Duke 75 , Wake Forest 70 (final): Quinn Cook once again came up with the crucial play in a huge situation, nailing a 3-pointer to break a 66-66 tie, and though a Madison Jones drive and layup gave Wake Forest a brief glimmer of hope, Duke's offensive onslaught continued with a Mason Plumlee post move and a Rasheed Sulaimon jumpshot. The Demon Deacons were unable to answer, as Plumlee blocked a C.J. Harris layup after Sulaimon gave the Blue Devils a six-point advantage with the clock under 30 seconds. The late surge by Duke earned the Blue Devils a hard-fought road victory after a disjointed, often sloppy effort from both teams at Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem.
Duke 65, Wake Forest 66 (3:48, second half): After things got a bit out of hand, allowing Wake Forest to regain the lead, Duke asserted a measure of control coming out of the eight-minute media timeout, getting a pair of offensive fouls and a turnover from the Demon Deacons early. Duke converted on just one of those three offensive opportunities, as both teams began to seem drained by the stop-and-go nature of the game, with so many quick possessions, easy baskets and play stoppages. Travis McKie missed an easy layup after blowing by Amile Jefferson, and Seth Curry missed a pair of identical 3-point attempts after Plumlee pulled down the first rebound and dished back to him. Seemingly all the scoring is coming from the free-throw line as Wake has taken a late advantage after a 3-point play from Demon Deacon freshman Tyler Cavanaugh.
Duke 58, Wake Forest 60 (7:48, second half): The quality of play began eliciting boos from the Wake Forest faithful as a moving screen by Devin Thomas capped off a string of turnovers for both sides. Whistles have been plentiful throughout the course of play tonight, as no Blue Devil has played without picking up a foul. Three starters—Mason Plumlee, Rasheed Sulaimon and Amile Jefferson—have accumulated three fouls, leaving Plumlee without a full deck on the defensive end. Krzyzewski tried for a brief stretch to coast along with Marshall Plumlee, Josh Hairston and Marshall Plumlee all on the floor, but had to bring Mason back. Just before the eight-minute media timeout, Sulaimon missed the front end of a one-and-one before Travis McKie drained a pair, and the Demon Deacons bookended a Mason Plumlee turnover with a pair of makes at close range to give Wake Forest its first lead of the half.
Duke 56 , Wake Forest 52 (11:18, second half): The pace of play picked up again and Mason Plumlee scored another two points - he is now 11-for-14 from the floor. A sloppy play by Duke allowed for a breakaway slam by Devlin Thomas, and the Wake Forest fans were brought to their feet. Rasheed Sulaimon, who made 5 straight threes on Saturday against Maryland, missed an open three after another dunk by Wake Forest. Duke is having trouble keeping hold of the ball as Curry dribbled the ball off his foot and out of bounds for Duke's 10th turnover of the game. Wake Forest fans were back on their feet as McKie cut the difference to two with an easy basket. Marshall Plumlee took his brother's place after Mason collected his 29th point of the game. Plumlee, Jefferson, and Sulaimon all have three fouls in this game, while Wake's Thomas, Miller-McIntyre, and Harris also all have three fouls.
Duke 48 , Wake Forest 44 (15:36, second half): Seth Curry open the half with an easy jumper for another two points. Wake's careless passing continues to add up as they now have 10 turnovers and missed their first two shots of the half. Their off streak continues with an over-and-back call and they cannot seem to regain the play had before halftime. Mason continues to stretch out the lead with another emphatic dunk on the other end, he is playing more and more aggressively on the offensive end. However, Duke's eight point lead was quickly cut in half with two quick back-to-back baskets by Wake. Both teams are still making under 60 percent of their field goals.
Duke 40 , Wake Forest 40 (halftime): Marshall Plumlee has entered the game to relieve Mason. So far it has been a sloppy game riddled with turnovers from both sides, as Duke has already given up the ball 6 times and Wake Forest 8. Neither team seems to be finding the hole as no one has scored since the pair of Curry free throws that put Duke up 38-36. This is the first time both offensives have cooled down in this game, as both teams are now making less than 60% of their field goals. A pair of Wake free throws ties up the game at 38, and finally a shot is made with Curry getting an easy basket. Wake responds with two points coming out of a timeout and steals the ball from Curry to end this first half tied at 40.
- Duke and Wake Forest have almost identical field goal percentages with 54.8 percent and 54.2 percent respectively
- Mason Plumlee leads all scorers with 19 points, the same number of points he finished with against Maryland on Saturday. And it is only the first half.
- This was a sloppy first half for both sides with Duke and Wake Forest turning over the ball a total of 16 times
Duke 35 , Wake Forest 36 (3:37 first half): There is consistent scoring from both teams who are making over 60 percent of their field goals. Even Tyler Thornton, who typically is not a scorer, managed an easy lay-up for Duke. Plumlee comes up with another dunk just soon after being stopped by Cavanaugh. There has been a lot of scrambling and bodies on the floor in this game as both teams are being sloppy with the ball. McKie gets the crowd here going as he slams the ball home after finding an open lane. Sulaimon puts in an easy lay-up for his first tally of the game, but he has yet to come alive in this game after scoring 25 points against the Terps Saturday.
Duke 14 , Wake Forest 17 (11:50 first half): Seth Curry knocked down a floater out of the break, only to be followed by McKie scoring two points on the other end of the floor. Mason Plumlee is coming back into form with another dunk. Wake Forest has a small line-up on the floor and has Duke looking inside to Plumlee for point production. Wake Forest has primarily been going to dribble penetration against Duke's big men in the paint, but seems to possess a scoring threat from the outside. Duke has been more effectively stopping any penetration by Wake Forest forcing them into a turnover going into this timeout.
Duke 6, Wake Forest 9 (15:52 first half): Duke's Quinn Cook grabbed a steal and quickly put up two points. However, Travis McKie responded with an open three to get Wake Forest on the board. McKie then followed with a steal for a Wake Forest breakaway and another two points. NPOY candidate Mason Plumlee got on the board with a dunk.
Pregame: Welcome folks to your live updates for Duke basketball vs. Wake Forest today at Joel Coliseum. Make sure to follow along here all night for analysis and follow @dukebasketballon Twitter for the most up-to-date game news.
Before the action, make sure to read your three keys to the game and our quick preview.
Duke starters: G Quinn Cook, G Seth Curry, G Rasheed Sulaimon, F Amile Jefferson, C Mason Plumlee
Wake Forest starters: G Madison Jones, G Codi Miller-McIntyre, G C.J. Harris, F Travis McKie, F Devin Thomas
Duke is trying to collect its first road win in ACC play against Wake Forest. The last time the teams met, Ryan Kelly put up 22 points before fouling out. Now, the Blue Devils will need strong contributions from both freshman Amile Jefferson and junior Josh Hairston in order to makeup for an injured Kelly.
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