Next Up - Wake Forest On The Road
And in the ACC, the road is always dangerous
There has been some talk of Duke running the table in the ACC and while that’s possible, even in a down year, it’s a really hard thing to do in this conference.
Next up for Duke is a trip to Winston-Salem and while Duke will be favored, playing at the Joel is never easy for Duke or UNC, as the Tar Heels learned anew this week with a painful 67-66 loss. Could it happen to Duke too?
Well, yes. Yes, it could. Let’s look.
Wake took a little while to crank up this season, but the Demon Deacons are now 15-4 and riding a six-game winning streak.
Duke, undefeated in ACC play, is in first place obviously but Louisville and Clemson are not far behind at 8-1 and Wake is 7-1.
The Deacs are led by 6-5 senior Hunter Sallis and 6-4 senior Cameron Hildreth.
Sallis is a legitimate draft prospect. He’s putting up 19.2 ppg and getting 4.5 rpg. He’s likely to be a major factor.
Hildreth is averaging 14.2 ppg, 4.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists. He’s one of the most unique guards in the conference, a bit of a 6-4 bullyboy. He’s very physical.
Tre’Von Spillers, a 6-7 senior transfer from Appalachian State, is getting 10.4 ppg, an impressive 8.8 boards and 1.6 blocks.
Efton Reid is a 7-0/250 lb. center. He doesn’t put up huge stats - 7.9 ppg, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks - but he’s big and knows what he can and can’t do.
The fifth starter is 6-0 sophomore Ty-Laur Johnson, a refugee from Kenny Payne’s disastrous Louisville program. He’s getting 5.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals.
The bench is Juke Harris (6-7 freshman), Parker Friedrichsen (6-4 sophomore), Davin Cosby (6-5 sophomore) and Omaha Billow, a 6-8 transfer from Iowa State. He was, we believe, the highest rated recruit to ever land at Iowa State. He had foot surgery and has only played one game since November, and that was on the 18th against Virginia Tech, where he got six minutes. He didn't play against UNC Tuesday. It’s a tough break for Wake that he hasn’t been able to go because he was a five-star recruit out of high school.
Duke is a big team, as we’ve heard frequently - the tallest team in the country, actually - and the defense has been superb.
With Khaman Maluach, Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel starting in the frontcourt and Tyrese Proctor and Sion James in the backcourt, Duke can apply great length and defensive pressure.
Will that be enough? Well, maybe.
There are at least four reasons to be wary of this game.
First, it’s at Wake Forest and the Demon Deacons have a history of upsetting Duke (and UNC) in the Joel. They don’t always get a huge crowd there, but for the neighborhood rivals, they generally do. And they’ve beaten Duke up there before, including most recently last season’s 83-79 victory. It’s just not an easy place to win, especially when Wake is competitive, which they most certainly are right now.
Second, Wake is playing with a lot of confidence and are the third best defensive team in the ACC.
Duke is limiting teams to 59.5 ppg; Wake is not far behind at 65.7. And Wake isn’t all that much smaller than Duke is. We wouldn’t take Reid over Maluach, but he’s older, stronger and a bit nastier than Maluach is. And while Duke is a much better three point shooting team than is Wake Forest, the Deacs defend the trey pretty well, coming in third in the ACC (Duke is #10 there).
Third, the value of the win. The ACC is just not very good this season, so for teams with NCAA hopes, only Duke has a major payoff. A win here would be absolutely huge for Wake.
Fourth, experience. If you missed it, Wake starts four seniors and Duke starts three freshmen. Advantage: Wake Forest.
But the biggest single thing is just emotion. If Wake gets off to a great start, then the challenge goes up sharply for the Blue Devils. And here’s the wild card: although the Demon Deacons don’t shoot the three very well, this team is playing with confidence. If they start lighting it up from deep, they have a much better change of pulling off the upset.
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