Wofford Coach: "Duke Comes at You in Waves"

Blue Devils shut down Wofford's perimeter attack

Wofford coach Jay McAuley was impressed with Duke in the 86-57 win over his Terriers.

“They’re really good,” he said. “They’re really balanced, and when they shoot like that in the second half, they can be very dangerous. They have a good, balanced attack with a good inside-out presence. They’re tough. They keep coming at you in waves, rebounding the ball, 50-50 balls, pressure—obviously, they’re a really good team and they showed it tonight.”

Wofford relies on outside shooting, but Duke did a good job taking away the perimeter attack. “We missed some shots early and we started pressing a little bit,” McAuley said. “Obviously the missed layups in the first half, where it was a tight game, maybe 16-15, and we missed a few around the basket. We were a little sped up and Duke had a lot to do with that and we have to handle that better moving forward.“ Duke forced nine turnovers against a Wofford team that usually takes care of the ball. Even when they didn’t take the ball, the Blue Devils kept the Terriers from doing what they wanted “Their pressure took us out of some things,” McAuley said. “In the second half, we have some things when teams decide to switch that we need to do. We got away from that. We need to be a lot more mentally tough in those moments. That’s what Duke does to you. We’ll learn from it.”

Duke’s win prevented Wofford from becoming the first team in 50 years—and first non-conference team since 1943—to beat UNC and Duke in the same week. “UNC and Duke are the best of the best,” McAuley said. “They both challenged us in a lot of ways. They did some things with their length and with pressure that I think we’ll benefit from against some of the teams in our league.”