Duke never trailed in its Monday night game against Wake Forest.
Walk in the park?
Think again. Duke also never led by more than nine points. Duke had numerous chances to put away the Deacons and never really did.
By the same token whenever Duke had to have a stop, had to have a score, had to make a foul shot, they answered the call.
The result was a 77-69 win over a Wake Forest team that absolutely passed the eye test as an NCAA Tournament team.
This was a good win for Duke, one that put Duke at 19-5 overall, 10-3 in the ACC.
Wake dropped to 16-8 and 8-5.
Tyrese Proctor went down with a head injury late in the first half, started the second but took a seat with 11:53 left and didn’t return.
Jon Scheyer said he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Proctor. Duke doesn’t play again until Saturday. Fingers crossed.
But Proctor’s absence didn’t lengthen Duke’s bench. The opposite, actually. Duke didn’t make a single sub after Proctor went out. Mark Mitchell, Kyle Filipowski and Jared McCain all played in the general neighborhood of 38 minutes and Jeremy Roach played 16 in the second half after fouls held him back in the opening half.
About that opening half. Even the most charitable analysis of the first 20 minutes has to concede that Duke had some chances to deliver a knockout blow and couldn’t deliver. Duke led 14-8 for almost four minutes, missing seven straight from the field, two from the line, with two turnovers. Wake started 0 for 12 from beyond the arc and somehow managed to tie the game 27-27 with eight seconds left in the half.
But Filipowski hit a short jumper right before the buzzer and Duke went into the half up 29-27.
If that seems like a low-scoring game for two of the ACC’s higher-scoring teams, well look deeper at the stats. Duke shot 11 for 31 from the field, 3 for 14 from 3-point range and 4-8 from the line, with eight turnovers.
The Deacs were 11 for 39, 4 for 19 and 1 for 3.
Good defense? Absolutely. Not so good offense? Ditto.
Mitchell conceded that Duke let up a bit at times early in the game.
“Coach Scheyer always talks about extending the lead. We could have done that but we really didn’t the best job of that. It’s an area we can improve on. Once we get it, it’s going to be hard to stop us.
If the first-half was a brick-fest, the second half was ACC hoops at its best, a seven-point window over 20 minutes between two teams with a combined 17-7 ACC mark coming into the game, a half where every possession seemed crucial.
Wake tied it at 29, a three-point play by Mitchell put Duke up 33-29, Wake tied it again at 33, Duke led 45-37, Wake cut it to 46-43 and it just went on like that.
Too close for Scheyer to feel comfortable going deep into his bench, especially with Mitchell and Filipowski playing so well.
“I thought Mark and Flip were men tonight,” Scheyer explained. “It’s hard to take [them] off the court when they’re playing that way. We’ve always done it it here and we always, will, when a guy has it going we’re not going to sub. We found a great groove in the second half. I thought they did a great job of playing 40 minutes.”
“Those TV timeouts came at a perfect time,” Filipowski quipped but added that he’s earned his ice-bath after battling Efton Reid and Andrew Carr for 38 minutes.
The last time it was a one-possession game was 55-52, with just under eight minutes left. McCain made two foul shots, Filipowski got a steal and scored 20 seconds later.
The officials missed an out-of-bounds call near the Wake bench which seemed to animate Scheyer and his team. Roach hit a triple and it was 66-57, with 4:39 left.
Duke closed it out from the line, 5 of 6 from the line after the final media timeout.
McCain was 6 for 6 from the line in the second half.
“Focus and breathe and come-back to my breath and I knew I was going to knock them in.”
McCain added that fatigue is a mental thing but a mental thing fortified with lots of conditioning work.
McCain said he never felt the game was in any danger of getting away.
“I trust these guys, so much. Whenever they cut it to three we were able to step up and get a good shot.”
“I always felt confident,” Mitchell added. “We’ve been here before. We’ve got a lot guys who’ve been in this situation.”
He backed up the talk 23 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks. He made 9 of 14 from the field, 4 of 8 from the line, 1 of 2 from downtown.
Filipowski was just as good, 21 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks. McCain had 17 points and another 10-rebound game.
Mitchell joked that McCain keeps stealing the big guys’ rebounds.
Roach scored a dozen, with a game-high five assists.
Hunter Sallis led Wake with 20 points and 4 assists. How did Gonzaga let this guy get away?
Duke shot 62.5 percent from the field after intermission, 4 of 11 from 3, 14 of 17 from the line, while reducing its turnovers to five.
Wake coach Steve Forbes praised Duke for getting his defenders out of their assignments and getting the ball inside.
“They’re really good,” Scheyer summed up. “For us not to give them the lead for 40 minutes, that’s a big-time thing. I think that’s a really good win for us.”
Hunter Sallis was very impressive. He explodes to the rim with complete body control.