Duke Drops First of the Season

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Despite a career-high 41 points from J.J. Redick and a furious late-game comeback, the No. 1 Duke men’s basketball team fell to Georgetown, 87-84, Saturday here at the MCI Center.

Redick was unstoppable against the Hoyas, scoring his 41 off of a 12-of-24 shooting performance, including 6-of-11 from three-point range, and 11-of-13 from the line. Redick scored 23 points in the second half, including 17 from the 12 minute mark to the 1:22 mark of the second half after Duke fell behind by 14, the largest margin of the game.

A pair of Redick free throws at 1:22 pulled Duke to within six and but Georgetown took the game back to eight before a pair of lay-ups from Sean Dockery to make the game 82-78 with just 45 seconds remaining. Dockery scored eight points in the final 1:16 and Greg Paulus added a lay-up in the game’s final minute and Georgetown hit just 5-of-8 free throws in that stretch to give Duke a chance for the tie in the game’s final six seconds.

Paulus lost the ball at the three-point line attempting to get it to Redick and the clock ran out, giving Duke its first loss of the season.

Paulus finished the game with 14 points and Dockery 10.

Duke will now look to rebound as it will travel to Virginia Tech Thursday in a 7 p.m. ET tipoff on ESPN. Duke lost in Blacksburg, Va., a season ago to the Hokies. Duke will return home Saturday against Virginia, also a 7 p.m. ET tipoff on ESPN.