As I mentioned in the last writeup, this game was unlikely to prove much of a barometer for Duke, given that Wake Forest has fielded what will likely turn out to be a historically bad team. (They’ve got more than a punchers chance to go defeated in the conference this year.) This turned out to be completely accurate ( no points for me, there) and as a result of this ( and the fact that I’m feeling lazy) I’m turning to the old bullet points for this one.
- Wake came out full of energy as you might expect after putting up such a feeble effort in their last game against GTech. They hit three 3 pointers in the first 4 minutes and played the Devils evenly for the first 10 minutes, but the Duke defense picked things up and held the Deacons to two field goals over an 8 minute span. Duke went on an 18-6 run in that time, with Ryan Kelly scoring 10. Duke held a 9 point lead at the half.
- The Deacons played the Devils evenly for the first 5 minutes of the second half, before Duke scored on 5 of 7 posessions to push the lead to 16. Wake hit 3 shots in the final 10 minutes and the rest is history. Duke turned the ball over twice in the second half.
- Duke had a decent shooting game overall ( 43%) , and were consistent in both halves. They still struggled from behind the arc ( 34%). Free throw shooting was excellent (22-26)
- Ryan Kelly was outstanding. He was perfect from the field, including 4-4 from distance. He, as usual did a little bit of everything else in accruing a final line of : 20 pts, 6rebs, 2 assist, 2 steals and a block. His overall game is becoming steadily more assertive and confident.
- Kyle scored 24 and went 6-9 from inside the arc. He looked determined to drive the ball and utilize more mid-range jumpers, which is great to see. Let’s hope we see more of that.
- Nolan had a miserable shooting game ( it had to happen sometime), going 6-22 from the field. The 8 foot floater he normally uses to such devastating effect just wasn’t falling for him. Late in the second half, he started attacking the rim more and finished with 19
- Andre continued his struggles in ACC play taking only 3 shots and spent the majority of the second half on the bench.
- Mason continued his assault on the boards , finishing with 10. He now has 50 rebounds (but only 6 made field goals) in his last 4 games.
- Tyler played 22 minutes and did a great defensive job on the Deacs point guard CJ Harris. He set the table for Duke nicely, playing mistake free ball while he was in the game.
