derrick Favors. He was called for traveling three times against Duke on Jan. 9, scored only 7 points and looked generally discombobulated.

Now?

“Derrick is playing a little lower, having a better center of gravity,” Hewitt said. “I think a lot of (the traveling calls vs. Duke) had to do with him being straight up. When people bumped him, he’d get knocked off balance. They weren’t fouls but he just didn’t have a good base of gravity.”

Two other guys making big jumps, and a big difference for Tech in Hewitt’s mind lately, are wings Brian Oliver and Glen Rice Jr. Oliver has scored in double-digits in his past two ACC games (career-high 20 points vs. Florida State and 13 vs. Wake Forest) and Rice is coming off a career-high 15points against Kentucky State.

“I think the key to our success is going to be how Brian and Glen continue to come along,” Hewitt said. “In the games we’ve played really well, both of those guys have come off the bench and given us quality minutes.”

Latest RPI rating, FYI

Thanks to Tech sports information guru Mike Stamus and his game notes, I have information to pass along on Tech’s latest RPI rating: Tech was ranked No. 25 in RPI, according to this week’s College Basketball News RPI report, which has a similar method of calculating RPI as the NCAA.

Tech’s RPI rating trails only Duke (No. 5) and Wake Forest (No. 23) among ACC schools, and as we know the Yellow Jackets have beat both of those teams.

This report also ranks Tech’s non-conference strength of schedule fourth among the 12 ACC schools. I, myself, find that a little hard to believe, but between Dayton, Siena, Charlotte and George Mason, there’s some value, and the non-Division I schools Tech played against Kentucky State and Winston-Salem State didn’t count for or against the Yellow Jackets.

Tech’s ACC schedule will give the Jackets a boost in this category because they are playing the top four RPI teams in the league twice – Duke, Wake, Florida State and Clemson – and the bottom four teams only once – NC State, Virginia, Boston College, Miami.

So there you have it.

Trivia Answer

The five years that Tech won in Cameron Indoor Stadium are: 1959, 1984, 1987, 1996 and 2004. Go on and brag if you got them all, or maybe four out of five. We’ll believe ya!