Duke Overcomes Early Deficit, Downs Georgia Tech 78-70

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00:00One of the first games of the day, quarterfinal Thursday in

00:03Charlotte at the ACC tournament, and the number one team in the

00:07nation, Duke, after an outright title in the ACC, taking on

00:12Georgia Tech in their opening game in tournament play inside

00:16the Spectrum Center. They were booked as a 22 and a half point

00:19favorite that being the Blue Devils easily as they had to

00:22most of ACC action expected to dispatch their opponent. It was

00:28a test early on. Georgia Tech held a double digit lead early

00:32in the opening half, even led by five at the break. But that

00:36wasn't really the story in the opening 20 minutes. Late in the

00:40first half, Cooper Flagg goes up for a board, comes down

00:43awkwardly on his left ankle. He had to be carried off by his

00:47teammates. He was not putting any pressure on that left side.

00:50He was placed into a wheelchair in the tunnel. He was taken for

00:54x-rays. Thankfully, those x-rays negative. And as you see, Flagg

00:58did return to the bench without a brace, not placed in a walking

01:03boot. So that was a good sign. He did not return to action.

01:06We'll talk about Cooper Flagg a little bit more in just a

01:09moment. But Donnie, you mentioned it to start off the

01:12show. Duke's resolve then in the final 20 minutes without Cooper

01:15Flagg and without the injured frontcourt player in Malik

01:19Brown. Duke rallies in the second they win by 878-70. Down

01:25by five at the break, live line at a point, got to five and a

01:28half. If you bet the Blue Devils then you did get a cover and a

01:3228 point performance, a career high for the other uber talented

01:36freshmen in Khan-Kanipal leading the Blue Devils to a big victory

01:40yesterday over the Bees.

01:42Yeah, we have to understand they were favored by 20 plus points.

01:44So regardless of a starter down or even if your best starter,

01:46you're probably still should win that game. But also understand

01:49this, the game plan coming into the game for the Duke Blue

01:51Devils was roll the yellow jackets. Then your best player

01:54you feel like and if you're friends with them, teammates

01:56with them, coaching him or fans of them. Oh, no, you're thinking

01:59the worst case scenario. We just lost him for the rest of the

02:02ACC tournament and also in March Madness. And that's going to

02:05send a chill right down the spine of your basketball team,

02:08which showed in the first half them down double digits. But

02:10understand this, Duke is a really talented team. They

02:13didn't even play well without the best player in the country

02:16shooting 23% from the three point line and 43% from the

02:20field and down double digits and still won the game by eight

02:23points with a 52 point second half. That shows a lot of

02:27gumption for the Duke Blue Devils. And again, I well,

02:29Donna, they didn't play a team where they were, you know, only

02:31laying three or four points. I get that. But you understand

02:34this, the height of it where the excitement is the tournament

02:36coming up, and you might have just lost your ticket to a

02:39national championship game and to fight back to win that game.

02:42I love that. And then to have your bitter rival on deck where

02:45you can end their season with a victory without your best

02:49player after beating them two times in a row already. And the

02:52last game of the regular season in the ACC. I like what I see

02:55from the Duke Blue Devils. We have a pick six coming up at the

02:57end of the show. I'm not giving up on the Duke Blue Devils.

02:59I actually like I buy in now to the Duke Blue Devils in the ACC

03:03tournament.

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