Duke vs. Wake Forest

With senior guard Amile Jefferson being out indefinitely with a broken foot the Blue Devils are now down to a seven man regular rotation. Wednesday night against Wake Forest, the Blue Devils secured their fourth straight victory and two consecutive ACC road victories. That is the second time under coach Mike Kryzewski in his coaching career at Duke.

The first half ended with Duke leading 50- 47. Duke was shooting 60 percent from the field. They also had to over come foul trouble with graduate student Marshall Plumlee who plays down low.  Even with the Blue Devils having the lead, Wake Forest still out played them. Wake Forest out rebounded Duke in the first half 20-9. Wake Forest also out scored the Blue devils 10- 0 with second chance points. Even with significant foul trouble and being out played the Blue Devils went into the locker room and came out fired up in the second half.

The big play that set up consecutive scoring plays from the Blue Devils was when Marshall Plumlee set the screen, rolled to the hoop, took the pass and threw down the powerful slam. That play led to many slams to follow. In the second half the Blue Devils shot 52 percent from the field. It was when Wake Forest’s Devin Thomas picked up his fourth foul with 8 minutes to play the Blue Devil took full advantage of it. With 8 minutes left to play the Blue Devils were up 69-63. Then their lead was immediately back to double figures with two consecutive dunks by the graduate student Marshall Plumlee. The final score of the game was 91- 75.

Player of the game: Graduate Student Marshall Plumlee had a night. Scoring 18 points for the Blue Devils. He came back from foul trouble in the first half. Plumlee also had many dunks, even consecutively to help the Blue Devils down low when they needed it. In his thirty four minutes of play he had seven rebounds, one assist, and two blocks.

Honorable Mention: Freshmen Luke Kennard. In his 32 minutes of play Kennard had 23 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal. Also Sophomore Grayson Allen, he had another big night. Against Wake Forest he had 24 points, three rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block. Allen played 32 minutes during the contest against Wake Forest. Grayson Allen has really taken that role of being the go to guy and exceeded his standards.

Wake Forest:  For Wake Forest, Devin Thomas was the player who dominated. He had 21 points and 12 rebounds even after struggling with foul trouble the whole entire game. Then, Cornelius Hudson finished with 12 points including three 3 – pointers. Freshmen John Collins had 11 points, and exchanged blocked shots with Duke’s Brandon Ingram mid way through the second half.