No. 9 Duke begins a crucial two-game homestand Tuesday night, welcoming Wake Forest in a battle of 20-win teams. Duke has won seven of its last eight, including five straight ACC road wins. The Blue Devils are in a first-place tie in the ACC and holds the tiebreaker over the three of the five teams within 1.5 games.
Duke and Wake Forest enter the game ranked first and second, respectively, in scoring margin and first and second, respectively, in field goal defense and first and second in assists. They are also first and third in scoring offense and first and third in three-point defense; first and fourth in blocked shots and second and fourth in rebounding margin. Wake and Duke are first and second in the ACC in field goal shooting.
The two teams are meeting for the first time each as 20-win teams since Feb. 22, 2009 when a 21-5 Duke squad defeated 20-4 Wake Forest, 101-91, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
About Duke
- This week’s ACC Freshman of the Week, Trevor Keels is averaging a team-leading 15.3 points and shooting .541 from the field and .533 from three over the last four games, including 25 points and a career-high 11 rebounds at Clemson – just the sixth game in the Coach K era of player going for 25 and 10 with no turnovers.
- Duke is 15-1 this season when Keels scores in double digits.
- Leading the ACC in both field goal defense (.402) and three-point defense (.291), the Blue Devils have allowed opponents to shoot .267 from three-point range since Jan. 1 (68-of-255) — the best three-point defense by power conference teams in that span.
- Duke has held 11 of its last 14 opponents — and 17 for the season — to .300 or worse from behind the arc (14-3 in those games).
- Six-time ACC Freshman of the Week and the ACC’s lone representative on the late-season watch list for the Wooden Award, Paolo Banchero leads all power conference true freshman in scoring (17.0), rebounding (8.7) double-doubles (eight) and 20-point games (nine).
- Sophomore Mark Williams averaged 14.0 points and missed just three field goals (16-of-19) and one free throw (10-of-11) in three games last week. For the season, his .716 field goal percentage would lead the nation, but falls just short of qualifying (min. 5 FG/game).
- Since January 1, Duke opponents are shooting just .267 (68-of-255) from three-point range – the best percentage defense by power conference teams and seventh best overall in that span.
- Duke’s four losses this season have come by a total of nine points – five at Ohio State (71-66), two at home against Miami (76-74), one in overtime at Florida State (79-78) and one to Virginia (69-68). In each, Duke held a lead in the games’ final 70 seconds.
About Wake Forest
- A grad transfer from Oklahoma, Alondes Williams averages 19.8 points, 5.2 assists and 6.9 rebounds to pace Wake in all three categories — his scoring average and assists per game also lead the ACC, while he ranks fourth in field goal percentage (.532). The Milwaukee product has the opportunity to be the first player to finish the season leading the ACC in points and assists since the conference began tracking assists in 1973.
- Jake LaRavia is third in the ACC and 21st in the nation in fi eld goal percentage, shooting at a
57.8 percent clip. He is averaging 14.4 points in conference play.
- Through 15 ACC games, the Demon Deacons lead the conference in team field goal percentage (50.3) and are second in opponent field goal percentage (40.0). Wake Forest has held nine of its first 15 ACC opponents to below 40 percent shooting and leads the conference with seven ACC victories by 15 points or more.
- Wake Forest ranks first in conference play in fouls drawn (17.2), fourth in total rebounds per game (36.6), third in blocks per game (4.2) and second in assists per game (15.7).
- Wake Forest is third in the country in effective 2-point field goal percentage (59.4) and seventh in effective field goal percentage (56.4), according to KenPom.
- Jake LaRavia (63 points), Isaiah Mucius (96 points) and Alondes Williams (137 points) are all within reach of joining the 1,000-point club this season. If they do so, Wake Forest would be the first team this season to have four players reach the milestone. Daivien Williamson reached 1,00 points in November.
- Wake and Duke have two of the 50 tallest rosters in the nation – an average height of 78.5 inches for Wake (t-12th tallest) and 78.0 inches for Duke (t-43rd tallest).
Duke vs Wake Forest
- Duke and Wake Forest are meeting for the 257th time in a series that dates to the 1905-06 season. The Blue Devils lead the series 177-79, including 79-18 in Durham – 64-16 at Cameron Indoor.
- Duke’s 22-game home winning streak over Wake Forest stands as the program’s longest active home win streak over an opponent.
- Behind 24 points from Paolo Banchero and 22 from AJ Griffin, the Blue Devils won the first meeting at Wake Forest, 76-64, on Jan. 12.
- Alondes Williams scored a game-high 25 points, but Duke limited Wake to just 2-of-16 from three and forced 15 turnovers.
- Duke and Wake are meeting for the first time each as 20-win teams since Feb. 22, 2009 when a 21-5 Duke squad defeated 20-4 Wake Forest, 101-91, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
How to Watch
Time: 7:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN (Rece Davis, Debbie Antonelli)
Stream:Â Watch ESPN
Radio:Â Blue Devils Sports Network (David Shumate, John Roth)
Per Release
UNC Continues to Shine into the Final Stretch