It was another close game at the half, but the Blue Devils ran away and hid from Wofford in the second half, cruising to an 84-55 win Wednesday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Jahlil Okafor led the way for Duke, scoring 24 points and grabbing eight rebounds. The freshman has now topped 20 points in three of his last four games. Classmate Justise Winslow added 16 points—all in the first half—and captains Quinn Cook and Amile Jefferson combined for 25.
Duke returns to the court in 2015 as ACC play gets underway Saturday at 4 p.m. against Boston College.
Revisiting the three keys to the game:
- Keep contesting shots from downtown: In the first half, the Terriers stayed with the Blue Devils on the strength of their 3-point shooting. Wofford knocked down four of its seven triples in the opening 20 minutes, bolstered by a pair of triples from Karl Cochran, who finished with a team-high 13 points. After intermission, though, the basket shrunk for the Terriers, who hoisted 10 more triples in the second half but converted on just one. The ill-timed cold spell led to two Blue Devil runs that put the game well out of reach.
- Improvement against dribble penetration: Wofford struggled to get anything going inside for most of the afternoon, settling instead for jumpers and 3-pointers. When those stopped falling after halftime, the Terriers had a tough time scoring. After a sluggish first half defensively against Toledo Monday, the Blue Devils came out committed to stopping the drive Wednesday, ultimately out-scoring Wofford 36-22 in the paint.
- Handle the quick turnaround: Duke showed no signs of fatigue, dominating Wofford in the second half 43-21. With a steady diet of Okafor in the post—the Chicago native scored his 24 points on 11-of-13 shooting—and eight made 3-pointers, the Blue Devils finished out the 2014 part of their schedule exactly the way the season began—undefeated.
Three key plays:
- 19:43 first half: As has become customary, Duke wastes no time getting the ball inside to its best player and Okafor makes a quick move and puts in a jumper to get the Blue Devils off to a strong start. Duke has spent less than six minutes trailing this season and the security blanket provided by its dominant big man is a huge reason why.
- 18:15, second half: The 6-foot-11 center gets the ball on a fastbreak and shows he can do damage outside the paint, sending Jefferson a smooth bounce pass that leads to layup. The play caps a 7-0 run to open the second half and puts the Blue Devils up by 14; the game never got closer than nine afterwards.
- 4:32, second half: With Duke up by 16, Duke swings the ball around the perimeter before Rasheed Sulaimon finds point guard Tyus Jones in the corner, where the floor general cans a 3-pointer to put the game out of reach. The 6-foot-1 guard doesn't take many shots, but when he decides to pull the trigger, his attempts usually have a big impact on the outcome of games.
Three key stats:
- Duke attempts 25 free throws: In a hack-a-thon, the Blue Devils got into the bonus early in the first half and made the Terriers pay. Duke shot 18-of-25 from the charity stripe, the clear aggressors in a game that saw Wofford attempt just 11 free throws. Okafor still showed room to improve from the line, however, as the big man went 2-of-5 when unguarded. He'll undoubtedly get to the line frequently in conference play, and those free throws could become more important against higher-caliber opposition.
- Tyus Jones stuffs the stat sheet: The freshman point guard didn't do much scoring, finishing with just five points, but Jones did a lot of everything to help Duke win its 12th consecutive game by double-digits. The Apple Valley, Minn., native dished out five assists, pulled down six rebounds, and tallied four steals, sticking a thorn in Wofford's side all afternoon.
- Wofford grabs 10 offensive rebounds: The under-sized Terriers put up a strong fight on the glass, as the Blue Devils only out-rebounded Wofford 34-29. The Terriers actually out-rebounded Duke on the offensive end, pulling down 10 offensive boards compared to seven for the Blue Devils. Ten of Wofford's 55 points came on second-chance opportunities.
And the Duke game ball goes to... Jahlil Okafor
Despite facing double-teams for most of the afternoon, the center turned in another dominant performance, shooting 11-of-13 from the field and adding eight rebounds to go along with his 24 points. Okafor also had a pair of emphatic rejections and only committed one foul on a day when whistles put players on both sides into foul trouble. The Chicago native continued to make the right decisions when doubled, passing to set up open teammates, but still managed to pick the right moments to attack the basket. Okafor's 18.8 points per game are the highest average in the ACC.
And the Wofford game ball goes to... Karl Cochran
Cochran scored a team-high 13 points, but needed 17 shots to do so. The guard found it tough sledding from long range, particularly in the second half, finishing the day 3-of-9 from downtown. Nevertheless, Cochran grabbed a team-high five rebounds and had a pair of assists in what was a slow day at the office for the Terrier offense, especially in the second half.
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