The Duke Blue Devils struggled early against Wake Forest but would eventually get the win at home 79-71 against the Demon Deacons.
Duke could only manage a 1 point lead at the half against a struggling Wake Forest team who so far has managed only 2 wins in ACC play. Despite a turnover advantage or 13 for Wake to 7 for Duke and a 9 point advantage from the free throw line Duke found itself in a dog fight in the first half.
The second half saw Wake Forest take the lead as Duke continued to struggle putting together consecutive stops on the defensive end and consecutive positive offensive trips. Wake to their credit kept up with Duke for most of the game taking advantage of Dukes interior defense to a 34-28 edge in paint points.
Duke, on the strength of Grayson Allen, began to pull away in the final minutes of the second half. Allen would score a game high 30 points for Duke. Brandon Ingram and Marshall Plumlee had double-double efforts with Ingram scoring 15 and pulling down 11 rebounds and Plumlee with 14 points and 17 rebounds.
Duke was aided by a 18 turnover effort by Wake who for the most part could not get out of their own way. Duke would covert those turnovers to 19 points. Wake also
