ACC Hoops: #2 Duke Dominates Wake Forest, 93-60

Durham NC: The Duke Blue Devils (27-3, 18-1) continue their dominant ACC run with a drubbing of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (20-10, 12-7 ACC), 93-60. The Blue Devils win their ACC record 18th conference game and go undefeated at home for the second time in Jon Scheyer’s 3 seasons at the helm. The Deacons dropped another game in March, making their only route to the NCAA Tournament being a major run in the ACC tourney. 

Khaman Maluach started the game off with his first jump ball victory of the season. Then the next 6 minutes of gameplay was unremarkable with the teams tied at 2-2 at the under 16 timeout. Once the Blue Devils got adjusted to the physicality of the Deacs, they jumped out to a big lead, taking a 40-27 lead at the half. The Deacons tried to recreate the magic of the first matchup with a 17-1 run to start the second half to make the Blue Devils nervous. The Deacons jumped out to a 6-0 run to cut the Devils lead to 7. The Deacons could not get closer than 7 as the Blue Devils lead ballooned to 40 points at 91-51. 

Duke junior guard Tyrese Proctor returned to the starting lineup after missing the second half against Miami last week and the entire Florida State game.

Cooper Flagg gave the Cameron Crazies a memorable farewell (maybe) with another dominant game. Flagg scored 28 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Kon Knueppel finished his Duke home career with 17 points, 5 boards, and 4 assists. The senior transfer guard of Sion James and Mason Gillis also finished their Duke careers on a high note. Gillis had his second highest scoring output of the season, the highest being against Wake the first time, with 11 points off 3 three pointers. James scored 11.

The Duke defense completely shut down the two leading scorers for the Deacons. Most notably, Cameron Hildreth scored 0 points while amassing 3 turnovers and 2 fouls. Hunter Salis finished with 9 points. The Deacons were led by Efton Reid with 14 points including two three pointers, and Ty-Laur Johnson’s 14 points. The Deacs finally got production from their 3 bench players with Parker Friedrichsen’s 7 points, Juke Harris’ 6, and Omaha Biliew’s 2. 

The Deacons have fallen from the last team in the tournament 4 games ago to now being the last team on the bubble in the “Next Four Out” group according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. Wake hosts Georgia Tech on Saturday, another game that cannot help the Deacons progress, but can only hurt. The Deacons experience another late season meltdown that will keep them out of the NCAA tournament.

The Blue Devils clinch a share of the ACC Regular season title. The Devils need to win against rival North Carolina on Saturday to clinch the title and the number 1 seed in next week’s ACC tourney. The Clemson Tigers and Louisville Cardinals are still only a game behind the Blue Devils. The Tar Heels have won 5 in a row, and are sitting in the “First Four Out” group of Lunardi’s bracket prediction. A win against the Blue Devils can give the Tar Heels the final double bye of the ACC tournament as well as getting them into the Big Dance with a Quad 1 victory.