In senior captain Quinn Cook's final game on the hardwood of Cameron Indoor Stadium, No. 3 Duke takes on Wake Forest Wednesday at 8 p.m. The two squads met in early January, with the Blue Devils prevailing in a tight 73-65 contest. With just two games remaining in the regular season, Duke is already locked into the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in next week's ACC tournament. Here are three keys to the Blue Devils extending their winning streak to double digits:
Handle Thomas
The last time these two teams faced, junior forward Devin Thomas scored 24 points and had all four of Wake Forest’s offensive rebounds. Although the Demon Deacon forward has been held to single digit scoring the past two games, he recently dropped 26 points against then-No. 10 Notre Dame and recorded five rebounds during his short 16-minute stint against No. 2 Virginia in Wake Forest’s narrow one-point loss. Fourth overall in the ACC in rebounds, Thomas is recording an average of 9.1 boards per game—putting him just two spots behind Duke’s own Jahlil Okafor, who averages 9.6 rebounds per game. Taking control of the strong, 6-foot-9 245-pound forward early in the game could be helpful in maintaining possession of the ball both offensively and defensively.
Convert on free throws
Saturday against Syracuse, the Blue Devils were given 16 total free throw opportunities, of which nine were converted into points. It’s no surprise at this point to see that Cook converted all six of his free throws while Okafor went 1-of-7—causing quite the commotion when he finally did make a free throw. To put free throws into perspective, in the recent overtime win over North Carolina, Duke earned 31 free throw opportunities and made only 16 of those. The bottom line is that having a higher conversion rate on free throws would put crucial points on the board that could potentially be a game-deciding factor in a game further down the road.
Ignore all surrounding pressures
With the Duke basketball program at the center of attention around campus and throughout the basketball community, it’s sometimes hard to stay focused on the next game. The recent allegations regarding the dismissal of Rasheed Sulaimon and three ankle injuries haunting Jahlil Okafor, Quinn Cook and Grayson Allen put a lot on the mind of the team and the coaches going into Wednesday’s game.
On top of that, the Blue Devils' season finale is fast approaching as they will be heading to Chapel Hill Saturday to face their Tobacco Road rivals one more time during the regular season. Keeping these circumstances and distractions off the court is key to Duke showing up to play on Wednesday, as it can’t afford to allow outside pressure to affect its play. Coming off of their ninth straight win, defeating the Demon Deacons would continue the momentum the Blue Devils have been building leading up to the ACC tournament.
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