MBB: Duke at Wake Forest (1/7/15 9 pm ESPN3) Pre-Game & In-Game Thread

[Bob Green]

Duke travels to Winston-Salem on Wednesday for the first ACC road game of the season. Discuss it here.

[OldPhiKap]

Wake played very well last night against Louisville, lots of energy. Joel was rocking. This will be a tough game, I don't care what it says on paper.

Defense needs to pick back up to pre-break levels.

[jv001]

Duke needs to smack Wake in the face early and hard. Don't let the Deacs get to feeling good about themselves. Thomas is the leader for them and usually plays well against Duke. Getting it to Jah down low and getting Thomas into foul trouble is a pretty good plan. GoDuke!

[Duvall]

The game is on Raycom, not just ESPN3.

[throatybeard]

Joel was rocking.

I understand these words, but I've never seen them combined so.

If I may jump ahead, this means they played "Zombie Nation" eleven times rather than eight?

[CDu]

Wake is an interesting team. They have some talented players in Miller-McIntyre and Devin Thomas, yet they have had some confoundingly bad losses this season: they lost by 30 at Arkansas and lost to Iona and Delaware State at home. They are a very young team at numerous spots, with Mitoglou, Wilbekin, Hudson, and McClinton all freshman playing between 15 and 25 mpg. But they have some experience too in juniors Thomas, Miller-McIntyre, Rountree, and Jones, and senior transfer Leonard.

It's certainly an interesting mix. Miller-McIntyre is a very athletic and talented combo guard who prefers to score but hasn't figured out how to do so consistently. Thomas should be familiar to Duke fans as he had a strong game against us in the Joel as a freshman (15 points, 6 rebounds 7-10 shooting). He is a talented player with good size and athleticism (though he's much smaller than Okafor) but has some composure issues at times. But he has rounded into one of the better bigs in the conference as a junior and could be a difficult matchup for us if he avoids foul trouble. Jones is a small and lightning-quick guard but is basically a non-factor on offense. And Rountree is a lanky, pogo-stick type of player who can block shots but again doesn't provide much offensively. Leonard is a transfer from Campbell who seems to be in the stretch 4 mold as he can hit the three at a decent clip. And that's it for the upperclassmen.

As for the freshman, it is an interesting mix. They have Scottie Wilbekin's little brother, who shoots the three REALLY well. They have a Greek stretch 4 who is 6'10" and likes to shoot 3s. And then they have a couple of wing forwards who don't seem to stand out at any one facet of the game right now.

It is another game that we should win easily on paper. But the Joel has given us problems in the past, and there are enough talented players who could jump up and bite us if we don't take them seriously. I expect a relatively comfortable win, though.

[Bluegrassdevil1]

I understand these words, but I've never seen them combined so.

If I may jump ahead, this means they played "Zombie Nation" eleven times rather than eight?

I cannot think of WFU without hearing that stupid song. If Danny Manning does nothing else for that program, I hope he introduces something, ANYTHING, other than that flipping tune at every timeout.

[gumbomoop]

The game is on Raycom, not just ESPN3.

Anyone feel free to correct me, but unfortunately Raycom is showing both Duke @ Wake and Clemson @ UL at 9, which means some in Raycom coverage area will see Duke game, some Clemson. My station will carry the Tigers.

[roywhite]

Based on previous trips to Joel Coliseum, expect the whistle to blow early and often on Duke players, probably directed most at our young frontcourt players, Jahlil and Justise.

Daniel Ewing may get T'd up, just for old times sake.

[jv001]

Based on previous trips to Joel Coliseum, expect the whistle to blow early and often on Duke players, probably directed most at our young frontcourt players, Jahlil and Justise.

Daniel Ewing may get T'd up, just for old times sake.

It has happened in the past at Lawrence Joel where the refs seem partial to Wake. Let's hope we don't get Karl Hess. GoDuke!

[Kfanarmy]

Wake and Louisville looked pretty evenly matched. The difference, on paper, seems to have been three point shooting/defense as Louisville shot better than the young season would suggest they should have while Wake shot worse. The difference in D wasn't obvious (at least to me) during the game.

[mgtr]

Anyone feel free to correct me, but unfortunately Raycom is showing both Duke @ Wake and Clemson @ UL at 9, which means some in Raycom coverage area will see Duke game, some Clemson. My station will carry the Tigers.

And, if I can believe the listings, in Central Florida Directv will carry no ACC game on Wednesday at 9 (neither locals nor RSNs). Very confusing, have always gotten in season ACC games before, including Raycom games. Perhaps as we get closer the Magic 8 ball will see things more clearly. Or, maybe, the local stations are punishing the ACC for FSU rolling over and playing dead against Oregon.

[roywhite]

Wake and Louisville looked pretty evenly matched. The difference, on paper, seems to have been three point shooting/defense as Louisville shot better than the young season would suggest they should have while Wake shot worse. The difference in D wasn't obvious (at least to me) during the game.

Yeah, I was surprised to see Wake play the Cardinals so tough. Many years, Wake is MUCH better at home than on the road; we'll have to see if that trend continues during the Manning years.

Speaking of being on the road, the game @Wake starts one of the most difficult stretches on our schedule; of the 8 games remaining for January, 6 will be on the road. Very interesting to see where this Duke team will stand on February 1, or February 2, for those that appreciate Groundhog Day.

[Henderson]

Road game. ACC. Say no more.

[sagegrouse]

Wake and Louisville looked pretty evenly matched. The difference, on paper, seems to have been three point shooting/defense as Louisville shot better than the young season would suggest they should have while Wake shot worse. The difference in D wasn't obvious (at least to me) during the game.

Louisville's free throw defense was world class: Wake was only 17 for 32.

[OldPhiKap]

Road game. ACC. Say no more.

. . . which is why neither Duke or UVa will finish the season undefeated.

But, that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger . . . .

[MChambers]

Louisville's free throw defense was world class: Wake was only 17 for 32.

As others have observed, Duke's free throw defense hasn't been very good this year.

[Kfanarmy]

Louisville's free throw defense was world class: Wake was only 17 for 32.

Wake's FTD was about on par as Louisville was 16 of 25 from the line.

[Tripping William]

I'll be in attendance for this one, and will be keeping an eye out for:

(1) Junior Devin Thomas vs. Freshman Jahlil Okafor. This will be fascinating, although Jah may be more mature as a freshman than Thomas as a junior.

(2) How the Duke defense chooses to attack Cody Miller-McIntyre. Cutting off the head of the snake and all that. How healthy a dose of Matt Jones or Rasheed Sulaimon (or both) will K give him?

(3) The degree to which Duke's non-freshmen play with some sense of urgency/revenge after last year's debacle-of-a-loss in W-S.

(4) How much of a homecourt advantage the Deacs might actually get. It looks like a huge game on the schedule ("everybody's best shot" and all that), until one sees that it is a 9:00 p.m. tip, on a week night, in the first week of the New Year.

For an ACC road opener for these freshmen, this is about as favorable as it gets. Hoping for an entertaining Duke W!

[Rickshaw]

I live just outside of Durham, ( Orange county ), and I get a SC team vs a Kentucky team? Thanks Raycom.