HALFTIME: Duke 46, Wake Forest 33

Duke struggled to find production from more than two players for much of the half, resulting in a surprisingly close game for much of the first 20 minutes of basketball. Duke rattled off a 18-1 run near the end of the half to head to the locker room with a 46-33 lead. Without leading scorer Codi Miller-McIntyre, the Demon Deacons' Devin Thomas went to work against the Blue Devils' front line, scoring the first seven Wake Forest points on 3-for-3 shooting. It was Rasheed Sulaimon's early success that kept the Blue Devils even with the Demon Deacons while Thomas was hooping early in the game. For the second-unit, it was Andre Dawkins providing instant offense—scoring nine points in the his first 2:21 of action. The rest of the Blue Devils needed more time to warm up before the offense got flowing.

Observations from the first half:

• Quinn Cook was relegated to the bench for today's game, as Tyler Thornton and Rasheed Sulaimon comprised Duke's starting backcourt. Cook still couldn't find the range on his shot once entered the game, missing both of his attempts.
• Duke got out to an inauspicious start, as both Rodney Hood and Jabari Parker were whistled for travels in the first 90 seconds of action. This allowed Wake Forest to open an early lead it would protect for a large portion of the period.
• Matt Jones, after sitting all but a few seconds of the Syracuse game, played some early minutes in the first half.
• Miles Overton was feeling it from beyond the arc, draining a pair of threes and ending the half with eight points. Overton averages just 2.7 points per game.
• Thomas leads Wake Forest in scoring with 10 points.
• Hood didn't record his first points of the game until 5:28 remaining in the first half. Once he hit his first shot he quickly knocked home two 3-pointers.