Duke 71, Georgia Tech, 62

Duke has had Georgia Tech's number this year when it comes to forcing turnovers, and Sunday it was enough to produce a win for the Devils. The Jackets have a remarkable 50 turnovers in 143.7 possessions against Duke, and coughed the ball up 16 times in 34 first half possessions Sunday - almost every other possession was a Georgia Tech turnover. 5 Blue Devils had multiple steals, led by Scheyer with 5. Duke also shot well from the field (particularly from 3, hitting 45%), and they were able to overcome poor free throw shooting (a plague throughout conference play) and the worst defensive rebounding performance of the year. Duke's rebounding woes were notable in this game because the Jackets went the last 8:15 or so of the first half with zero team rebounds. In the other 32 minutes, they thoroughly worked Duke for second chance points.

Sunday's game was a tribute to the bench, which played valuable minutes and made solid contributions - 15 points on 5 of 7 shooting (including 2-2 from 3) among them. Most notably, the team went on their big runs with bench guys on the court, as shown in the chart below.

Player		O Poss.	Points	OPPP	D Poss.	Points	DPPP
McRoberts	ON	53	51	0.962	53	50	0.943
	OFF	15	20	1.333	14	12	0.857
Scheyer	ON	57	57	1.000	58	60	1.034
	OFF	11	14	1.273	9	2	0.222
Nelson	ON	53	56	1.057	53	50	0.943
	OFF	15	15	1.000	14	12	0.857
Paulus	ON	62	63	1.016	62	57	0.919
	OFF	6	8	1.333	5	5	1.000
Henderson	ON	18	18	1.000	18	15	0.833
	OFF	50	53	1.060	49	47	0.959
McClure	ON	46	47	1.022	46	46	1.000
	OFF	22	24	1.091	21	16	0.762
Thomas	ON	27	31	1.148	26	18	0.692
	OFF	41	40	0.976	41	44	1.073
Zoubek	ON	10	13	1.300	11	10	0.909
	OFF	58	58	1.000	56	52	0.929
Pocius	ON	16	23	1.438	14	6	0.429
	OFF	52	48	0.923	53	56	1.057
Duke Overall		68	71	1.044	67	62	0.925

For those of you wondering about Pocius' numbers, no, that's not a misprint and yes, I triple-checked it. He was on the court for four separate stretches - 4-2 over 3 possessions, 8-2 over 6 offensive and 5 defensive possessions, 5-2 over three possessions to end the half, and 6-0 in 4 offensive and 3 defensive possessions after Tech's run to start the second half. I don't care if it is a statistical anomaly and too small of a sample size to be really meaningful (and it's definitely both), it's still a shocking disparity. He played well in the first half and earned his second half minutes. Thomas continues to make defensive impacts - the team was +13 with him on court, and held Tech to just 18 points in 26 Thomas-filled possessions. The bench as a whole was indispensable to the victory yesterday, and deserves the game ball as a unit.

AROUND THE ACC

Speaking of teams matching up well with each other, VT has serious issues with NC State. In two games, the Wolfpack has shot 42 of 64 from 2 and 16 of 33 from 3 while holding Tech to 41 of 94 and 5 of 18 from the same. That's right, the Hokies have taken 30 more two point field goals and still not made as many as the 'Pack has against it.

Maryland looks like it did in preseason again, thanks to the continued presence of Gist as a star, the continued emergence of Vazquez as an ACC point guard (11 assists against Clemson), and DJ Strawberry hitting shots like a normal human being again. After a dreadful start, DJ's efg% is .600 over the last 4 games, and he's also dished out 9 assists and picked up 7 steals over that timespan. For Clemson, the wheels are in danger of coming off (look for more tomorrow).

Carolina bounced back at BC thanks to Dudley's three clanks from the line in crunch time. This shouldn't cost him ACC POY, but his performances against both Duke and UNC this week left a little (ok, a lot) to be desired. Brandan Wright, a game time decision, continued his run of hot scoring with 13 on 6 of 7 shooting in 30 minutes of play.

UVA beat Florida State in a game that never should have been this close. For a good team with great guards, the Cavaliers play inexcusably sloppy basketball, and take as many stupid shots as any team in major conference hoops. Thornton was a one man possession machine for FSU - he scored 30 points, took 23 shots, and pulled in 16 rebounds - but it looks like without Douglas, they'll fall just short of the NCAA promised land.

Finally, Wake and Miami played. Apparently. Wake used hot shooting to overcome bad defensive rebounding and a 2:1 turnover disadvantage. Miami's distinction as by far the worst defensive team in conference continues to be well-earned.