Although Duke beat Wake Forest 80-62 to kick off ACC play, that was at Cameron Indoor Stadium. As the Blue Devils look to match the 10th-best start in program history, they will have to travel to Winston-Salem, N.C. to take on a Demon Deacon squad at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Colliseum that has some notable home wins under its belt.
The No. 5 Blue Devils (17-2, 4-2 in the ACC) have yet to win a true road game yet this season, and Wake Forest (10-9, 3-4 ACC) has yet to lose at home in conference play, including a win last week against then-No. 18 N.C. State.
When the two teams first met, Duke point guard Quinn Cook struggled from the floor, shooting 0-for-11 from the field. Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly lit it up, though, scoring 22 points apiece. The Blue Devils will need serious contributions from freshman Amile Jefferson and junior Josh Hairston this time around because Kelly is still out indefinitely with a foot injury.
But when asked, Demon Deacons head coach Jeff Bzdelik said that playing Duke without Ryan Kelly would not be much different.
“Obviously Ryan Kelly’s presence allows them to space the court better, but they’re going to do what they do,” Bzdelik said in his Monday teleconference. “They’re going to defend and they’re going to move the ball, and they’re going to be aggressive with their mentality.”
In the much-needed Blue Devil victory Saturday against Maryland, Jefferson collected 11 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Jefferson’s classmate Rasheed Sulaimon had a stellar performance against the Terrapins, scoring a career-high 25 points in the Blue Devil win. Despite an ugly loss to Miami a few days prior to that game, Duke was able to turn what looked like frazzled play against the Hurricanes around and come out on top Saturday.
Wake Forest will likely rely significantly on freshman Devin Thomas Wednesday to battle Jefferson, Hairston and National Player of the Year candidate Mason Plumlee in the paint. Surprisingly enough, Thomas was held scoreless and turned the ball over six times in his 25 minutes on the floor when the teams last met. However, when asked who most brings together the Demon Deacons, Bzdelik pointed to Thomas despite his imperfections on the offensive end.
“He’s someone who continues to, obviously needs to, improve his offense, finishing around the rim, and he’s gotten to the free-throw line a lot,” Bzdelik said. “Not shooting a very good percentage right now, but the fact that he isn’t scoring as much as maybe some of these other highly regarded freshmen has put him under the radar.... From a defensive rebounding and offensive rebounding standpoint, I think you’re going to be hard-pressed to find a better younger player. In fact, he’s very good for no matter what age he is. But he’s someone obviously with defense and rebounding that is a glue guy.”
Duke’s struggles on the road are in stark contrast to last season when it finished 8-0 away from home in ACC play. A good record on the road is not something that can be passed down season to season, Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
“You have to be able to be tough enough to win on the road,” Krzyzewski said in his Monday teleconference. “With us, we usually play in a very upbeat atmosphere. Teams are even more ready to play us. As good as the team we would normally face would be, they are better when we face them on their home court. That just goes with the territory.”
And even though the Blue Devils will head into another tough road environment, Krzyzewski thinks his team will fair just fine, despite Kelly’s continue absence.
“We’re just trying to keep getting better with the group we have right now,” Krzyzewski said. “So we got better on Saturday, and hopefully we can continue moving in that direction when we go to Wake Forest on Wednesday.”
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