MBB: Duke 90, Wake Forest 69 (January 24, 2026) Postgame Thread

WHAT A WIN!!!

This wasn't the usual slow start, we were executing the game plan on both ends but they had weird guys hitting 3s and we were missing good, open 3s. Sarr was shutting Juke Harris down. Once we adjusted to their lane clogging D, and attacking the offensive glass, our offense came along and they cooled off. Once our 3s started to fall, we got that nice double digit lead.

Cut to the 2nd, Dame gets his 4th with 16 to go. I felt that was the only stretch of the game we sort of looked average. We had some missed opportunities on offense, Juke Harris got activated, and they cut it to 10 at the under 12. From there, it was a clinic. The defense choked them off. Nik played really hard D on Harris, CFos got some drives, Evans got some drives, Darren gave us some minutes, we pushed it out and never looked back. We hit FTs!

Let's not bury the lede, our front line, starting with Cam. What a performance! Utterly dominant on offense. Pat and Maliq were also extremely effective on both ends.

This was a really mature win and I think the kind of build we were looking for. This team showed how smart and talented it is through game plan execution and adjustment throughout. Everyone contributed. We never got rattled.

Feeling really good. Way to play guys!!! Good luck in the snow everyone.
 
This could’ve been the classic trap game… first of a 2 in 3, noon reschedule, team better than its record. But it ended up being a very comfortable win. I’ll take that every day.

It’s encouraging that this team continues to show it can weather offensive struggles with its stellar D. Our “slow start” today could’ve easily gotten us down 10+, but we stayed in contact the entire time.

One of Pat’s most complete games of the past few weeks. We’re going to need him to continue that trajectory heading into the meat of ACC slate.

Stay safe from the ice and snow everyone!
 
Cam is always the best player on the floor and had another dominant game. Of the rest of the team, I thought Maliq stood out. Terrific defense, rebounding and passing. He just provides so much stability when on the floor. I haven't checked his minutes but it had to be more than half of the game.

I liked Nik's game as well. He is not at the level of our top guys but no one works harder and by and large he has a positive effect on the results.
 
another slow start, but a huge finish. Duke's offensive efficiency for the last 3/4 of the game was off the charts. Sitting Dame with his 4th foul early in the 2nd half really allowed Wake to claw back in for a little bit, but Wake could not contain Duke's offense.
 
One question that comes to mind again. Why does Duke choose to play so far off their 3 point shooters? I know it has been discussed before, but even shooters with poor records seem to heat up when they are left totally alone at the 3 point line. It's been a pattern for us and we often fall behind early. Today, we had open shots early but were throwing up bricks.
 
Saratoga2 said:
One question that comes to mind again. Why does Duke choose to play so far off their 3 point shooters? I know it has been discussed before, but even shooters with poor records seem to heat up when they are left totally alone at the 3 point line. It's been a pattern for us and we often fall behind early. Today, we had open shots early but were throwing up bricks.
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In my opinion. I'm not so sure that they chose to play so far off Wake's 3-point shooters. They guarded quite well the 3-point shooters they were worried about (and Juke Harris is a very good shooter) but I can't imagine the game plan was to closely guard Spillers or Scheiger from the 3-point line. You have to choose a plan and see how it goes. As Billy Dat said above, Duke actually executed their plan quite well on both sides of the ball -- they went 3 for 3 early and we went 0 for 7 early -- and their largest lead was 7 which evaporated quite quickly when they stopped shooting out of their minds and we eventually starting hitting our shots. The 3 point shots we missed early were NOT bad shots at all.
 
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