No Moral Victories For Banks & Alvarado

Tech held Duke within 1 possession in the final 3 minutes.

By the time the final horn sounded from McCamish Pavilion, the #2 Duke Blue Devils were able to escape Atlanta with a 9 point victory over the hosting Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. It was the most narrow game margin for the Blue Devils since they suffered a stunning 85-83 overtime loss to Stephen F. Austin in Cameron Indoor Stadium back on November 26th.

With just three minutes left in the game, Duke held a slim 66-64 lead before attrition inevitably took over the Jackets down the stretch. However Tech isn't happy with the simple fact that they had the #2 team in the land on the ropes.

"At the end of the day we wanted to win," senior center James Banks III said. "Nobody in our locker room is happy that we almost beat Duke. A loss is a loss."

Heading into the game, the team had a very clear game plan. They wanted to outmuscle the Blue Devils as well as out-effort them on both end of the floor. Junior point guard Jose Alvarado said that the message they wanted to send was: "When you play Georgia Tech, you're gonna remember us"

But at the end of the day, it still ended with a loss, and the team is just as disappointed as the fans in the stands were. "A statement loss isn't a thing," Banks III said.

Tech currently sits 1 game under .500 in both ACC conference play and on the season as a whole. Despite that, Tech remains optimistic about the remainder of the season.

"I promise you, we're gonna be alright," Alvarado said.

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