Coming in as 28.5-point underdogs, Georgia State was overlooked by many in Friday night’s showdown at Cameron Indoor Stadium against the Duke Blue Devils. Duke, the No. 4 team in the nation, struggled to get off to a hot start.
Tre Jones’ 31 points and Vernon Carey Jr’s 20-point 13 rebound-performance were simply too much for the two-time reigning Sun Belt champions to handle, as they ultimately fell 74-63.
“[Jones] had a great performance tonight,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He’s one of the best players in the country.”
For Georgia State head coach Rob Lanier, the loss was tough, but he felt his team executed well.
“I thought we carried out our game plans as well as we could have,” Lanier said after the game.
As was mentioned in my preview of this game last week, it was important for the Panthers to get off to a hot start Friday night.
“Our message to our team was that there was going to come a time where last in the first half or some point in the second half where we were going to have to deal with some real adversity in this building,” Lanier said.
After a back and forth opening 20 minutes, the two teams went into the locker room at halftime neck and neck, with Duke holding a 36-34 lead.
But then, the tables turned and Duke reminded the 9,314 people in attendance why they are a soon-to-be top 3 team in college basketball. They were hungry from the moment they came out in the second half. At one point, the Blue Devils went on a 13-0 run with just under 14 minutes to play in the second half.
While the gut wrenching loss is one that the Panthers want to move on from, they won’t have much time. Sunday’s matchup ends their weekend road trip in Washington D.C, where they’ll take on the Georgetown Hoyas at 7:30 pm.
