ACC’s Best Battle: Georgia Tech vs. Duke

The Duke Blue Devils are coming off of one of their most embarrassing losses of the season. Georgetown took them out to the wood-shed on Saturday as they beat them handily in a 89-77 win. Duke allowed a season high 89 points as they fell behind early, and couldn’t handle the size and strength of the Hoya’s big men.

Thursday will be a different story as Kyle Singler and company take advantage of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets lack of shooting prowess in an ACC battle that includes the only 2 ranked teams in the conference. Despite having several reputable teams in the ACC, the conference as a whole is having a down year with teams like N. Carolina and Clemson struggling.

The conference Championship is Duke’s to lose as long as they don’t have any major key injuries in the final stretch of the season. They are currently in a tie for first with an over-rated Virginia Cavaliers squad that has hasn’t had to play any of the top teams in conference on the road yet. Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith are both averaging over 18 points per game for Duke, while Singler is contributing a quiet 16.1. This trio of shooters is clearly the most dangerous in the country, and will have a field day against the defensively challenged guards of Georgia Tech.

Iman Shumpert is the only guard on the Yellow Jackets that averages over 10 points per game. This is a serious disadvantage as they try to slow down Duke’s trio of snipers. Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors are G-Tech’s leaders on both sides of the floor as forwards. It is generally a good thing to have your leading scorers be post players, but this philosophy will backfire in a big way against the Blue Devil shooters.

The posted total for this game is over 10 points. This is a clear indication of how little the vegas oddmakers think about this 19th ranked Georgia Tech team. Most of the time the oddsmakers will dip the spread on a game when the favorite is coming off of a bad loss, because it generally takes a game or 2 to get back into the swing of things. That is not the case Thursday as Duke will be firing on all cylinders from the opening tip.

Expect a one-sided affair as the Blue Devils start ot separate themselves from the pack in the ACC conference.

Related posts:

1. ACC Battle: Duke vs. Clemson Re-Match
2. Blue Devils and Yellow Jackets: ACC Conference Finals
3. 7/10 Seed Match-Up: Oklahoma St/ Georgia Tech
4. Fed Ex Orange Bowl Preview: Iowa vs. Georgia Tech
5. Hokies and Demon Deacons Fight to Keep Pace in ACC

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