Duke loses a closely contested game against Wake Forest 83-79.
No. 8 Duke has been playing its best basketball of the season of late, and coming into their Saturday tilt with Wake Forest, they had won five straight basketball games.
Saturday saw them unable to push that win streak to six, as the Blue Devils fell 83-79 in Winston-Salem after a hotly contested game.
These two ACC foes met in Durham less than a month ago, with Duke winning 77-69. Wake came out on top in their rematch after shooting 60% from the field for the entire game.
The first half was a largely back-in-forth affair, with the Blue Devils pushing out to an early 15-9 lead behind 3-pointers from Tyrese Proctor, Caleb Foster, and Jared McCain. Wake responded, closing the gap as the teams hit the under-eight media timeout with Duke holding a 25-22 lead.
For the remainder of the first half, the game remained at most a three- to four-point affair. Duke ended the half with a 38-36 lead after a cheap foul on Jaylen Blakes gave Cameron Hildreth two free throws with less than a second left.
Proctor and Foster chipped in eight points each over the opening 20 minutes, while Kyle Filipowski led the way for Duke with 10 points and five rebounds. Gonzaga transfer Hunter Sallis was locked in during the first half en route to 14 points and five boards for Wake Forest.
The second half is when things turned up a notch.
Duke and Wake exchanged run after run and upped their percentage from three above 50% after shooting just 4/12 from distance in the first half.
Duke struggled to stop Wake in the second half, but thanks to tough shotmaking of their own, they remained in the game to the end.
Three turnovers in the final two minutes ultimately undid Duke’s chances of coming out on top despite weathering an incredible display of shooting from Hunter Sallis, who finished with 29 points on 5/6 shooting from deep.
Jeremy Roach added 16 points of his own, while Filipowski led the Blue Devils in scoring with 17 points.
As the game concluded, Kyle Filipowski was hobbled and helped off the court as Wake students and fans stormed the court and appeared to be somewhat responsible for injuring him in what is sure to be a hot topic over the next few days.
Filipowski said the problem was with his knee after the game.
For Duke, they’ll lace their sneakers back up and retake the court at home on Wednesday night against Lousiville. Wake Forest will travel to South Bend to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.