WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — In what is becoming a trend for No. 4 Duke (26-4, 13-2 in the ACC), turnovers late in games have allowed opponents to chip away at leads. It did not cost the Blue Devils this time, however, as they left Winston-Salem with a 79-71 win as the Demon Deacons’ comeback attempt fell short. With the victory in its final conference road game, Duke remained undefeated in ACC road play.
“We let up a bit, but they didn’t let up at all,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We were a little sloppy with the ball… but I thought we handled the pressure well, hit our free throws, and didn’t give up threes.”
The Blue Devils had four players score in double figures, and with this balanced offense Duke successfully navigated the road test despite a strong showing from Wake Forest’s Nikita Mescheriakov, who had 18 points on his senior night.
Krzyzewski, who met a teary-eyed Mescheriakov after the game, paid tribute to the Demon Deacons saying that the coaching staff “must be doing something right to make him feel that way.”
Ryan Kelly, who has enjoyed success against Wake Forest (13-16, 4-11) this season, led Duke with a career-high 23 points in the win. In the previous meeting at Cameron Indoor Stadium the junior recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds.
“Ryan Kelly’s had a lot of good games,” Krzyzewski said. “Sometimes it’s the timing. He’s been playing pretty well lately, he just needed to take it up a notch. I liked his aggressiveness today.”
The Blue Devils overcame a slow start, without a basket in the first four minutes, and fell behind early after baskets from the Demon Deacons’ Travis McKie and Mescheriakov. Once again, though, Duke’s three-point shooting sparked its offense, with back-to-back three pointers by Tyler Thornton and Seth Curry as the Blue Devils’ first field goals. Duke finished the half shooting 7-of-12 from long range.
Kelly was held scoreless for the first 8:29, but then hit five straight points for the Blue Devils. His first was a fluid turnaround baseline jumper, and on the next possession he connected from beyond the arc to push Duke’s lead to 10 points.
But thanks to Mescheriakov’s 13 first-half points, which alone exceeded his season average, the Demon Deacons kept pace with the Blue Devils, with the first period ending 39-28.
Duke came out of the locker room with the intention to put the game out of reach, especially after two close games against Virginia Tech and Florida State in the past week. Although Tony Chennault provided Wake Forest with 17 points in the half, Mescheriakov went cold and did not add to his 13 points from the first period until 5:43 remained in the game. Chennault’s offense alone was not enough to prevent the Blue Devils from building a strong lead of 23 points with 11:45 remaining in the game.
“We certainly could have played better,” Demon Deacon head coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “Especially coming out in the second half.”
Duke’s 63-40 advantage would not stand, though. The Demon Deacons took advantage of multiple turnovers by the Blue Devils to cut the lead to 6 points with 4:55 to play thanks to a 14-0 run, which breathed life into the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Wake Forest finished the game with 22 points off Duke’s 13 turnovers, outscoring Duke in this category 12-2 in the second period.
“In the ACC everybody’s tough,” Kelly said.” They all fight to win. They didn’t stop fighting for the entire 40 minutes. Credit to them, they played hard and they played well.”
An important three-point play by Mason Plumlee, who came off the bench for the second consecutive game, finally stemmed the tide for Duke. The junior—who has shot just 50.9 percent from the foul line this season—also showcased an improved free-throw stroke, going 8-for-9 including clutch makes at the end of the game.
Wake Forest did manage cut the lead further to four points, but Kelly continued his strong play with a powerful running hook shot off the glass. The Blue Devils’ seemingly insurmountable lead was down to 72-66 with less than two minutes to play.
“We just needed to get down and defend, and get some stops so we can get out and go,” Bzdelik said. “I almost exhausted all my timeouts early in the second half, but I had to. You need to get stops. We had our schemes in place, but we just needed to do it better.”
The teams traded baskets but in the end, time ran out on the Demon Deacons and Duke held off yet another late-game surge from its opponent.
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