Brian Gregory looking for more from Georgia Tech defense

ATLANTA -- There is no question that the Georgia Tech offense has experienced a dramatic improvement during the past year. Now it's a matter of whether the defense can show a similar improvement.

The Yellow Jackets (9-3) are averaging 78.1 points. They've scored more than 100 points on two occasions. They've only scored fewer than 70 points in four games, three of them in losses.

Compare that to last year when through 12 games the most points the team had managed was 80. It had scored 70 or fewer points in 10 games.

"It's good to be 9-3 knowing that you can get a lot better," head coach Brian Gregory said. "We need to keep getting better offensively, but the improvement really has to come on the defensive end."

Not that the defense has been bad. Opponents average 68.8 points against the Yellow Jackets, a number partially explained by the increased number of possessions on offense.

"We've shown we can be a much better defensive team, but in the last two games, we haven't played with the conviction level that you need to be a good defensive team," Gregory said.

The defense will get a stern test Tuesday when the Yellow Jackets host an offensively gifted Duquesne team at McCamish Pavilion. It will be the final non-conference game for Georgia Tech, which opens ACC play on Saturday at North Carolina.

Georgia Tech certainly can't afford to look ahead. Duquesne is one of the best teams the Yellow Jackets have played this year, especially on offense. The Dukes (10-2) average 82.8 points and rank 20th in the nation with 10 3-point field goals made per game.

Duquesne is off to its best start since 1979-80, and a win would give the Dukes their best record to start since the 1971-72 opened 15-2.

The Dukes are led offensively by senior guard Derrick Colter, who averages 18.6 points. Colter has started every game of his career, 103 in a row, and has 1,309 career points.

Senior guard Micah Mason averages 16 points and leads the team with 56 assists. Mason is a 47.8 percent shooter on 3-pointers in his career and has 1,015 career points.

The Dukes have plenty of size with 6-foot-11 center Darius Lewis (6.3 points, 4.8 rebounds), 6-8 forward L.G. Gill (9.1 points, 7.2 rebounds) and 6-5 forward Eric James (8.5 points). James had 21 points against Pittsburgh.

Duquesne will be without co-captain Jeremiah Jones, who suffered a torn ACL in his right knee Dec. 19. Jones was averaging 9.6 points.

Georgia Tech has three players who are scoring in double figures: guard Marcus Georges-Hunt (14.1), forward Charles Mitchell (13.3) and guard Adam Smith (12.8).

Mitchell has double-doubles in 10 of 12 games this season and is third in the ACC in field goal percentage (59.8). Smith has been in double figures in six of the past seven games and scored a season-high 20 against Colgate.

This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 9:29 PM with the headline "Brian Gregory looking for more from Georgia Tech defense ."