FINAL: DUKE 83, Wake Forest 59: Singler leads the way with 24, and Ryan Kelly is perfect from the field on the day to earn The Chronicle's Ryan Claxton Player of the Game Award. More to come in Monday's Chronicle.
3:28 2nd Half Duke 76, Wake Forest 52: Two foul shots send Ryan Kelly to 20 points on the day, joining Singler's 22. With one more bucket from Smith, the Blue Devils will have three players over 20 points for the afternoon. Mason Plumlee has again hit double digits in the rebound column, registering 10 on the day. His brother, Miles, has quietly been a solid presence off the bench, with six points, three rebounds and a steal.
UPDATE: A technical foul has been charged to J.T. Terrell for shoving Plumlee. Seth Curry makes both foul shots for the Blue Devils.
4:48 2nd Half Duke 72, Wake Forest 52: Tensions flare as Carson Desrosiers pins Tyler Thornton to the floor under the Wake Forest basket. Singler quickly comes to the assistance of his teammate, and trades words with a few Deacons. In the aftermath, both Smith and Mason Plumlee were shoved by Wake Forest players, bringing both coaches onto the court to stifle the flames.
Around the country today, Villanova has upset Syracuse at the Carrier Dome 83-72, and Texas leads Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse 45-44 midway through the second half.
5:50 2nd Half, Duke 70, Wake Forest 52: Yet another three-pointer from Ryan Kelly, and Bzdelik calls time out with his team down 18 and time ticking away in a hurry. The aforementioned "Big Three" still leads, 57-52.
9:05 2nd Half: Duke 65, Wake Forest 52: A 6-2 run for Wake Forest, but more importantly, former NBA All-Star Tyrone "Muggsy" Bogues is in the house!
11:26 2nd Half: Duke 63, Wake Forest 46: Well, the Blue Devils are on a 15-6 run since I said they were having trouble putting the pedal down against the Deacons. Smith is now 3-for-5 from the field in the second half, bringing his total even with Kelly's 15. Add in Singler, and Duke's "Big Three" of the day is outscoring Wake Forest 50-46.
13:13 2nd Half: Duke 58, Wake Forest 42: That floor slap is really not working out for Terrell, as Smith just blew by him on his way to the rim for a 16-pont Duke lead. Ryan Kelly added another trey for Duke to reach 15 points on the afternoon.
13:58 2nd Half: Duke 53, Wake Forest 42: FLOOR SLAP ALERT! Peformed by the Deacons' J.T. Terrell right on the "W" of the logo at center court. Kyle Singler promptly hit a 3-pointer to stretch his scoring total to 20 for the game.
15:45 2nd Half: Duke 48, Wake Forest 40: After C.J. Harris hit a trey to pull the Demon Deacons within four, Kyle Singler once again had the answer for the Blue Devils. Back-to-back buckets for Singler re-opened the lead for Duke, who just can't seem to put the pedal down against Bzdelik's squad. In related news, it only took Wake Forest a little more than 22 minutes to score 40 points--one more than they managed in the entire game last time out against Georgia Tech.
Halftime: Duke 41, Wake Forest 32: The first half comes to an end with a flurry of scoring, as Nolan Smith begins to assert himself on the offensive end. After starting out 0-for-7 from the field, Smith hit two field goals down the stretch and added three free throws to finish the half with seven points. Stats are relatively even across the board, with the glaring difference being in 3-point percentage. Wake Forest is shooting 4-for-7 (57%) from three while Duke sits at 5-for-14 (37%). Ryan Kelly leads all scorers with 12 points, followed closely by Singler's 11. It's shaping up to be an exciting second half here, perhaps a much closer game than the large pro-Duke crowd may have anticipated.
2:24 1st Half: Duke 36, Wake Forest 25: A chant of "Let's Go Devils" has broken out to my left, as a flurry of transition plays has reopened the game for the Blue Devils, highlighted by a Miles Plumlee slam off a Smith assist.
3:27 1st Half: Duke 29, Wake Forest 25: Just when it appeared the Blue Devils were starting to pull away, Gary Clark nailed a big three-pointer for the Deacons, bringing the crowd back to life and the home team within four. Ryan Kelly has been taking on a scoring role for Duke so far, netting nine points while shooting 3-for-3 from the field. Singler has gone to the bench with two fouls in the late stages of the half, we'll see if the home squad can take advantage.
7:23 1st Half: Duke 23, Wake Forest 19: Duke continues to be carried by Kyle Singler, who now has 11 points. Singler is doing all the little things right as well. Along with his previously mentioned hustle, Singler dished off a beautiful assist to Miles Plumlee for a dunk after Singler slashed into the lane from the left side. Four rebounds (two offensive), two assists and two steals for #12 so far.
9:06 1st Half: Duke 21, Wake Forest 19: Ryan Kelly has given the Blue Devils the lead on an excellent transition three. Smith drove the lane from the left, kicked the ball out to Singler on the right, who served the ball up to Kelly on a silver platter for the three right down the middle.
11:55 1st Half: Wake Forest 18, Duke 15: The Deacons are clearly more energetic than the Blue Devils on both ends of the floor. A three point play by Travis McKie with just over 13 minutes to play sent the crowd into a frenzy as Wake Forest opened up a five point lead. Duke is leaning heavily on Kyle Singler's eight points at the moment, and Singler already has two key offensive rebounds including one that he turned into a jumper from the lane. Singler also paid a visit to the Public Address Announcer after a steal, turning in another one of his patented dives into the crowd.
15:11 1st Half: Duke 11, Wake Forest 11: A flurry of action on both ends already here from the Lawrence Joel Coliseum, as each team has poured in a trio of three-pointers in less than five minutes of play. The building is full of energy this afternoon, almost a circus-like atmosphere, although the upper deck is rather sparsely populated behind each basket. The fumes from the Demon Deacon's motorcycle are still in the air here as we start to get into the flow of the game.
We come to you live today from Winston-Salem, N.C. where we have a showdown between the only two ACC coaches with the letter "Z" in their last name. Will two be better than one? We'll find out as Duke's Mike Krzyzewski faces off against Wake Forest's Jeff Bzdelik for the first time.
Starting Lineups:
Duke: Nolan Smith, Andre Dawkins, Kyle Singler, Ryan Kelly, Mason Plumlee
Wake Forest: Gary Clark, Travis McKie, Carson Desrosiers, C.J. Harris, Ari Stewart
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