True road game.
Box checked.
True road-game win.
Duke is going to have to wait awhile to check that one.
Krampus paid a visit to Duke Tuesday night, first in a “non-COVID” illness that kept Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead out of the game at Wake Forest and second in an inspired Deacons team that seized a lead in the middle of the first half and never let up en route to an 81-70 win.
The loss dropped Duke to 10-3 overall, 1-1 in the ACC.
It’s easy to blame the loss on the absence of Duke’s two freshmen phenoms and losing a pair of presumptive lottery picks is not something any team can easily shrug off. But Wake was a little tougher, a little sharper, a little more focused than a Duke team that hadn’t played in 11 days and looked like it.
Duke built its early success this season on the twin pillars of defense and rebounding. Both failed them at Joel. Wake shot 49 percent from the field and 85 percent from the line--no defense for the latter--and outrebounded Duke 37-29. The 81 points surrendered by Duke is the most this season and the minus eight rebound differential is the second worst.
“It’s inexcusable,” Ryan Young said of the rebounding issues. “It’s toughness and it’s effort. It’s not much else that goes into rebounding and we know that we take pride in that being a strength of ours. And it was embarrassing that we couldn’t win that tonight.”
Young had nine rebounds. So, the blame lies elsewhere.
Wake torched Duke without a lights-out shooting performance from downtown. The Deacs were a modest 7 for 19 on 3s; Duke was 8 for 27. But Wake took advantage of Lively’s absence by getting to the rim and/or the foul line with alarming ease.
“Our defense has always started with guarding the ball,” Jon Scheyer said. “And they just drove us like crazy, you know. They do a good job of moving and spacing, and they just got in our paint at will. We just need to be solid and guard the ball. You know, it’s hard, you’re playing out of rotations really the whole game with that. It starts there, obviously you can miss Dereck’s rim protection. Him just being out there, changes the game.”
“They were able to get in our paint pretty easily,” Young added “and that’s something that we’ve been able to do successfully in the past is come out and guard teams and take guys out of their games. And they were able to get to the free throw line very easily against us and get into the paint and maneuver. And again, it’s just offensively things come and go, but defense has to be a thing that remains stable for us across the board no matter how we’re playing, how we’re shooting the ball, our defense can’t waver. So again, I think the first thing, they got to the free throw line very easily and they were able to get into the paint.”
The game was last tied at 11-11 after a Jake Grandison triple. But Wake’s Tyree Appleby got an old-fashioned three-point play at the rim and the Deacons never again trailed.
There was no decisive break in the first half just a methodical Wake effort that gradually built the lead. A 3-pointer by Bobi Klintman made it 21-15, another by Domari Monsanto made it 26-18 and a 4-0 run in the final minute from the foul line made it 39-30 at the half.
Duke never got closer than seven points in the second half. Sophomore Jaylen Blakes--playing perhaps the best game of his Duke career--hit a pair of 3-pointers to make it 62-55 with about eight minutes left.
But Duke missed six straight from the field and fell back. Duke again closed to seven at 68-61. But an offensive foul on Jeremy Roach ended Duke’s chances.
Appleby led everyone with 18 points and eight assists but all five Wake starters scored in double figures, with Cameron Hildreth’s 16 points and nine rebounds especially damaging to Duke’s cause.
Blakes led Duke with 17 points but poor shooting by Kyle Filipowski (4-14), Tyrese Proctor (2-7) and Grandison (2-9) did Duke no favors.
Neither did Jeremy Roach’s lack-luster 9-point, 2-assist, 5-turnover game.
Another lengthy break looms, 10 days until Duke hosts Florida State on the final day of 2022.
“You have to keep perspective but you also have to hate the result,” Scheyer summed up. “That’s part of what makes you a competitor, whether it’s as a coach or as a player. And so for us, I think it’s important understanding the room we have to grow and we just have to keep going. And also we need to address the things that we need to cut out now because there’s a sense of urgency. In the ACC, you have to win these games. You have to come back and win against Florida State. You have to win on the road. And so for us, I think it’s that balance. But being in this environment, playing in the games leading up to this have been really valuable for us.”