Courtesy GoDuke.com
DURHAM – No. 9 Duke never trailed in its 77-69 victory over Wake Forest on Monday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils (19-5, 10-3 ACC) knocked off the Demon Deacons (16-8, 8-5 ACC) with the help of double-doubles from Kyle Filipowski and Jared McCain, and 23 points from Mark Mitchell — matching the sophomore’s career-high.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Kyle Filipowski quickly got Duke on the board, connecting on a corner three-pointer just over 10 seconds into the game. Back-to-back baskets from Jeremy Roach, a mid-range shot off an inbounds pass and then a three-pointer on the wing, sent Duke into the first timeout ahead by four, 10-6.
- Two free throws from Caleb Foster and a layup from Filipowski pushed the Blue Devils’ lead to six, 14-8, at the 13-minute mark. Duke’s defense held Wake Forest to a stretch of eight straight misses and a extended run of 1-of-11 from the field before a dunk by the visitors made it a 14-10 game, just under 10 minutes into the half.
- After the game knotted at 16-16, Filipowski put Duke back in front and then set up Mark Mitchell to slam home a dunk, forcing a Wake Forest timeout with 6:31 on the clock. A three-point-play by Mitchell, out of the under-four timeout, gave Duke its largest lead so far, 26-19. Filipowski knocked down a shot at the first-half buzzer, giving the Blue Devils a 29-27 lead at the break.
- Buckets by Mitchell and Roach early in the second half helped Duke remain ahead, 37-33. A fast-break three-pointer by Jared McCain capped off a seven-point scoring surge in just over a minute of action and triggered a timeout by the visitors.
- Mitchell drilled a three-pointer to give the sophomore 17 points with 14 minutes left in the game. Duke went on a stretch of 6-of-7 from the field to remain in front, 46-41, and Mitchell reached 20 points out of the under-12 timeout with a floater in the paint. McCain connected on a straight-away three-pointer on Duke’s next trip down the floor to establish an eight-point advantage, 53-45.
- Four straight makes by Wake Forest drew the visitors within one possession, 55-52, and led to a timeout by the Blue Devils with 7:45 remaining in the contest. Filipowski’s 10th rebound, with 6:30 on the clock, gave the sophomore his eighth double-double of the season and 24th of his career.
- Five straight points from Roach and two free throws from McCain established a seven-point edge, 70-63, as the clock ticked under three minutes. Duke iced the game with a layup from Filipowski and a dunk from Mitchell, securing the 77-69 victory.
NOTES
- Monday night marked the 100th game played in Durham, N.C., between the two teams. Duke now holds an 82-18 record in those meetings.
- The Blue Devils have won 25 consecutive home games against the Demon Deacons – marking the longest Duke home win streak against any opponent. The last Wake Forest victory in Durham was on Jan. 11, 1997.
- Duke’s defense held Wake Forest to 69 points, 11.8 points below its season average of 80.8. The Blue Devils have held 21 of their 24 opponents to below their respective scoring average.
- Two Blue Devils, Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell, finished with at least 20 points for the first time since playing at Louisville on Jan. 23, and two Duke players, Filipowski and Jared McCain, logged double-doubles for the first time since the same Louisville game.
- Wake Forest was limited to just 11-of-39 from the field in the first 20 minutes, marking the lowest first-half shooting percentage by a Duke opponent so far this season.
- Duke held the lead (29-27) at half, the 17th such occurrence this season. The Blue Devils are now 17-0 in those games.
- Mitchell scored 23 points on 9-of-14 (.643) shooting, matching his career-high. The sophomore has finished in double-digits in five of his last six contests and 13 of his last 15.
- The Blue Devils are now 29-3 in games where Mitchell scores at least 10 points.
- Filipowski logged his eighth double-double of the season, scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The sophomore center now has 24 career double-doubles and 10 games with at least 20 points and 10 boards.
- McCain snagged 10 rebounds, his sixth career game with at least 10 caroms and fourth in the last five contests. Duke is now 4-2 in such games.
- McCain also scored 17 points, marking his fourth career double-double and his third double-double in the last four contests.
- In his 50th career start against an ACC opponent, senior guard Jeremy Roach contributed 12 points and a game-high five assists.
QUOTES
- “I think that’s a really good win for us. I think Wake Forest is a big-time team. I don’t think they get the respect, nationally. If you look statistically, analytically, all that stuff, they’re really like a top-25 team. I don’t know how you don’t think that’s a tournament team. That’s the first thing. But the second thing is, they’re really good. They kept answering us. For us to have the lead, the whole game – it was tied, too – but for us not to give them the lead for 40 minutes, I think that’s a bigtime thing. I thought Mark [Mitchell] and [Kyle Filipowski] were men. I thought they were really tough tonight. And these guys, anybody who doubts their toughness, what they’re about, they don’t know Mark Mitchell, they don’t know Kyle Filipowski. Those guys were just men tonight. And I could go down the list, Jared [McCain], it’s four out of five games he’s had double-digit rebounds. He’s a warrior. We were kind of banged up. Tyrese [Proctor] was a little banged up, but he was battling through. I thought Jeremy [Roach] stepped up to hit some big-time shots.” – head coach Jon Scheyer
- “We didn’t have the best offensive first half, but our defense was really good. [Wake Forest] is one of the top offenses in our league, too, so we made it a priority that getting stops was key. Just down the stretch in the second half, we’ve been doing a really good job of staying close as a team on the court, even when things are getting a little rough. We may have some stupid turnovers. We’re still helping each other – we’re not yelling at one another to bring each other down.” – sophomore center Kyle Filipowski
UP NEXT
- No. 9 Duke (19-5, 10-3 ACC) hits the road for the first time since Feb. 3, traveling to Tallahassee to battle Florida State (13-10, 7-5 ACC) on Feb. 17. The Blue Devils and Seminoles are scheduled for a 2 p.m. start, with the game broadcast on ESPN.
To stay up to date with Blue Devils men’s basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching “DukeMBB”.
Duke Centennial
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