Duke basketball keeps its winning streak going by rolling over Wake Forest

DURHAM, N.C. — Having made their California swing — successfully and assertively — Duke’s Blue Devils were back in Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday.

Wake Forest was in the house, and the Demon Deacons got the start they wanted, taking an early lead. But it didn’t take long for the No. 5 Blue Devils to crank things up, smooth things out and find their touch, rolling to a 90-69 victory behind freshman Cameron Boozer’s 32 points.

Duke (18-1, 7-0 ACC) returned after road victories over Cal’s Golden Bears and then Stanford. Only Wake Forest, last season, had been able to achieve the West Coast sweep of the ACC’s West Coast schools.

Duke’s win Saturday, its seventh in a row, again was built around Boozer, its dominance inside and some clawing defense. Boozer had 22 points in the second half and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds as the Devils outscored the Deacons 48-16 in the paint.

“Cam is never satisfied,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “I think that’s a great thing about him. He’ll find something from the game that he’s (angry) at and didn’t do well.

“But that’s what make him special. He’s wired to be all about his teammates. It’s not about numbers. It’s about winning. And when your best player is that way, it becomes contagious and has a big effect on the rest of the group.”

Wake Forest’s Juke Harris, who was averaging 20.5 points, was limited to three first-half points as Duke took a 42-31 lead. The 6-7 sophomore was more assertive in the second half, finishing with 23 points for the Deacons (11-9, 2-5), who have lost four of their last five.

The Blue Devils, who have won 29 of their past 30 ACC games, played from behind much of the first 10 minutes Saturday. But a 13-0 run left Duke in control as the Devils picked up with 27th consecutive home court win over Wake Forest.

Duke had a 43-22 rebounding advantage, getting 16 offensive rebounds and 18 second-chance points. A streaky free-throw shooting team, the Devils made 16 of 17 in the second half and 21 of 24 in the game.

“When you think about the free throws and the points in the paint, that’s 69 points,” Scheyer said. “I never thought we’d be playing smash-mouth basketball as much, but it’s a fun style when you’re getting layups and dunks and fighting for great shots.”

Some observations from the game:

Game within the game

Defensive matchups vary game to game. Some are better than others, and some become an interesting game within the game.

That was true Saturday. Harris was the ACC’s fourth leading scorer and the Blue Devils had Dame Sarr ready for him.

Sarr’s defense on Stanford star Ebuka Okorie was a big part of Devils’ easy win at Maples Pavilion. Okorie managed just nine shots and scored nine points as Sarr used his quickness and length to limit Okorie’s chances while Okorie, to his credit, did not force shots.

Sarr did allow Harris to score a 3-pointer early Saturday, with Harris kicking out a leg on the release and begging for a foul. Those were Harris’ only first-half points as the 6-7 sophomore took three shots.

Sarr picked up two first-half fouls that limited his playing time, but the Blue Devils had another answer: Nikolas Khamenia, who fought around screens and stayed close to Harris.

“It’s a credit to Duke and a credit to Juke,” Forbes said. “Duke did a good job of guarding him and he did a great job of not forcing it. For a guy who averages as many points as he is, and as young as he is, he’s got a pretty good feel for that. He didn’t force up bad shots and then as the game progressed, we found him more.”

Harris had 20 second-half points, knocking down four 3-pointers.

“You knew coming in they would give him all the attention,” Forbes said. “Had Dame Sarr on him, 6-foot-13. They’ve got big, tall guys. Sometimes, when you have a scorer like that they’re just hunting their shot. He doesn’t.”

Keeping it simple

There are times when the Blue Devils seem to use the first half to test out some things on offense, allow everyone to get their touches, build a rhythm and look for soft spots in the other team’s defense.

Then, in the second half, it’s back to the basics: get the ball inside to Boozer.

Boozer had a mostly quiet 10 points in the first half Saturday, doing it on 4-of-11 shooting from the field that had him miss 5 of 6 from the 3-point line. The Deacons double-teamed the big man a lot and at times used a triple team. They were happy let him fire up 3-pointers.

Boozer went to work inside in the second half, using his size and strength against Omaha Biliew, a 6-8, 230-pound junior. He did knock in a couple of 3-pointers and will never hesitate to take the open one.

“Last year it was Cooper Flagg, this year it’s Cameron Boozer,” Forbes said. “They run their entire offense through him.

“In the first half they were shooting 3’s and not really going to the post as much, and that made me happy, because I knew what could happen.”

Back on East Coast time

ACC teams always worry about going to California to play Cal and Stanford and how to best acclimate to West Coast time after the travel.

But what about a week’s layoff after coming back East from California? It takes time to acclimate to ACC game competition, and it took Duke some time Saturday.

“I think it did,” Duke’s Cayden Boozer said. “There was a stat that teams that went to California, the week after they were 2-9 when they came back East. Obviously, we didn’t want to be one of those teams.

“That, and not playing for a week, you felt it. But once we got our wind under us we were rolling.”

At the first media break, the Deacons had an 11-5 lead. Duke missed nine of its first 13 shots. The Devils were 0-6 on 3-pointers, including an open corner shot by Isaiah Evans, who usually feasts on such openings and played so in the wins over Cal and Stanford.

Duke began the game with a held-ball turnover. Later would come a shot-clock violation — a rarity for the quick-shooting Devils this season — that had Cameron getting up a long heave at the buzzer. It was ragged and Wake’s defense was aggressive and it showed on the court.

Duke’s first lead came on an Isaiah Evans putback with 6:42 left in the half. Soon, a Cameron 3 would spur the 13-0 run as Duke took charge and led 42-31 at the half.

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