Duke grabs ACC road win over Wake Forest
Duke knocked off Wake Forest on the road behind strong performances from Paolo Banchero and AJ Griffin.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Duke rebounded from its first conference loss of the season Wednesday, with a 76-64 road victory over Wake Forest.
The Blue Devils, who were without Mike Krzyzewski and led by head coach-in-waiting Jon Scheyer, used the final minute of the opening half and the first five of the second to bury a stake through the hearts of the upset minded Demon Deacons.
“We’ve talked about a lot recently of end of half situations, coming out of the half and the end of game, must managing time and score,” Scheyer said. “And really having a sense of urgency. We made that spurt there to close the half off, which is really important going into halftime with the lead. And then coming out of halftime, getting all those defensive stops, I think we definitely knocked them back.”
Duke’s opening 20 minutes of play was much to be desired, as the offense, outside of freshmen Paolo Banchero and AJ Griffin, was nonexistent. The story changed slightly in the second half with Trevor Keels entering his name into the fray, scoring six of his 11 points.
And while his play was needed, Griffin and Banchero put on an absolute show in the final 20 minutes. In spite of a 9-0 second half run from Wake Forest allowing them to climb back to within 11 points after trailing by 20, the Blue Devils pretty much owned the second half. And there wasn’t a thing the Demon Deacons could do about it.
Wake Forest had zero answers for Banchero or Griffin, who combined for 46 points in the game. The duo was consistent throughout, scoring 24 of those in the first 20 minutes. Their offensive effort in the second half fell two points shy of their first half output, but the star power between the two was on a different level.
Duke was looking to get Banchero involved right from the start, as Scheyer’s squad used 7-footer Mark Williams to pull Wake’s big man, Dallas Walton, away from the hoop. Once they did, Banchero went to work on his defender.
Before missing four straight late in the opening half, Banchero connected on his first 5-of-7 shot attempts. His shooting woes from the 6:15 mark to the 3:03 mark was snapped when he converted a 3-pointer with 2:31 remaining in the half.
“That was a conscious effort,” Scheyer said of feeding the ball to Banchero from the start. “One to just get him the ball as much as possible and two in different spots. The way he started the game off was big time. I really thought he was going to go for 35 points for a moment.
“But he’s capable of doing that. I think what it did once he was scoring and attacking the basket, it really opened things up for other guys. He’s going to be a big part of what we do. I don’t think I’m giving away the nuclear codes saying we need to get the ball to Paolo.”
The Blue Devils would then go on to outscore the Demon Deacons 10-2 in the final 1:14 of the half, with Mark Williams, Wendell Moore Jr., Keels and Griffin all scoring during the stretch.
Up until that point, the game had been back and forth, with the teams exchanging the lead six times, while also locking up in a tie in five instances.
Then came the second half when Banchero came out of the locker room on fire. He scored nine points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first five minutes. By that point, the tone of the game had changed completely with the Blue Devils ahead by 18 points.
As good as Banchero was, Griffin might have been even better, as he toyed with defenders all night long. The freshman had a career-game scoring 22 points — 11 in each half. The two were way too much to handle for the Deacons.
Wake Forest never got within single digits in the second half, never really threatening the Blue Devils.
AJ GRIFFIN SHINES IN FIRST START
We have seen the progression slowly take form throughout the season for Griffin. His level of consistency has increased significantly over the last seven games including tonight. But leading into this game with the Demon Deacons, the freshman was averaging 11.6 points per game over his last six.
Five of those six Griffin scored in double digits.
The reward? The freshman received his first collegiate start.
“AJ Griffin has just been coming on,” Scheyer said. “He’s been playing really well. Still need Jeremy (Roach) to come through big for us. He did that in the second half. But it’s really AJ’s emergence.”
As already mentioned, Griffin responded in a huge way with a career-high 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-5 from long range. He also added four rebounds to his stat line.
His night wasn’t highlighted by simply statistics, though. It was the manner in which he arrived at the numbers.
Griffin scored his first points just 1:59 into the game when he connected on a 3-point basket from the corner. Then he disappeared on the offensive end of the floor until the 4:43 mark when he converted an and-1 to give Duke a 20-18 lead.
From that point forward, he was a different player. He scored five points to closeout the half, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to help Duke take aa 35-29 lead into the break.
He continued his outstanding play in the second half, opening the final 20 minutes with jumper to spark Duke’s onslaught that ultimately put the Demon Deacons away.
At no moment during the second half did it look as if any player on the court for Wake Forest could defend Griffin. He had defenders off balance with the dribble. He jab-stepped and knocked down shots.
And then if the finesse that saw the 6-foot-8 freshman spin and dance around defenders wasn’t enough, he showed his power game as well finishing in traffic multiple times.
The bottom line is what Griffin showed on Wednesday is something entirely different from anyone else in the nation.
“Proud of our guys, especially AJ Grffin with what he’s done. Working his tail off all year long. Never complained for one second. Worked as hard, if not harder as anyone on our team. So to see it translate onto the floor tonight is really special.”