It was easy to see the offensive game plan early in Dukes 75-70 win at Wake, feed Mase and let him put the team on his back. Mason Plumlee responded with a career high 32 points in the back and forth game. Plumlee also pulled down 9 boards, had 2 blocks and 2 steals. Plumlee would to all this on 12 for 15 shooting and 8 of 10 from the free throw line. Wake would respond with stellar play from its own big man, Devin Thomas, who scored 15 points off of 7-10 shooting. Wake also got 14 each from CJ Harris and Travis Mckie. Where Wake was balanced in scoring Duke would rely heavily on its 2 seniors with Seth Curry adding 21 to Mason Plumlee’s 32.
Unfortunately, Duke did all it could to keep Wake in this game. With 15 turnovers leading to 19 points for Wake the game was a see-saw affair until very late in the second half. Duke would also struggle mightily from 3 point range going only 3 for 11 in the game. Despite having to shuffle lineups because of first half foul trouble, Duke was able to manage the game and get good minutes in the first half from freshmen Alex Murphy and Marshall Plumlee who got 6 and 4 minutes respectively. While not registering on the stat sheet, these were important minutes with Amile Jefferson and Mason Plumlee in foul trouble early. In the end it came down to Duke making winning plays at the end of the game which included a Plumlee block, a Plumlee lay-up and a brilliant play to save a ball from going out-of-bounds by Josh Hairston. Big game and close game experience was the determining factor, Duke turned it on when the need was there.
With the win Duke finally gets a true road victory. With the win also comes more questions. Who will step up? Duke knows generally what it will get from Curry and from Mason Plumlee, but who will emerge as that 3rd scorer? Duke has seen games where it’s Rasheed Sulaimon, some games where it’s Quinn Cook. If Duke can get that consistent 3rd scoring option it would bode well for them going forward. If Plumlee and Curry continually have to shoulder the scoring load for this team Duke will be a much easier team to plan and scout for. Duke will also need to shore up the unforced errors. Duke had 15 turnovers, a number that Duke will not be able to afford to have in upcoming games. With Ryan Kelly being out it’s going to be the little things that matter and Dukes margin for error is as slim as it has been in a long time.
Official Basketball Box Score
Duke vs Wake Forest
01/30/13 8:00 p.m. at Winston-Salem, N.C. - Joel Coliseum
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VISITORS: Duke 18-2, 5-2 ACC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 Mason Plumlee....... f 12-15 0-0 8-10 4 5 9 4 32 2 7 2 2 36
21 Amile Jefferson..... f 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 4 0 0 1 0 1 19
02 Quinn Cook.......... g 5-12 1-5 1-2 0 4 4 2 12 7 3 0 1 38
14 Rasheed Sulaimon.... g 2-4 0-2 2-3 1 3 4 3 6 1 1 0 0 24
30 Seth Curry.......... g 7-17 1-6 6-7 0 2 2 2 21 2 1 1 0 37
03 Tyler Thornton...... 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 22
12 Alex Murphy......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 6
15 Josh Hairston....... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 2 2 0 1 1 0 14
40 Marshall Plumlee.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 4
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 28-54 2-14 17-22 8 21 29 21 75 13 15 4 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-31 54.8% 2nd Half: 11-23 47.8% Game: 51.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-5 20.0% 2nd Half: 1-9 11.1% Game: 14.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 12-16 75.0% Game: 77.3% 2
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HOME TEAM: Wake Forest 10-10, 3-5 ACC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 Thomas,Devin........ f 7-10 0-0 1-3 2 4 6 4 15 2 2 0 0 25
30 McKie,Travis........ f 5-12 2-4 2-2 0 7 7 1 14 2 0 2 1 37
00 Miller-McIntyre,Codi g 3-7 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 4 6 1 3 0 0 25
01 Jones,Madison....... g 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 4 5 3 0 2 31
11 Harris,C.J.......... g 4-12 0-2 6-7 0 3 3 4 14 1 5 0 0 34
10 Fischer,Chase....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
33 Rountree,Aaron...... 1-1 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 0 4 2 1 1 0 11
34 Cavanaugh,Tyler..... 2-4 1-2 1-1 1 1 2 2 6 1 3 0 1 15
45 Adala Moto,Arnaud... 1-3 0-1 5-6 1 3 4 3 7 0 0 0 0 17
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 25-52 3-11 17-21 8 21 29 21 70 14 17 3 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-24 54.2% 2nd Half: 12-28 42.9% Game: 48.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 0-3 0.0% Game: 27.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 11-12 91.7% 2nd Half: 6-9 66.7% Game: 81.0% 2
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Officials: Mike Eades, Tim Nestor, Tim Kelly
Technical fouls: Duke-None. Wake Forest-None.
Attendance: 12603
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Duke.......................... 40 35 - 75
Wake Forest................... 40 30 - 70
Points in the paint-DU 44,WF 38. Points off turnovers-DU 14,WF 19.
2nd chance points-DU 6,WF 7. Fast break points-DU 6,WF 6.
Bench points-DU 4,WF 17. Score tied-10 times. Lead changed-12 times.
Last FG-DU 2nd-00:29, WF 2nd-00:04.
Largest lead-DU by 8 2nd-17:13, WF by 6 1st-14:42.
