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Duke Vs. Wake Preview

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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

Travis McKie

Ty Walker

Duke

Austin Rivers

Seth Curry

Tyler Thorton

Miles Plumlee

Mason Plumlee

Prediction

Duke 84-64