WINSTON-SALEM - Coming off the most hyped matchup of the season Thursday at North Carolina, Duke could have come out flat against ACC bottom-dweller Wake Forest.
The intensity early on and the offensive execution throughout the game may not have been exactly what head coach Gail Goestenkors was looking for, but swarming, aggressive defense once again set the tone for the Blue Devils on the road.
"This was maybe not our best effort," Goestenkors said. "I think we had a little bit of a letdown from the last game. Also this is our fourth game in 10 days, so I think there's a little bit of emotional and physical fatigue, but we did what we had to do to come away with the win."
In a game in which Duke shot a season-low 34.4 percent from the field, including a 5-for-17 performance from three-point range, the Blue Devils maintained a comfortable advantage thanks to a trapping scheme that resulted in 19 turnovers and 29.8 percent shooting for the Demon Deacons.
Strong play on defense has defined this Duke team, and Sunday's game marked the 13th time this season that a Blue Devil opponent has been held to below 30 percent shooting from the field.
"They scored 26 points off of turnovers, and we lost by 32," Wake Forest head coach Mike Peterson said. "If every time we got trapped, we had taken the ball and thrown it 15 rows into the stands, I kind of like our chances. They score 100 percent when you throw it to them in the backcourt, but they shot 29 percent [from behind the arc] when we guarded them."
Duke's defense in the open court and on the perimeter was its most effective form of slowing down the Demon Deacons' offense.
Guards Alex Tchangoue and Yolanda Lavender combined for 27 points but also committed nine turnovers collectively. Because of these miscues, Duke controlled the ball for much of the game. The constant trapping along the sidelines and in the corners also did not allow the inexperienced Wake Forest backcourt to transition into its half-court offense comfortably.
Sunday's victory came, surprisingly, without much of a contribution on the defensive end from center Alison Bales.
Bales did score nine points, but she did not record a block for the first time in 46 games and was in foul trouble for most of the day. Despite Bales' lack of minutes, the team was still able to pull down 31 defensive rebounds.
Wake Forest, which came into the game winless in conference play, never led in the contest, but it did make top-ranked Duke sweat when it cut the lead to eight just three minutes into the second half.
Duke's defense clamped-down again, however, as Wake would not score over the next three and a half minutes and the Blue Devils scored eight straight points.
"They just wear you down," Peterson said. "They turned it up [in the second half], and that's why they're first in the country."
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