The upsets in college basketball continued Saturday with Georgia Tech knocking off No. 7 Duke 72-68 in the ACC opener for both teams. The Blue Devils are the third team ranked 7th or better to lose team to go down in the last 24 hours after Northwestern beat No. 1 Purdue on Friday and Wisconsin took down No. 3 Marquette earlier in the afternoon.
To make matters worse for Duke (5-3, 0-1 ACC), star guard Tyrese Proctor exited early in the first half of action after suffering an apparent lower leg injury. Proctor bypassed the NBA Draft last summer and elected to come back to school for another season.
With Duke trailing by two in the final seconds, they weren't able to put up a potential game-tying shot that would've sent the game to overtime. After the Blue Devils took a 66-62 lead with 2:22 remaining, Georgia Tech closed on a 10-2 run to seal the win.
Georgia Tech (4-2, 1-0) delivered a big win for first-year coach Damon Stoudamire after the 50-year-old was hired in the offseason to replace former coach Josh Pastner. The Yellow Jackets started the season 2-2 with losses to UMass Lowell and Cincinnati before recording consecutive wins over Mississippi State and Duke.
The Blue Devils were coming off a road loss to Arkansas in the ACC/SEC Challenge and lost earlier this season to soon-to-be No. 1 Arizona at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke's next matchup is against Charlotte on Saturday, while Georgia Tech will look to build off its win against in-state rival Georgia on Tuesday.
- Jon Scheyer moved to 4-8 on the road in his young coaching career at Duke. Scheyer started his coaching tenure with 17 consecutive wins at home before suffering a defeat to Arizona earlier this season.
- Georgia Tech forward Baye Ndongo scored a career-high 21 points. The freshman had only scored 10 total points in two games prior to his breakout performance.
- Duke will await the status of Proctor and face Charlotte and Hofstra the next two games before a showdown with Baylor later this month at Madison Square Garden. If Proctor is out for an extended period of time, freshman Caleb Foster, who played 36 minutes Saturday, should see more action.
