Sunday, February 20, 2005

Lights Out

Duke 102, Wake 92

It's time for...Fun With Numbers! [mild applause]

Offensive Efficiency

Wake: 123
Duke: 136

Adjusted FG%

Wake: 57.9%
Duke: 70.4%

Offensive Rebound Rate

Wake: 40% (12/30)
Duke: 29% (7/24)

Turnover Rate

Wake: 21.3% (16 TOs in 75 poss)
Duke: 18.7% (14 TOs in 75 poss)

3PA/FGA

Wake: .211 (season avg = .325)
Duke: .407 (season avg = .377)

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The story of the game was unquestionably Duke's brilliant shooting night (not that Wake had a bad night by any means). Led by JJ Redick, who scored the first nine points of the game for Duke and finished with 38, the Devils shot 59.3% from the field. They scored 60 points in the second half.

Chris Paul scored 27 to lead the Deacons, and while his team also shot the ball with success, they were not able to keep up with the Blue Devils in the second half. Wake shot a surpisingly low (in comparison to their season average) number of three-pointers, which is probably part of the reason why they didn't match Duke's pace in the final twenty minutes. The rest of the blame falls on Wake's defense. They did a solid job against Duke in the game's early stages (double teams on Shelden Williams were effective), but generally speaking they didn't defend well in tonight's game. They didn't guard the perimeter effectively and it killed them.

These teams are a lot of fun to watch when the shots are falling for them...hopefully we'll have a rematch in the ACC tournament.

Of the 15 players who attempted a shot in the game, only 2 (Eric Williams, Sean Dockery) had a field goal percentage below 50%.

Wake falls a half game behind the Tarheels in the conference standings, so the Tarheels control their own fate with regards to the ACC regular season title.