As the No. 2 team in the nation, Duke knows no team is going to roll over when facing the Blue Devils—not even the scrappy Terriers. But in the end, talent and size won out.
Duke closed its 2014 slate with a hard-earned 84-55 win against Wofford at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils were led by the duo of Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow, as the two bullied the Terriers in the paint on their way to combining for 40 points and 15 rebounds.
"On our team, we like to get Jahlil the ball," Winslow said. "Nobody can guard him one-on-one, so we're very happy if they don't double team him. But if they double team him, we've got to be ready to make plays, other people ready to step up. So in the first half, I did my part."
As was the case in Monday's 17-point win against Toledo, the final score didn't tell the story of the entire game. The Terriers pestered the Blue Devils throughout the first half, knocking down 57 percent of their 3-pointers and hanging with Duke on the boards 20-19. Heading into halftime, Wofford trailed just 41-34.
But unlike in the first half, Wofford struggled from downtown in the second period, as it hit just 1-of-7 from long range in the first 10 minutes. The lull in the shooters' success allowed Duke to make its move.
"After a shot is taken, especially if a team is moving the ball for 20, 25 seconds, there's a tendency to feel like it's over, instead of you making it over with the defensive rebound because you get tired," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It takes a lot of discipline to do that, and they were getting lots of second shots, and thirds. At halftime, we just talked about it and in the second half, we did that. We played great defense in the second half."
The Blue Devils reeled off a 7-0 run out of the gates and then with 13:31 remaining, the Blue Devils embarked on an 8-0 run—this one sparked by Rasheed Sulaimon 3-pointer—to go up 63-45. Wofford would never cut the lead to single-digits from that point forward.
The biggest battle Duke needed to win was the fight down low. Against Toledo, the Blue Devils let up 38 points in the paint. Duke mostly accomplished this against the Terriers, out-scoring them 36-22 in the paint—and though the Blue Devils struggled to dominate on the boards, Okafor's big night would be enough to power them past Wofford.
"If you don't double Jah, it's going to be tough. And if you double him, he's going to pass out and we have guys who can shoot," Krzyzewski said. "[Winslow] played stronger. He's learning what he can do. He played very well and we need him to do that."
Early on, it was apparent that the Terriers were set on double-teaming Okafor, as the Blue Devil center was hounded by two Wofford defender every time he touched the ball down low. This opened up the floor for other Duke players—lilke Winslow—and gave them more room with which to work.
Winslow had all 16 points in the first period and picked the team up when the Terriers kept Okafor off-balance with their different looks and double teams.
"In the first half, I had a lot of opportunities to get to the basket and I took advantage of them," Winslow said. "Overall, we wanted to be aggressive, we wanted to come out here and set the tone and I think in large part, I did that in the first half."
Duke finished the game shooting 56 percent from the field, including a 50 percent mark from long range, besting Wofford's 38 percent. The Terriers entered the game as the 19th-best 3-point shooting team in the nation—the Terriers knock down 40.4 percent of their long balls—and though it showed through 20 minutes, it would not sustain. Wofford shot 57 percent from long range in the first half, but was held to a paltry 10 percent in the second period.
Duke will kick off its ACC slate Saturday against Boston College.
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