Curry scored 24 points and matched a career high with six 3-pointers in the Blue Devils’ 73-57 win over Georgia Tech on Thursday night.

Plumlee finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds after going just 2 for 12 during an awful first half, and Duke (16-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) shot 53 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes to bounce back from its only loss and snap a three-game losing streak when playing without the injured Kelly.

“The biggest thing is, we have to find a new identity because we are a different team” without Kelly, Plumlee said. “Whatever that is, we have to find it. We have to play to our strengths, and we’re not the same team that was (15-0).”

Freshman Chris Bolden’s 20 points were the most scored by a Georgia Tech player this season.

But the Yellow Jackets (10-6, 0-4) had 21 turnovers in losing their fourth straight, remaining the only team winless in ACC play and falling to 5-32 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“They have two of the premier players not only in the league but in the country,” coach Brian Gregory said, referring to Curry and Plumlee, “and we couldn’t stop them in the second half.”

Freshman Rasheed Sulaimon broke out of a slump with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting after coming off the bench for the first time in his Duke career.

“It’s all about how you come back,” Plumlee said of Sulaimon. “I don’t know of any player who started every game ever at Duke. I mean, he sat Elton Brand and those guys. We just told him it’s part of the process.”

He was a combined 7 for 32 in his previous four games and missed all 10 of his shots in the 84-76 loss to then-No. 20 North Carolina State that knocked the Blue Devils from No. 1.

A second straight loss looked like a real possibility until Duke produced a 27-6 run that started late in the first half, ended early in the second and swung the lead its way to stay.

Curry — who has scored at least 22 points in three of his last four games — had 11 points during the burst.

He ended his team’s 5-minute field goal drought by swishing a deep 3-pointer that started the run with 2 minutes left in the half. Then, he added two more 3s shortly after halftime before his putback of a miss by Plumlee put Duke up 46-32 with just under 15 minutes to play.

That came two possessions after the signature snapshot of the night: After Plumlee got Cameron rocking with a dunk with 14 minutes left and Georgia Tech called a timeout, a fired-up coach Mike Krzyzewski charged off the bench to jump on and embrace his senior center.

“I think I’ve given emotion a lot during 33 years here at Duke, so I’m going to do whatever I think my team needs,” Krzyzewski said. “I did that in 1980 and I should do it in 2013. So I thought that’s what my team needed, and that’s what I gave.”

Tech cut the Duke lead to 10 points twice, the final time coming when Mfon Udofia’s three-point play with 6:48 left made it 57-47. Sulaimon countered with a three-point play 39 seconds later, Curry hit another 3 and Sulaimon followed with a dunk to make it 65-49 with just under 5 minutes to go.

Freshman Amile Jefferson finished with 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils, who played their second straight game without Kelly, a captain who’s out indefinitely with an injured right foot. He was on the bench in street clothes using crutches, his foot in a boot.

They ended a streak that dated to the 2012 postseason, having lost their previous three games without the 6-foot-11 senior whose outside touch commands opponents’ attention and respect.

“We’re used to having certain driving lanes and certain places we know we’re going to kick to with Ryan, but it’s totally different with Josh (Hairston) and Amile out there,” Curry said. “We’re still working on that, and some lanes close up quicker than others.”

With Duke still learning to play without him, Georgia Tech led for all but about a minute of the half and four times pushed its lead to seven points while clamping down on Plumlee and the Blue Devils in the opening 20 minutes.

“I thought we were hesitant to shoot,” Krzyzewski said, “and no team of mine should be that way.”

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The 15-1 Cardinals took advantage of losses by Duke and Michigan to move up two spots to No. 1 on Monday in The Associated Press’ Top 25 poll. This is just the second time in school history they’re on top. The other time was the final poll of 2008-09, a season in which they reached the final eight of the NCAA tournament.

Hours later, Louisville used a strong second half to beat Connecticut 73-60 on Monday night to move to 16-1.

Louisville was one of five teams to receive a first-place vote this week, and that backs Pitino’s point.

“I think the top teams will play musical chairs for No. 1 for the next two months and it will be really significant at the end of the year,” Pitino said before the Monday’s game. “We played a tough nonconference schedule and I’m really happy the way our guys have battled through injuries. We’ll try to hold the musical top as long as we can.”

The Cardinals, who have won 11 straight since losing to Duke in the final of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, received 36 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. That’s 23 more than Indiana, which moved up from fifth.

Indiana was No. 1 in the preseason poll and for the first five weeks of the regular season. Duke, which was No. 1 for the past four weeks, was third with 14 No. 1 votes. The Blue Devils were followed by Kansas and Michigan, which drew one first-place vote each.

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Four teams entered the week unbeaten — Duke, Michigan, Arizona and Wyoming — and each suffered its first loss.

It was the first time three of the top four teams lost in the same week since November 2003, when the top four teams — Connecticut, Duke, Michigan State and Arizona — all were defeated.

Syracuse, Arizona, Gonzaga, Minnesota and Florida rounded out this week’s top 10.

There were four newcomers to the poll this week: No. 21 Oregon, No. 22 Virginia Commonwealth, No. 24 UCLA and No. 25 Marquette.

It is VCU’s first ranking since the 1984-85 season. Oregon is back in for the first time since 2007-08. Marquette was ranked last season, and UCLA, which was No. 13 in the preseason poll, is back after being out for the past seven weeks.

They replaced Georgetown, Cincinnati, Wichita State and UNLV, who all lost once last week.

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