Ten days later and some differences, just not enough, as No. 4 Duke came to Joel Coliseum for an 84-70 victory against Wake Forest on Tuesday night.
Duke’s freshman frontcourt of Wendell Carter Jr. (23 points, 12 rebounds) and Marvin Bagley III (16 and 11) both recorded double-doubles, while key 3-pointers rained from Gary Trent Jr. and Grayson Allen.
The Blue Devils beat Wake Forest by 89-71 on Jan. 13 in a game that wasn’t really that close. That Saturday afternoon saw Wake Forest within 11 in the second half and never closer, trailing by as much as 27 with four minutes left.
The Deacons (8-12, 1-7) acquitted themselves better in the rematch, thanks in large part to sophomore guard Brandon Childress’ career-high 18 points, Doral Moore’s 18 points on 9-for-9 shooting and 12 rebounds and Chaundee Brown’s 16 points in his return from peculiar banishment on Coach Danny Manning’s bench.
But at the late-night end of this one, it’s the sixth straight loss for Wake Forest, which next plays Saturday at Louisville.
Wake Forest fell behind by 20 early in the second half when Duke went on a 9-0 run. That included the first four points coming from Wendell Carter Jr. and a fast-break dunk by Marvin Bagley III, the Blue Devils’ pair of super-talented freshmen forwards taking over.
But whereas the Blue Devils morphed a 20-point lead to nearly 30 in the previous meeting, Wake Forest was able to at least cut the deficit back to single-digits before Duke edged back into a comfortable margin.
Childress scored the last nine points of an 11-2 run by the Deacons to cut the deficit to 58-50 with 10:22 left. The problem was the hole constructed in the first half, when the Deacons couldn’t possess the ball for long enough to score.
The Deacons’ 15 first-half turnovers were more than they’ve had in 12 entire games this season. They hit that number with 2:28 left in the first half, with Crawford throwing lazy passes and three of them coming on offensive fouls. Crawford finished with eight turnovers, with Manning benching him for a large chunk of the second half while the backcourt of Childress, Mitchell Wilbekin and Brown made progress in a comeback attempt.
The Deacons closed the first half on a 6-0 run, which lessened Duke’s halftime lead to 41-30. For a 10½-minute stretch of the first half, Wake Forest’s only four field goals came from Moore — all of them on offensive rebounds.
Wake Forest was fine when it got shots off in the first half. The problem was the 15 turnovers, six of them by Crawford, which delivered 26 of Duke’s 41 points.
Wake Forest was without the services of junior guard Keyshawn Woods for the third game this season, as he’s suffering from lingering effects of a knee injury three weeks ago. Woods hurt his knee early against Syracuse, missed the game at Boston College and had played in the Deacons’ last four games, scoring 12 points against Virginia Tech and 15 against Duke in the teams’ first meeting. But Woods was scoreless in 15 minutes Sunday night against Virginia, apparently still hampered by the injury.