DURHAM, N.C. ? Down went Mike Krzyzewski. Fifteen seconds, maybe 16.

It was Saturday in Cameron Indoor Stadium, and here’s the unusual scene: Duke leads Georgia Tech, 15-12, and there’s a media timeout with 11:30 left in the first half. Krzyzewski, like all coaches in college basketball on this day, is wearing sneakers in honor of Coaches V. Cancer, and there’s a scowl on his face as he is burning laser lights at official Reginald Cofer.

Hidden fact: Krzyzewski, who will turn 58 on Feb. 13, came to Cameron battling a slight cold, and a source said he was taking an over-the-counter medication. And it was warm in Cameron when he bent down to talk to his team.

Coaches trampoline up and down from benches at lightning speeds all the time. Dizziness. Light-headedness. Fainting. It can happen. “It’s happened a number of times,” Krzyzewski said, trying to defuse the issue as being nothing important.

Right. Mike Krzyzewski, who has three national titles, is down on the court named after him, and it’s not a big deal? Try again, Mike.

“An air punch. Chump. I’m out. What an idiot,” Krzyzewski said after Duke won, 82-65.

When the coach went down, Krzyzewski’s family, sitting upstairs and behind the Georgia Tech bench, acted with all the quickness of Sean Dockery’s floor game. Mickie Krzyzewski, wife of the West Point graduate, bolted her seat beside daughter, Debbie Krzyzewski Savarino, and before you could say, “Shavlik Randolph is due for a pretty good game,” Mickie was downstairs and on the Blue Devils bench sitting beside trainer Jose Fonseca.

There’s no telling whether Fonseca, in his first year at Duke, ever had to explain, and so quickly, what happened to the most famous person inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Meanwhile, a fan sitting behind press row and talking on a cell phone abruptly said she had to go because, “Coach K is laying on the court.”

The eyes of Duke were on its basketball coach, who swallowed some water before the game continued. Eyes by the thousands were like a pingpong ball … on the game one split-second … on Mike Krzyzewski the next … on Mickie Krzyzewski the next … and back to the game.

Duke’s radio network is one of the few in college basketball that positions a sideline analyst, Matthew Laurance, behind its bench. “Coach just got dizzy,” Laurance said. “He’s in great shape. He’s been working out.”

Great shape or not, working out or not, Krzyzewski fell to the court in what was the biggest alarm since the Lakers called in July.

Maybe Krzyzewski tried to downplay the scene because it might take away from the victory, one in which J.J. Redick put up impressive numbers for the second consecutive game with 26 points.

The coach definitely kept his keen sense of humor.

Krzyzewski said doctors checked him out at halftime, taking his blood pressure and asking him if he had eaten.

“I’m Polish; I eat,” Krzyzewski said.