Old Rivals No. 21 Duke, Wake Clash for Saturday Matinee

Saturday, January 9

Durham, N.C.

12 P.M.

Duke University

Wake Forest

Duke Men’s Basketball beat the Boston College Eagles at the Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 6, 2021 at Durham, North Carolina.

Old Rivals No. 21 Duke, Wake Clash for Saturday Matinee

1/8/2021 2:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball

WATCH LISTEN LIVE STATS DUKE GAME NOTES WAKE FOREST GAME NOTES GAME PROGRAM JEREMY ROACH PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

THE OPENING TIP

A rivalry that dates back to the first game in Duke's basketball history renews Saturday when the No. 21 Blue Devils welcome Wake Forest to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the series' 254th meeting.
The game tips at 12 p.m. ET on ACC Network with Mike Monaco and Dan Bonner on the call. On the radio, David Shumate and John Roth have the call on the Blue Devil Sports Network from Learfield IMG College (96.5FM & 610AM in Durham).
Duke is fresh off an 83-82 win over Boston College on Wednesday -- its first game in 20 days -- and looks to remain unbeaten in ACC play.
The Blue Devils lead the all-time series, 174-79, including a 63-16 margin at Cameron Indoor Stadium where they have won 21 consecutive in the series over the Demon Deacons.
Duke, which has only played six games this season, has had five others canceled or postponed because of COVID-19 issues with the opponent. Duke and Wake have been acutely affected by schedule disruptions as the two teams have combined to play just 11 games.
The Blue Devils have deployed a different starting lineup in each game with only sophomore Matthew Hurt starting all six.
Hurt's 18.5 points per game lead the ACC and his 8.5 rebounds per game are third in the conference. He is one of four players ranked in the conference's top 10 in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage (.512, seventh).
The watch list candidate for the Wooden Award and Naismith Trophy, Hurt has scored 17+ points in five consecutive games this season after having four such games last season. Two of his three career double-doubles have come in this season's first six games.
Senior Jordan Goldwire's 2.7 steals per game lead the ACC and rank 15th nationally. He is also second in the ACC in assist/turnover ratio (+2.1) and eighth in assists (3.8).
Sophomore Wendell Moore Jr., who scored a career-high 25 points last season at Wake Forest, matched that output in Wednesday's win over Boston College.
Saturday is a matchup of two of the NCAA's most prolific teams in steals with Wake Forest's 10.0 per game ranked seventh and the Blue Devils' 9.5 ranked 18th.
Duke begins a three-game ACC road swing Tuesday at Virginia Tech.

DUKE VS. WAKE FOREST
Duke and Wake Forest are meeting for the 254th time in a series that dates to the 1905-06 season. The Blue Devils lead the series 174-79, including 78-18 in Durham (63-16 at Cameron Indoor)…Duke has won 21 consecutive home games in the series, last falling in Cameron on Jan. 11, 1997 to the No. 2-ranked Deacs, 81-69…Duke saw its 11-game winning streak in the series snapped when the teams last met -- a 113-101 double-overtime decision in Winston-Salem on Feb. 25, 2020…Wendell Moore Jr., scored a career-high 25 points in last year's game at Wake, including 15-of-16 from the free throw line to set a Duke freshman single-game record for most made free throws…With the exception of Moore, each of Duke's last 10 leading scorers in a Duke-Wake game are now playing in the NBA…Wake Forest was the opponent for Duke's first game in program history -- a 24-10 Wake victory on March 2, 1906 in Durham.

DUKE'S LONGEST ACTIVE HOME WINNING STREAKS OVER AN OPPONENT
Wake Forest -- 21
East Carolina -- 20
Clemson -- 18
William & Mary -- 18
Davidson -- 16

SCOUTING THE DEMON DEACONS
Under first-year head coach Steve Forbes, Wake Forest is off to a 3-2 start, including 0-2 in ACC play…The Demon Deacons have already had five games postponed or canceled due to COVID-19 issues…Forbes has accumulated 299 career victories over a successful five-year run at East Tennessee State, where he averaged 26 wins, and at three previous community college head coaching stints…Wake Forest enters the contest ranked 33rd nationally in scoring defense, yielding 62.8 points per game, and are ranked seventh in most steals per game (10.0)…Isaiah Mucius is averaging 11.8 points and 5.2 rebounds to lead the team in both categories. He scored 16 points in last year's win over Duke in Winston-Salem.

DUKE'S MOST FREQUENT RIVALS
Wake Forest and North Carolina are each tied as Duke's most-frequently played rival, with each series standing at 253 games…Duke leads the all-time series versus Wake, 174-79…The 250 games versus NC State follow closely behind.

ON THIS DATE
Duke is 21-9 all-time when playing on January 9, including an 11-2 record at Cameron Indoor Stadium…Duke is 8-5 in ACC games on this date…Duke last played on this date in 2016, an 82-58 victory over Virginia Tech at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

SCHEDULE MANEUVERING
Due to schedule changes as a result of COVID-19 protocols, Duke has already had five games canceled or postponed a total of six times…The Blue Devils' season-opener versus Gardner-Webb was initially postponed due to COVID issues at GWU. The game was later rescheduled for Dec. 19 and eventually canceled by Duke…Duke's games versus Elon (Dec. 6) and Charleston Southern (Dec. 12) were each postponed due to virus issues with those programs and won't be rescheduled…The latest impacts came last week when both of Duke's ACC contests were postponed -- Tuesday due to virus issues at Pitt and Saturday due to virus issues at Florida State…Rescheduled dates have not yet been announced…Duke's six games this season are second fewest among any power-five conference team, trailing only the five played by each Wake Forest and South Carolina.

BENCH MANEUVERING
Duke announced prior to last Saturday's eventually-postponed game at Florida State that head coach Mike Krzyzewski would miss the contest as he was placed into quarantine after close contact with an individual that tested positive for COVID-19…That quarantine continued this week as associate head coach Jon Scheyer handled game coaching duties versus Boston College…It marked the first game Coach K had missed since Jan. 13, 2018, when an illness held him out of an 89-71 win over Wake Forest at Cameron Indoor. Then associate head coach Jeff Capel handled in-game coaching duties.

ON THE DEFENSIVE
Duke was second in the NCAA and led the ACC in blocked shots per game (6.1) last season, after leading the NCAA in blocked shots per game in the 2018-19 season (6.8)…Duke is fourth in the ACC in blocked shots (4.5) this season…Since the start of the 2018-19 season, no team in the nation has blocked more shots than Duke's 472…Duke was second in the ACC and 21st nationally in steals per game (8.3) last season…This season, Duke ranks fourth in the ACC in steals (9.5)…Duke and Florida State were the only power conference teams to finish last season ranked in the top 25 for both blocked shots and steals per game.

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