Wake Forest played well for much of the first half, leading for the first 13:18, but Duke erupted in the last 6:42 to make it clear that there would be no upset in Cameron, on their way to a 90-69 win.
In fact, Duke ripped off a 16-2 run that should capture any basketball fan’s attention, because in that stretch, the Blue Devils gave a hint of where their ceiling might be – and that’s pretty damn high.
Things really got cranked up when Maliq Brown did something unusual: Wake Forest left him open for a three and he drained it.
Then Cameron Boozer got a layup and one off a Caleb Foster assist. Then he got a steal and returned the favor for a Foster layup. Then Nik Khamenia got one and Isaiah Evans hit a three.
Duke played beautiful basketball in the last 6:42. It was everything: unselfish ball movement, powerful, intimidating defense and wonderful rhythm. It was just gorgeous.
The second half didn’t fully sustain that level, but Wake never got back into the game. They did cut it to 9, but that was as close as it got. Duke just kept pulling away steadily.
There was a lot to like in this game. Duke didn’t shoot particularly well from outside, hitting just 7-25, but the Blue Devils hit 50% overall, and were very effective around the basket. In a few games recently, foul shots were an issue, but not here: Duke shot 21-24 for 88%.
Duke’s size translated well to the boards, with a 43-22 advantage and 16-6 offensively.
Cameron Boozer finished with 32 points in 33 minutes and barely missed a double-double with 9 rebounds. Patrick Ngongba finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds.
As solid as the offense generally was, three pointers aside, Duke’s defense was really good.
After going up 11-5 16:57 in when Tre’Von Spillers hit his second early three, Wake didn’t hit another basket until Cooper Schwieger got a dunk at the 11:07 mark.
Duke put an enormous amount of pressure on Wake and a huge part of that was Maliq Brown.
We’d love to see how analytics interprets his game because the box score doesn’t come close to explaining it. He has two qualities that you can’t teach: first, he has an extraordinary aptitude for the game and second, he has amazing hands. He seems to get them everywhere.
Remember that play Kon Knueppel did last year when Tyrese Proctor was teetering on the sideline and Knueppel just grabbed his leg to stabilize him?
Brown is that-level smart. He’s not necessarily the most physically gifted player on the court, but smart players are often more valuable than more talented players with a less subtle understanding of the game.
He’s just a subtle delight. He’s never going to score 32 points, as Boozer did, but he’s willing to subordinate himself to what the team needs, which is what winners do. If we were an NBA team, we might not draft him, but you have to take a look. He’s an amazing defender.
One other thing we really liked about this game was the overall tenacity everyone showed. On one play, Ngongba got two or three offensive rebounds and just kept going at it. Caleb Foster went to the basket on a couple of occasions despite being tightly defended. Isaiah Evans is still Showtime Slim, but he’s become much more than a perimeter shooter. He’s as tough as anyone on the team now.
And now a bit of praise for Wake Forest.
They lost this game by 21 points, but this group is about one player shy of being damn good.
Duke threw blankets over Nate Calmese and Myles Colvin, but they’ve proved themselves already. And Juke Harris was tremendous.
At one point, he had a personal 8-point run. He’s got tremendous potential.
Try this as a thought experiment: imagine where Wake Forest would be if the Deacons had, say, Ngongba. Having someone like that inside would make the perimeter game, already dangerous, lethal. Plus a guy like Ngongba would let Wake on the boards.
Schwieger and Omaha Biliew surprised us to an extent, with Schweiger scoring 12 on 5-7/1-3, and Biliew managed 11 on 3-7/3-5.
The pair combined for 23 points but only managed 4 rebounds between them and neither is a particularly good defender.
With the loss, Wake falls to 11-9 and a tournament bid is unlikely. But give them credit – they played hard. This team just has some limitations.
Notes – Boozer hit a cross-court pass through traffic that made people gasp…he shot 11-20 en route to his second straight 30-point game…Evans’ shot comes and goes, but he’s made himself into a legit basketball player…he’s much more than a shooter now…Duke held Colvin to 5 points on 1-4 shooting and Calmese to 2 on 2-7…the Blue Devils are now 18-1 and 7-0 in conference play…last loss was last season at Clemson 77-71 in February when Cooper Flagg was sick…Jon Scheyer is working on one of the great runs in ACC history…
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