No. 5 Duke travels to Wake Forest tonight to try to win their first road game of the season. The last time these two teams met, the Blue Devils came out victorious, defeating the Demon Deacons 80-62. Here are your three keys to the game to get you prepared for the 8:00 tip off.
Quinn Cook vs. C.J. Harris
Last time the teams met, Quinn Cook was cold from the floor, but hot with the hands. The sophomore guard dished out a career-high 14 assists against Wake Forest in Cameron Indoor Stadium, despite shooting 0-11 from the floor. Cook finished Saturday’s game against Maryland with 11 points and nine assists and falls just below N.C. State’s Lorenzo Brown in assists per game in the ACC averaging 6.2 per contest.
The Demon Deacons will likely look to guard C.J. Harris not only to set up his teammates on the offense, but also to take the ball to the basket. Harris dropped 19 points and doled out four assists against the Blue Devils last time the teams met. While Cook has made his mark as a distributor, Harris makes his scoring the rock himself. He currently ranks eighth in the ACC in points per game, averaging 14.8. Keep in mind that Wake Forest ranks second to last (only above Virginia Tech) in assists per game, averaging just 11.3 per contest. Duke, on the other hand, averages 15.5 assists per game.
Can the Blue Devils reverse the road curse tonight?
Wake Forest is looking to maintain a perfect record versus conference opponents on its home floor Wednesday. The Demon Deacons have taken down Virginia, Boston College and an impressive N.C. State team at home thus far this season. The Blue Devils travel to Winston Salem, N.C. in search of their first road win of the season. Duke is currently 0-2 this season on the road, both against conference opponents. The Blue Devils lost to N.C. State and Miami in Raleigh, N.C. and Coral Cables, Fla. respectively. The 2011-2012 season Duke team was 8-0 on the road against conference opponents, so a good majority of this year’s team knows how to compete and win away from home. The Blue Devils must bring it tonight and break the curse.
A dominant freshman duo...
Coming off a career high 25 points, Duke hopes to get another stellar performance out of Rasheed Sulaimon against Wake Forest. The freshman is averaging 12.0 points per game on 29.3 minutes a contest. In Saturday’s matchup at Maryland, Sulaimon knocked down six of his eight shots from beyond the arc. In addition to the Sulaimon, the Blue Devils will also look to Amile Jefferson as a spark on both offense and defense. The freshman brings a great sense of urgency and excitement to the floor for Duke. Since Ryan Kelly went down with a foot injury prior to the N.C. State game, Jefferson has stepped up in an attempt to fill that void. Jefferson’s minutes have skyrocketed nearly three-fold from just 8.8 per game to 23.0 per game since Kelly's injury. Along with the increased minutes, Jefferson has brought great productivity to the hardwood. He is averaging 10.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg and 1.8 bpg in his last four games as compared to 3.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg, and .3 bpg before Kelly was injured.
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