The Blue Devils take on the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest at 9:00 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Before every basketball game, we’ll break down a player on each team who could be the difference-maker in the upcoming contest.
Duke: forward Amile Jefferson
With Jefferson playing at a high level, the Blue Devils may have found a big man to control the paint on both sides of the court. In his past two games against Syracuse and Pittsburgh, he is averaging 14 points and 8.5 rebounds, a huge improvement over his season stats of 7.1 points and 7.0 rebounds. Jefferson faces a Wake Forest frontcourt that ranks 36th in the nation with 26.6 rebounds per game. Duke has had its troubles on the boards this season and Jefferson will have his hands full with forward Devin Thomas, who is the Demon Deacon’s leading rebounder with 8.3 points per game. Jefferson can also give his scoring a boost off of second chance points if he can grab some offensive rebounds. If Jefferson can keep up his exceptional play, especially early, look for Duke to build an early lead tonight.
Wake Forest: forward Travis McKie
McKie, a lanky 6-foot-7 forward, only averaged 6.2 points per game in his first five ACC contests, but in his last four games, he has boosted his scoring to 19 points per game. He is a versatile scorer that can post-up inside and step out and hit the three. In his last game against Georgia Tech, McKie dropped 26 points, while adding four steals on the defensive end. With leading scorer Codi Miller-McIntyre’s status questionable for tonight’s game, head coach Jeff Bzdelik may look for McKie to be extremely active in the Wake Forest offense and attempt to exceed the numbers h posted on Saturday. With or without Miller-McIntyre, McKie is an emerging player for the Demon Deacons and if they want to pull off the upset, McKie needs to play well.
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