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February 28
9:00 p.m.
ESPNU
On February 28, the Duke Blue Devils will travel to Winston-Salem to take on our Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Duke will be looking to win its final two games against Wake Forest and North Carolina, respectively, to win the ACC Regular Season Championship and make a legitimate case to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Deacs are coming off their most impressive game of the season. The 29 point victory over Boston College was Wake's biggest victory of the season and was its second win in the past three games.
Wake looks to ruin Duke's run at an ACC Title and defeat the Blue Devils for the first time since 2009. We hope to see you all at The Joel tomorrow night!
| Category | Offense | Defense | D-I Avg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adj. Efficiency | 119.3 4 | 94.2 55 | 100.8 | |
| Adj. Tempo | 68.3 74 | 66.3 | ||
| Four Factors | ||||
| Effective FG%: | 53.9 19 | 47.1 101 | 49.0 | |
| Turnover %: | 17.7 33 | 19.1 240 | 20.4 | |
| Off. Reb. %: | 35.7 56 | 31.9 160 | 32.1 | |
| FTA/FGA: | 46.3 10 | 32.4 83 | 36.5 | |
| Miscellaneous Components | ||||
| 3P%: | 38.7 24 | 31.1 44 | 34.3 | |
| 2P%: | 51.4 48 | 47.2 156 | 47.8 | |
| FT%: | 69.5 161 | 67.6 101 | 69.1 | |
| Block%: | 7.7 69 | 8.9 177 | 9.2 | |
| Steal%: | 8.7 86 | 9.0 218 | 9.7 | |
| Style Components | ||||
| 3PA/FGA: | 38.3 56 | 24.1 2 | 32.9 | |
| A/FGM: | 48.6 290 | 43.8 11 | 53.7 | |
| Defensive Fingerprint: | Mostly Man | |||
| Point Distribution (% of total points) | ||||
| 3-Pointers: | 31.7 75 | 19.4 339 | 27.5 | |
| 2-Pointers: | 45.3 317 | 61.8 2 | 52.0 | |
| Free Throws: | 23.0 43 | 18.9 245 | 20.4 | |
| Strength of Schedule | ||||
| Components: | 106.1 5 | 96.3 5 | 100.8 | |
| Overall: | .7290 5 | .5000 | ||
| Non-conference: | .7272 14 | .5000 | ||
| Personnel | ||||
| Bench Minutes: | 29.0% 216 | 30.7% | ||
| Experience: | 1.52 yrs 221 | 1.66 | ||
| Effective Height: | +5.1 2 | 0.0 | ||
| Average Height: | 77.6" 34 |
76.5" |
||
Duke's Strengths
Duke is the fourth-most offensively efficient team in the nation, as they average 1.193 points per possession. They do this because they have an effective field goal percentage of 53.9, which is nearly 5 percent higher than the national average. The Blue Devils are also fantastic at getting to the foul line (shocking). They attempt 46.3 free throws for every 100 field goals they attempt, which is good for 10th nationally. They also have such an efficient number of points per possession because they don't have many empty possessions. They only turn it over 17.7 percent of the time, which ranks them 33rd nationally, meaning they are in the top 10 percent in the nation. Fantastic perimeter plays like Austin Rivers, Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins allow them to be so successful in these areas.
Duke's Weaknesses
This section is going to require some nitpicking. Teams ranked No. 3 in the country typically don't have too many weaknesses. Their biggest weakness is their inability to force turnovers, specifically by stealing the ball. They are below average at forcing turnovers and stealing the basketball. Nationally, teams turn others over at a rate of 20.4 percent. Duke only does this at a rate of 19.1 percent, which is 240th best in the nation.
How Wake Matches Up
While Duke opponents typically do not score the majority of their points from behind the three-point line, the Deacs are going to have to be sharp from the perimeter to win the game. Chase Fischer and C.J. Harris will need to take care of this for the Deacs. It would also be huge if Carson Desrosiers could come in and hit a three. Duke is also about an average rebounding team, so we will need help from our bigs as well as Tony Chennault to get us extra possessions on the offensive end. Second chance opportunities will be absolutely critical.
| GAME STATISTICS | |||||||||||
| Player | GP | MIN | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TPG | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Austin Rivers | 29 | 32.7 | 15.5 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 2.3 | .443 | .649 | .402 |
| Seth Curry | 29 | 30.1 | 13.6 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 2.2 | .445 | .880 | .384 |
| Ryan Kelly | 29 | 25.7 | 11.8 | 5.4 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.4 | .450 | .806 | .409 |
| Mason Plumlee | 29 | 28.4 | 10.7 | 9.5 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 2.1 | .556 | .487 | .000 |
| Andre Dawkins | 29 | 23.5 | 9.6 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.8 | .424 | .739 | .414 |
| Miles Plumlee | 29 | 19.4 | 6.6 | 6.9 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.3 | .615 | .631 | .000 |
| Quinn Cook | 28 | 11.9 | 4.5 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.5 | .396 | .810 | .245 |
| Tyler Thornton | 29 | 19.6 | 3.5 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 1.0 | .389 | .711 | .365 |
| Josh Hairston | 25 | 7.9 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | .439 | .667 | .000 |
| Michael Gbinije | 16 | 6.9 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.5 | .579 | 1.000 | .444 |
| Todd Zafirovski | 5 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Totals | 29 | -- | 79 | 37 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 12 | .465 | .695 | .387 |
Projected Starters
Wake Forest
Tony Chennault
C.J. Harris
Chase Fischer
Duke
Austin Rivers
Seth Curry
Tyler Thorton
Prediction
Duke 84-64