One down, a lot more to go

Bennett gets first ACC win, but gets thrown back into grinder with home tilt against Georgia Tech

Story by Chris Graham
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So you’re Tony Bennett, and you’ve just won your first ACC game, and on the road, at that, at North Carolina State, literally on Tobacco Road.

And you don’t get much time to celebrate. Up next – 17th-ranked Georgia Tech, which on Saturday handed fifth-ranked Duke its first ACC loss.

“We had a nice road victory, and we didn’t get to enjoy it too long, because we were watching Georgia Tech upset Duke, and that pretty much ended the enjoyment of the victory once you saw how impressive they were,” said Bennett, whose Cavs were impressive in their own right, coming back from a nine-point second-half deficit to win 71-62 at State on Saturday.

Georgia Tech promises to be a tougher out. The Yellow Jackets beat Duke 71-67 in Atlanta Saturday afternoon, and seemed to be able to take whatever the Blue Devils were able to dish out in a rough-and-tumble second half.

“They’re well-coached, they get on the glass, they’re impressive on the inside. We’ll have to be ready to play. We’re just trying to keep getting better. That’s where we’re at. We’re trying to take steps in the right direction,” Bennett said.

“We were certainly fortunate at N.C. State. They had a couple of key things that didn’t go their way, but we showed a little bit of composure down the stretch with some free throws and making some plays and getting the stops when we needed to. So we’ll try to build on that and be ready to go,” Bennett said.