Duke basketball holds off Wake Forest, UNC up next
DURHAM – History means something inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Despite falling to Wake Forest by double-digits on the road in December, Duke basketball stretched its home winning streak over the Demon Deacons to 24 games with a 75-73 victory on Tuesday night.
The Blue Devils (16-6, 7-4 ACC) moved to 11-0 this season at Cameron Indoor and handed Wake Forest (14-9, 6-6 ACC) its fourth straight loss. Wake hasn’t won in Durham since Jan. 11, 1997, back when Tim Duncan wore the black-and-gold uniform.
Jeremy Roach (21 points, two assists, two rebounds) won the battle of the guards, outdueling Wake Forest’s Tyree Appleby as Duke conquered its final tune-up game before hosting rival UNC this weekend. The Blue Devils won their second straight without freshman Dariq Whitehead, who was ruled out earlier in the day as he continues to heal from a lower leg injury.
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Tyrese Proctor added 17 points, including a stabilizing three midway through the second half as the Deacons cut the Duke lead to six. Wake got within four points in the final 1:23 before Kyle Filipowski (16 points, 11 rebounds) put the game away with a three on the ensuing possession.
First half feast for Jeremy Roach
Roach had, statistically, the best first half of his Duke career, scoring 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting, including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc, to give his team a 41-34 halftime lead.
Apart from Roach, it was the officials that stole the spotlight in the opening 20 minutes. Twenty fouls were called and it was the Blue Devils that made the most of their trips to the line, hitting 12 of 15 while Wake Forest went 7 of 7.
Wake led 29-28 with 4:27 left in the half before Duke countered with a 16-8 run to take a seven-point lead. The Blue Devils finished the half shooting 52% (13-25) from the floor.
Duke vs. UNC up next
The greatest rivalry in college basketball will resume on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. as the Tar Heels return to Cameron Indoor for the first time since spoiling Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game last season.
It will be the first matchup between Duke’s first-year coach Jon Scheyer and UNC’s second-year coach Hubert Davis. It will also be the second time since 2021 that these two teams will face each other unranked.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke basketball holds off Wake Forest, UNC up next
