Wake Forest at Duke: Gameday Open Thread

Deacs look to follow up on last year's near upset at Cameron

Duke students have been busy this weekend assembling tents outside the arena in preparation to camp for tickets for UNC in Krzyzewskiville. Prior to that game in March, however, Duke has the rest of its ACC schedule to play.

On Saturday night, the Blue Devils host Wake Forest, who came within inches of upsetting Duke at Cameron last season, only to have a last-second potential game winning shot roll off the rim the wrong way.

Sophomore point guard Tre Jones said that this is a "completely different" Duke team than last season, even though Wake has several players back. Jones promised that Duke will be hungrier than it was last season for this game.

The Blue Devils have won eight straight and risen to No. 2 in the AP poll, while Wake suffered a loss to FSU last time out to snap a three-game winning streak. The Deacs are 8-6, 1-3 in ACC.

Wake will rely on a guard-oriented attack with seniors Brandon Childress and Andrien White and grad student Torry Johnson. Jones and Javin DeLaurier both mentioned Wake's ability to score in transition, saying that the Blue Devils needed to slow down the Deacs and fill lanes on defense.

Duke's freshmen got a lesson in how tough ACC play can get, surviving a second-half rockfight at Georgia Tech that left the Blue Devil post players bruised and bloody, literally, as DeLaurier was sporting a long scratch on his face in Thursday's media availability.

After playing three of its first four ACC games on the road, Duke is now home for four of five, starting with the Wake game.

Your starters: Tre Jones, Vernon Carey, Matthew Hurt, Jordan Goldwire, Cassius Stanley

Duke out fast, hitting first four shots, then rebounding its first three misses. Blue Devils are currently shutting out Wake on the boards, 7-0 and lead at the under 16, 12-5.

Jones and Goldwire pressuring Wake in the backcourt in the early going, keeping Wake from running. Of course, it helps not missing any shots in the first couple minutes

Alex O'Connell goes down hard driving to the hoop. Medical staff and Coach K out to look at him. Duke up 18-9 at the 12:43 mark.

AOC is up and trying to convince Coach K to let him stay in. K's not having it though. AOC to the bench to at least get looked at. Sitting on the bench seems much more painful to him than staying in. He's currently squatting instead of sitting

And we're at the under 12, Duke in control, 24-11.

Duke with a 6-0 run and Danny Manning calls time. 33-14 at 8:07 mark. Duke up 14-2 in the paint, shooting 68.4 percent and 5-of-7 from three. Blue Devils averaging 1.57 points per possession, which seems good. Wake averaging 0.67, which does not.

Jones went down awkwardly after making his last jumper. Limping on his left ankle but not even looking at the bench. He'll play through.

43-21 at the under four. Duke now over 70 percent from the field.

O'Connell back in the game at the 1:48 mark. First time since his hard fall. Duke up 45-21.

Jones scores the first five of the game, last four of the half. Duke is up 49-23 at the break. He has 11 and four assists. Joey Baker has 8 and is 3-for-3, 2-for-2 from three. Cassius Stanley has seven. Goldwire has five assists.

Duke identified stopping Wake in transition as a key. Duke has 8 fast break points to 0 for Deacs. 13 points off turnovers to 2 for Wake.

Quick timeout in second half for Wake. Tre Jones drives the lane for an easy layup in transition and Manning had seen enough. 17:43 to go, Duke up 55-27. Jones has 15

Wake gets back-to-back transition buckets, and a foul as Vernon Carey makes a post move takes us to the under 16. Duke still up 58-36.

Carey hits 1-of-2 from the line. He's 2-of-6 for the game, Duke is 4-of-11

O'Connell fouled hard again on a breakaway. At the under 12, Duke is up 69-40. Tre Jones has taken over. Up to 21 points now on 9-of-14 shooting, 3-of-4 from 3.

Hurt joins Goldwire and Baker with three fouls for Duke.

Duke up 30 at the under 8. AOC missed two at the line just before the break. Duke now 7-of-17 on free throws.

Playing out  the string in this one. At the under four, Duke is up 88-55. Wake leading scorer Brandon Childress just missed his sixth shot. He's scoreless in the game.

And that’ll do it. Duke wins 90-59,moving to 5-0 in the ACC