Beyond the Arc: Duke basketball vs. Wake Forest

As the bench has dwindled all season long, Grayson Allen has been given more opportunities to make an impact. Wednesday night, the freshman exploded.

Allen scored 27 points as No. 3 Duke dismantled Wake Forest 94-51 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Jacksonville, Fla., native entered the game with 13:37 left in the first half and immediately began torching the nets, scoring 11 points in less than three minutes. Fifteen Demon Deacon turnovers allowed the Blue Devils to build a gigantic lead early—Duke scored the first 12 points—that stretched into a 52-15 lead at the half. Sophomore Matt Jones scored 11 of his team's first 13 points after intermission as the Blue Devils coasted to their 10th straight conference win.

Revisiting the three keys to the game:

• Handle Devin Thomas: In the first meeting between the teams Jan. 7 in Winston-Salem, N.C., the junior big man got the best of Duke center Jahlil Okafor, scoring 24 points to Okafor's 12. It was a different story Wednesday. Thomas was held scoreless, missing both of his field goal attempts and failing to connect on either of his two attempts from the charity stripe. The Harrisburg, Pa., native also committed four of Wake Forest's 19 turnovers and picked up four fouls.
• Convert on free throws: The Blue Devils followed up a 9-for-16 showing Saturday against Syracuse by hitting 13-of-16 against the Demon Deacons. After struggling mightily at the line against the Orange, Okafor knocked down both of his attempts Wednesday. By contrast, Wake Forest missed its first six free throws—including both ends of a flagrant one foul against Okafor—and finished just 2-of-9.
• Ignore all surrounding pressures: The added emotions of Senior Night didn't seem to bother Quinn Cook, who finished with 13 points, five rebounds and two assists. Although the captain shot just 4-of-12 from the field, he canned three treys and brought his usual energy and defensive pressure to help fluster the Demon Deacon backcourt. With the win, Duke also locked up the No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament next week and continued its pursuit of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Playing their first game since Monday's report surrounding Rasheed Sulaimon, the Blue Devils came out and took complete control early on, then rode the hot streaks of Allen and Matt Jones to the lopsided final margin.

Three key plays:

• 13:37 remaining, first half: Grayson Allen checks into the ball game. The freshman made two straight field goals to stretch the lead to 20-5, then sandwiched a Justise Winslow dunk with two 3-pointers, including a four-point play.
• 0.5 seconds remaining, first half: After a missed Wake Forest free throw, Tyus Jones banks home a 3-pointer from the top of the key as the opening period draws to a close, drawing contact from Madison Jones in the process. The freshman added to the massive Duke lead with the ensuing free throw, sending the Blue Devils into the locker room ahead 52-15.
• 6:01 remaining, second half: Quinn Cook's last basket on the home rims at Cameron Indoor Stadium was one to remember. The senior took a feed from Amile Jefferson on a baseline cut and used some strong English to scoop a reverse off the glass and in, pushing Duke's already comfortable lead to 85-44.

Three key stats:

• Jahlil Okafor scores six points on 2-of-2 shooting: The Blue Devils didn't really need the big man Wednesday, as Duke still racked up 40 points in the paint and hit 13-of-25 from downtown. It marked the first time all season that the Chicago native has been held to single-digits, breaking a 29-game streak. More importantly, Okafor was finally able to get some rest—the freshman played just 19 minutes as the game got out of hand early.
• Justise Winslow's entire line in the box score: The Houston native had media members on triple double alert early in the second half, even though another great performance by the freshman was overshadowed by Allen's monster night. Winslow finished with 13 points, six rebounds, seven assists and six steals—all in 25 minutes. The Blue Devils received a bit of a scare when he rolled an ankle early in the second half, but the freshman returned with a new tape job to spell junior Amile Jefferson, who also appeared to roll an ankle.
• Wake Forest commits 19 turnovers: The Demon Deacons didn't do themselves any favors out of the gates, coughing up the ball on three of their first four possessions. The giveaways would become a recurring theme for Wake Forest throughout the night, leading to 26 Blue Devil points that spurred the rout.