With Coach K sick at home, Duke beats Ga. Tech on road
With coach Mike Krzyzewski at home because of an illness, Grayson Allen scored 27 points and Duke dominated much of the second half for an 80-71 victory over Georgia Tech on Tuesday night.
Associate head coach Jeff Capel ran the Blue Devils (16-6, 5-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) in place of Coach K, who became ill after the team meal Monday evening. He was checked at the university hospital and advised to skip the trip to Atlanta.
Bouncing back from a sluggish start, Duke won for just the second time in six games and was in its first game as an unranked team since 2007. The Blue Devils trailed 40-36 at halftime before building a 17-point lead, clamping down defensively after Georgia Tech (12-10, 2-7) shot 58 percent over the first 20 minutes.
Allen led the way before fouling out in the final minute.
Georgia Tech made just 2 of 19 from 3-point range.
Earlier, the university said in a statement that Krzyzewski would not be coaching the team Tuesday night. Duke said that after the team meal Monday evening, Krzyzewski was feeling under the weather and stayed back in Durham, where he was evaluated at Duke University Hospital and directed by his doctors to remain home.
Sources told ABC11's sister network ESPN that team doctors took Krzyzewski's blood pressure, and it was high enough that he was advised to go to the Duke University Hospital -- where he remained overnight.
Krzyzewski was administered several tests, including cardiac and stress tests. The source told ESPN that "everything came back fine" and he's expected to rejoin the team as early as Wednesday.
"He was dehydrated and hasn't been getting enough sleep," the source told ESPN.
According to a Duke spokesman, the last time that Krzyzewski missed a game was in 1995, when he took a leave of absence following back surgery. Duke began that season 9-3, then Krzyzewski stepped away and was replaced by interim coach Pete Gaudet, who went 4-15.
The Associated Press contributed.
