After a commanding win against Boston College to start ACC play, head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s squad was thoroughly tested on the road in a 91-75 victory against Wake Forest. In a game that was closer than the score would indicate, the Duke freshmen were counted on to make big plays as guards Grayson Allen and Matt Jones sat due to foul trouble.
Revisiting Three Keys to the Game
- Win the rebounding battle: Duke’s inability to win the rebounding battle is precisely what kept the game close for so long. Wake Forest’s interior dominance overwhelmed the smaller Blue Devil lineups throughout the first half and the beginning of the second half. Demon Deacons forward Devin Thomas had 12 rebounds—eight of which came in the first half—and Wake Forest out-rebounded Duke by a 39-30 margin. The guard-heavy lineups that Krzyzewski has favored since Amile Jefferson’s injury struggle to create a stable presence on the boards and are capable of being beaten consistently by bigger teams up front.
- Come out strong: The Blue Devils had a solid, albeit unspectacular, start to the game with nine ties or lead changes coming in the first 10 minutes of the contest. But perhaps the biggest positive for Duke was how they shot the ball coming out of the gates. The team shot 60 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes of play, setting the tone for a solid night on the offense. The first half was a high-scoring affair for the Blue Devils and Demon Deacons alike but neither team could create any substantial separation, despite Duke's 12-point lead at one point in the half.
- Defend the perimeter: After struggle to defend the paint and clean up on the glass, Duke had to shore up the defense somewhere. That somewhere was on the perimeter, where the Blue Devils limited 3-point opportunities by applying heavy pressure and ultimately forcing Wake Forest into 28-percent shooting from beyond the arc. The Demon Deacons hit just two triples in the entire second half, making their comeback from an early deficit an uphill climb.
Three Key Stats
- Duke commits 20 team fouls: Unable to contend with the size of Thomas near the basket, the thin Duke frontcourt needed all hands-on-deck to help in the paint. The result was four fouls each for Allen and Matt Jones—relegating them to the bench for a good chunk of the second half—, three for both Kennard and Plumlee and at least one for every other member of the Blue Devil rotation. As Duke continues to try and find consistency with its rotations and defensive schemes, foul trouble is a problem the team must look to avoid.
- Blue Devils finish with a plus-six turnover margin: As much as the team struggled on defense, they did not beat themselves despite playing in a tough environment. No individual player had more than one turnover and Duke went ten minutes without giving the ball away in the second half to finally put Wake Forest away for good. The Demon Deacons did not fare as well as the Blue Devils tightened up their zone in the final 20 minutes of play and forced more tough passes out of the backcourt, leading to time-consuming offensive possessions and five second-half turnovers.
- Kennard comes up big with 23 points: Since his offensive explosion against Utah a few weeks ago, Kennard has continued his excellent play as Duke's sixth-man. Relieving Allen at the two-guard position after the sophomore's foul troubles, the freshman showed the tools make him special, from hard drives to the rim to knocking down contested perimeter jumpers. With the rotation for the Blue Devils incredibly thin, Kennard’s ability to provide a spark off the bench is imperative and was a key to victory Wednesday.
Three Key Plays
- 9:47 remaining, first half: After trading baskets for the first ten minutes of the game, freshman Derryck Thornton created the first real separation on the scoreboard for Duke. Taking a pass from Plumlee off the break, the point guard found enough distance from his man off of the screen and fired a triple that pushed the Blue Devil lead to five. The shot was the start of a 17-7 run for the team.
- 12:08 remaining, second half: Needing a good shot after letting the Demon Deacons roar back to within two, Duke put the ball in Brandon Ingram’s hands, and that was all it needed. Ingram knifed into the paint and used every inch of his length to extend to the basket and finish with a layup to put the team up by four.
- 6:47 remaining, second half: The play that put the game away came from the game’s top performers. After holding the ball around the perimeter to let the shot clock wind down, Kennard sprinted to the basket before making a tough no-look pass to Plumlee on his right. Just inches from the rim, the senior elevated and dropped a huge jam to give the Blue Devils breathing room, up by 10 with time winding down in the game.
And the Duke game ball to… Marshall Plumlee
On the road against a tough opponent, the graduate student delivered with a career-high 18 points and seven rebounds down the stretch to put the game away. Plumlee was a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the line, doing most of his damage near the rim. With the Blue Devils running low on big men in an already thin rotation and struggling due to foul trouble, the center made himself invaluable by protecting the rim, fighting for tough boards and going toe-to-toe with Wake Forest’s talented bigs after being torched by Thomas in the first half.
And the Wake Forest game ball goes to… Devin Thomas
Thomas scored from all over the court against Duke en route to a double-double. Limited only by his foul trouble late in the game, the senior finished with 21 points on 9–of-11 shooting. The Harrisburg, P.A., native hit shots from the post and also knocked down contested layups between multiple Duke defenders. Thomas' 12 rebounds were nearly a third of his team’s total output and fueled Wake Forest’s scoring as the Blue Devils were helpless against the Demon Deacon frontcourt’s size. The senior managed to keep his team in the game with 17 first-half points, but was ultimately helpless as he watched from the bench in critical moments of the final 20 minutes due to foul trouble.
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