Yet another top ten team went down on Wednesday night when the Wake Forest Demon Deacons defeated the #4 Duke Blue Devils 82-72. The win allowed Wake Forest senior Travis McKie, and lone member of the 2010 recruiting class, to end his final night in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum with a win. The senior was sensational as he scored 19 points while grabbing 4 rebounds. He also made critical free throws down the stretch, which allowed Wake Forest to ensure a victory.
The Demons Deacons came out with exceptional effort and played smart basketball all night. The Deacs only had 10 turnovers, which was 5 fewer than Duke and only lost the rebounding battle by 2. Wake Forest's 3-2 matchup zone caused problems for the Blue Devils, who only went 6-27 (22.2%) on the night. The Deacs were also more aggressive throughout the game and as a result got to the charity stripe 34 times compared to Duke's 18.
Tyler Cavanaugh led the way and finished with a career-high 20 points, to go along with 6 rebounds. Cavanaugh was joined by four other Demon Deacons who scored in double figures: including the aforementioned Travis McKie, Arnaud William Adala Moto, Coron Williams, and Codi MIller-McIntyre.
The Demons Deacons were down 66-59 with 5:20 remaining, but Wake went on a 17-0 run over the next 4 minutes and 30 seconds of the game before ultimately winning by 10.
The Duke Blue Devils (23-7, 12-5) were led by Jabari Parker, who finished with 19 points. Duke will play rival North Carolina on Saturday night.
Wake Forest (16-14, 6-11) will travel to Miami to play the Hurricanes on Saturday at 2 p.m.
