Looking Back at the win over Wake
Duke played some very good basketball in the teams 90-59 win over Wake Forest in Cameron Indoor Stadium this past Saturday. During the contest, the team wore their Brotherhood jerseys made special for the program.
The uniforms were a hit as was the play of the Blue Devils which pushed their ACC mark to 5-0 on the season while going to 15-1 overall. In short, Duke looked the part of a highly ranked team.
Tre Jones who has been named to the John Wooden National Player of the Year Watch List with teammate Vernon Carey Jr, led Duke with 23 points and his steady play has been a major key to success.
The Blue Devils had contributions from nine players as the rotation continues to go deep. While the offense was majorly efficient in the 900th win in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the play of the defense was just as solid where Duke had 11 steals to go with 8 blocked shots.
The win was the 9th straight for the Blue Devils the polls dropped them one spot this week to the nations #3 rated team in the polls. During the postgame press conference, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski praised his teams' effort and focus in the win over Wake.
Looking Ahead to Clemson
The Blue Devils travel to Death Valley to take on the Clemson Tigers this Thursday at 7:00 on ESPN. They will be playing the Tigers the day after tonight's national championship football clash with LSU.
Duke will also be playing a Tigers team that ended the ACC's most dubious streak with a win over North Carolina in their last outing. In fact, this will be the second straight opponent Duke has faced after they defeated the Tar Heels.
The Blue Devils should be able to handle the Tigers which evened their season record to 8-8 in their last outing. Duke has enough depth to wear down the Tigers but Krzyzewski knows they'll be riding high and tough at on their home court.
The Tigers are a good defensive team and ranked 6th in the league in scoring defense. They will try to slow the Blue Devils down from pushing the ball down court In fact, they will try to play the game in a muck.
Clemson has not been able to shoot the three-point shot with consistency to date. As long as Duke pushes them off the stripe as they did the Demon Deacons, they should win. And it most certainly helps if Duke continues to hit their own three's as they have of late.