Rising hope fizzles for Jackets as they drop two straight

The Tech men's basketball team looked promising a week ago. They had won two straight games. This week, however, they answered those two wins with two straight losses. They faced two tough ACC matchups, and both Maryland and Duke got the best of them.

The Terps took an early lead against the Jackets on Wednesday night, and didn't stop. They finished the game with a 92-70 win.

Tony Akins scored 17 points and Clarence Moore had a career-high 15 rebounds for the Jackets, but their strong performances couldn't suppress the fact that Tech is now 0-6 on the road this season and winless at Maryland since 1994.

Maryland's Juan Dixon was the villain during the game, scoring a career-high 33 points for the Terps. He scored 18 of them in the opening 12 minutes of the game. He also had a career-best seven assists before leaving to a standing ovation with 2:48 left in the game.

The Jackets were toast in this contest early. Maryland build a 20-point lead in the first half, and never let the margin shrink below double figures. Following the Terps' opening antics, the score see-sawed to 40-20 before Tech ended the half with a 10-2 run to close the gap to 42-30.

The Terrapins have won seven of eight in the ACC after an 0-3 start that included a 69-68 defeat at Tech last month. It looks like they got their revenge on the Jackets on Wednesday night.

The team was also handed a lopsided loss last Saturday 84-65 at the hands of the Duke Blue Devils. Tech never really got started in this game as each effort was refuted by Duke's excellent shooting and interior defense. Junior Shaun Fein was the lone bright spot for Tech garnering 15 points while Jason Collier collected 14, most of those coming in garbage time.

The game started off well for Tech as junior Alvin Jones swatted a Blue Devil shot in the paint. The block was retrieved by T.J. Vines who Coach Cremins has inserted into the starting lineup in place of sophomore Tony Akins. Vines raced downcourt for the layup and was fouled by Duke guard Jason Williams. That was about as good as it got as Williams returned the favor by knocking down three threes in the first half. Duke had a fifteen point lead just eight minutes into the game as Nate James, Williams, and Mike Dunleavy canned jumper after jumper. Meanwhile, Tech could not get anything going inside as Shane Battier and Carlos Boozer were very physical, never letting Jones or Collier get decent position on the block. With the lack of scoring went the crowd's enthusiasm as the sellout crowd was hushed by Duke's intensity. The only outbursts came from the throngs of Duke fans who littered the coliseum with Devil blue.

The first half was capped off by Dunleavy who started towards the baseline but was cut off by a Tech defender. The freshman spun back to the middle and through another defender as he took two dribbles to the basket. Another Tech player came for the swat but the 6-7 forward came from one side of the basket to the other and made the reverse layin drawing a high five from the intense but normally stoic Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski. The basket was big as Duke took a 45-31 lead into the lockeroom after Tech had hoped to get within ten of the ACC's leader.

The second half saw more of the same as Duke continued to take the ball to the basket strong. Even though Tech and Duke shot almost the same amount of free throws, Duke made an astonishing 28-28 free throws. Combined with the deadly shooting from the outside the game continued to get more out of hand the biggest lead being 27. Tech did not give up though scrapping to the end.

Key points in the game were the fact that Tech could not get the ball down low. The referees allowed the teams to be very physical and neither Collier or Jones ever looked comfortable.

Also, The 3-2 zone Tech had employed to win two in a row was crushed by Duke's 8-17 3 point shooting. Lastly, Tech turned the ball over 21 times to Duke's 7 as the Blue Devils capitalized for 38 points.

Stated Coach K, "We got over the Maryland loss right away. We have not gotten over playing bad defensively although I was pleased with tonight's effort."

Other Coach K gems included "In previous weeks we had been not practicing long hoping to keep our guys fresh. It backfired as we really got tired against Maryland (98-87 loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium prior to Tech). So this week we really stepped it back up while trying not to go over the line."

Seems like they found the right mix.

On the Dunleavy move, "I work with him on that everyday."

Coach Cremins had this to say about the game, "Wow. We really had trouble getting the ball inside to the big men. We had hoped to get within 10 but the missed shots and the Dunleavy basket hurt us. I wouldn't be shocked if I see them in the Final Four."

The loss dropped Tech to 3-7 in the ACC. Right now Tech is playing to get an outside chance at an NCAA bid and for momentum going into the ACC Tournament. Because when the Tournament starts, the only weight the conference games have on Tech is their seeding.

Thus, Tech needs to play well these last games and pull together for the final stretch. Come support the Yellow Jackets in their next home game the 24th against N.C. State.