Takeaways from Wake Forest's 81-70 win over Duke

The Deacs controlled the game from start to finish

Wake Forest notched perhaps their best win in the Steve Forbes era on Tuesday night, knocking off Duke 81-70 in front of a rowdy home crowd. The result itself is remarkable, but we also learned a lot about the team from the game. Here are our takeaways from Wake Forest’s first ACC win of the season:

This team finally finished a game

The most impressive part of this win was how dominant the team looked from wire to wire. If you take a look back at the team’s losses (aside from Rutgers) — Wake held significant leads in each of them and failed to finish the job. They were up seven at half against Clemson, up 20 in the first half against LSU and led by eight in the final two minutes against Loyola Marymount. Wake Forest lost all three games. This was not the case Tuesday night. Wake held a nine-point lead at half and didn’t let off the gas, making big shot after big shot to keep the Blue Devils at bay. The Duke run did come — they cut the lead to seven with just over three minutes to go. But the Deacs weathered it and didn’t fold. I think Steve Forbes put it best after the game:

“I don’t think we survived,” Forbes said. “I think we won the game. I think that’s what we’ve tried to do. We’ve tried to survive. I told the guys that we don’t play to survive, we play to win. You’ve got to play. They’re not going to give it to you.”

READ: Key Stats from Wake Forest's 81-70 win over Duke

Matthew Marsh can cause problems for opponents

Marsh has been spectacular for most of the season, doing everything that is asked of him and more on both ends of the court. He’s shot 100% from the floor in four of his past six games, and 66.7% in the other two. Marsh shows all the signs of a player who’s beginning to understand his role and thrive in it. He serves as a rim runner in the pick and roll, dunks the heck out of the basketball and plays physical, clean defense in the post. Against Duke, he had 10 points on 5/5 shooting, five rebounds and a steal. A beautifully simple, flawless statline. There are rarely instances where he tries to do too much, and that’s why he’s seemingly locked down the starting role at the five. And did I mention he can dunk the heck out of the basketball?

🇬🇧 Cameron Hildreth (16 points, 9 rebounds) with tremendous craftiness and effort on both ends; Matthew Marsh (10 points, 5 rebounds) running the floor, rolling and dunking everything: that's how the British duo helped Wake Forest get a big win over Duke, 81-70. @CSH_02 @WakeMBB pic.twitter.com/MbPG3Zh9NA

— CBB Europe (@CBB_Europe) December 21, 2022

Damari Monsanto should stay in the starting lineup

I’ve written about Monsanto a lot this season, but his play is almost always worthy of discussion. He didn’t have a great shooting night against Duke (4/11 from the field, 3/9 from deep), but he made so many crucial plays that I’m convinced he needs to be out there as much as possible. He had two steals on defense, and his lone two-point bucket of the night was a clutch mid-range jumper that put Wake Forest up by nine with just over two minutes remaining. He’s probably the best pure shotmaker on the team, and the team looks better when he’s out there.

Also, the play of Daivien Williamson, who came off the bench against the Blue Devils, has been a bit surprising of late. I won’t speculate on the nature of his back injury, but he’s certainly playing a much less significant role in the offense than I expected. He took just four shots against Duke, and only two against Rutgers. I’m sure he’ll find his rhythm throughout ACC play, but for now it’s clear in my mind that Monsanto belongs with the starting unit.

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