No. 3 Duke bounces back to top Georgia Tech

Durham, NC – Seth Curry battled through an ankle injury to hit 6-of-7 shots from 3-point range, leading No. 3 Duke to a 73-57 victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Curry, who finished with 24 points, was hurt in the waning moments of the Blue Devils' first loss of the season, an 84-76 setback at then-No. 20 NC State on Saturday.

Rasheed Sulaimon scored 15 points for Duke (16-1, 3-1 ACC), which got off to a cold start against Georgia Tech but heated up after halftime.

Mason Plumlee, much like the rest of his Duke teammates, shook off a poor shooting performance in the first half to record his conference-best 11th double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Freshman Chris Bolden paced the Yellow Jackets (10-6, 0-4) with a season-high 20 points.

The Blue Devils shot just 27.3 percent during the opening 20 minutes, with Plumlee epitomizing the team's struggles. The senior made only 2-of-12 field goals.

"As a player, you can't get frustrated," Plumlee said. "You just have to tell yourself they're going to fall, and then you've got to convince your teammates to keep giving you the ball."

Duke's defense, however, forced 13 Georgia Tech turnovers, a key reason the Blue Devils were down only 28-27 at halftime.

Following the break, the Blue Devils came out firing and opened the second half on a 17-3 surge. Curry capped the run with a 3-pointer that put Duke up 44-31.

Curry drained another trey to make it 57-42 with 7:48 remaining, and the Blue Devils led comfortably the rest of the way.

"I thought we played extremely hard and competed, which was our number one objective," said Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory.

Game Notes

Duke has won six straight games against Georgia Tech at Cameron Indoor Stadium ... The Yellow Jackets are off to their worst start in conference play since opening 0-6 in 2008-09 ... Duke shot 53.1 percent in the second half ... No Georgia Tech player had previously scored as many as 20 points in a game this season ... Mfon Udofia and Daniel Miller had nine points apiece for the Yellow Jackets ... Georgia Tech held a 43-40 rebounding advantage, with Miller grabbing nine.