No. 14 Duke Travels to Wake Forest For First ACC Road Contest

The Opening Tip

After a nine-day break for final exams, No. 12 Duke puts two different winning streaks on the line Tuesday night with an ACC showdown at Wake Forest.
Mike Monaco and Dan Bonner have the call on ACC Network, while David Shumate and John Roth call the game over the air as part of the Blue Devils Sports Network from LEARFIELD.
The Blue Devils enter Tuesday's game on a four-game winning streak and own an eight-game road winning streak dating back to last season, which is the longest active streak nationally.
Following the Wake game, Duke has another 10-day break before hosting Florida State for a New Year's Eve matinee. Duke's light late-December schedule comes on the heels of playing 12 games over the season's first 33 days -- no power conference team played more.
Duke's grueling opening stretch -- with no more than three days between any game and nearly 8,000 miles of travel -- came against a schedule ranked 11th toughest nationally (sixth toughest by a power conference team). Duke's past opponents are a combined 81-38 (.681) .
With an emphasis on defense and rebounding under first-year head coach Jon Scheyer, Duke is the nation's best offensive rebounding team by grabbing 40.5 percent of its misses.
The Blue Devils are top 40 nationally in total rebounds per game (40.8, 19th), offensive rebounds per game (14.3, ninth), rebound margin (+10.9, fifth), scoring defense (58.7, 14th) and scoring margin (14.5, 33rd) -- leading the ACC in each.
Five Duke opponents -- and four of the past six -- have come versus teams ranked top 30 in KenPom (Kansas, Purdue, Ohio State, Iowa, Xavier). Four are top-10 in offensive efficiency.
Duke has held every opponent below its season scoring average, including six to its season low for points. Iowa's 62 points were 21 points below and Xavier's 64 were 20 below.
Freshman Kyle Filipowski has scored in double figures in every game. His 14.8 points and 9.2 rebounds lead the team. The versatile 7-footer leads Duke in field goals, rebounds and steals.
The deep and balanced Blue Devils have seen five different players lead the team in scoring over the last six games, including a career-high 15 by Dariq Whitehead vs. UMES in his first career start -- a game Duke started five freshmen for the first time in program history.
Duke is 12th nationally (second in the ACC) in free throw percentage (.783), shooting .800+ in a game seven times this season -- all coming over the last 10 games.

On This Date: Dec. 20

Duke is 16-7 all-time when playing on Dec. 20 and has won five straight and nine of the last 10 on this date.
In road games on this date, Duke is 6-4.
The Blue Devils have never played an ACC regular season game on this date, however, Duke and Wake met in a non-conference game at Greensboro Coliseum on Dec. 20, 1968 -- a 106-78 Wake win.

About Wake Forest

Duke and Wake Forest will meet for the 258th time in a series that dates back to the 1905-06 season.
The Blue Devils lead the series 178-79, including 52-40 in Winston-Salem and 19-12 at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
When Duke played at LJVM last season, Jon Scheyer handled head coaching duties in place of Mike Krzyzewski (illness).
The game on Dec. 20 in Winston-Salem marks Duke's first road game this season, where the Blue Devils will put their eight-game road winning streak -- all vs. ACC opponents -- dating back to last season on the line.
It stands as the longest active road winning streak in Division-I (as of Dec. 18).
Duke won its final eight ACC road games last season -- tied for the third longest ACC road win streak in team history. The team also won eight straight ACC road games in 2011-12.

Tough Early Schedule for Young Blue Devils

The Blue Devils did not shy away from a difficult early schedule in Coach Scheyer's first season, with his team of 11 newcomers and seven freshmen.
No power conference team played more games over the season's first 33 days than Duke's 12.
Duke's grueling opening stretch -- with no more than three days between any game and nearly 8,000 miles of travel -- came against a schedule ranked 11th toughest nationally (sixth toughest by a power conference team). Duke's past opponents are a combined 81-38 (.681) .
Duke has faced three AP Top 25 teams through its first 12 games and battled No. 5-ranked Houston on the road in a closed scrimmage on Oct. 29.
Five Duke opponents -- and four of the past six -- have come against teams ranked top 30 overall in KenPom (Kansas, Purdue, Ohio State, Iowa, Xavier). Of those five, OSU (rated fourth), Purdue (sixth), Iowa (eighth) and Xavier (ninth) are top-10 in offensive efficiency.
The win over Iowa capped a stretch of six consecutive power conference opponents for Duke, as the Blue Devils went 5-1 in that stretch.

Duke No. 1 in Offensive Rebounding Percentage; Top 20 in Overall Rebounding

Duke has been among the nation's best rebounding teams this season, leading the nation in offensive rebounding percentage (40.5).
The team ranks top 20 nationally in total rebounds per game (40.8, 19th), offensive rebounds per game (14.3, ninth) and rebound margin (+10.9, fifth).
The Blue Devils have out-rebounded 10 of their first 12 opponents, including eight by double-digit margins. Duke opened the season with a double-digit rebound margin in each of the first six games -- the program record for longest such streak (at any point in a season). Duke had five-game streaks in 2017-18, 1998-98, in 1962-63 and 1960-61.
Since the start of the 2020-21 season, Duke is 41-5 when out-rebounding its opponent.
Offensive rebounding has been a significant strength, with Duke totaling 20+ on the offensive glass three times already -- the Blue Devils hadn't had more than 19 offensive boards in any game over each of the last two seasons.
Individually, freshman Kyle Filipowski is 32nd nationally in rebounds per game (9.2) and leads all power conference freshmen. Graduate Ryan Young is 36th nationally in offensive rebounds (3.3) and is ranked No. 9 nationally in KenPom in offensive rebound percentage (18.3).

Blue Devils Allowing 58.7 Points -- Leads ACC, 14th Nationally in Scoring Defense

Duke leads the ACC and is 14th nationally in scoring defense, yielding just 58.7 points per game. Ten of the first 12 opponents have been held to less than 70 points, while seven have failed to score more than 60.
Duke has held all 12 opponents to below their season scoring average this season, while six have scored their season low for points, including holding Iowa to a season-low 62 (21 points below its average) and Xavier to 64 (20 points below its average).
Duke's strong defensive numbers come against a schedule rated 57th-toughest versus opponent offensives (per KenPom) -- Four of Duke's last six games have come against teams ranked top-10 in KenPom offensive efficiency -- Ohio State (fourth), Purdue (sixth), Iowa (eighth), Xavier (ninth).
Duke is one of eight teams rated top 25 for both offensive and defensive efficiency, joining Connecticut, Houston, UCLA, Kansas, Texas, Purdue and Alabama
Seven opponents this season have failed to top 30 percent from behind the arch, as Duke ranks 17th nationally in three-point defense (.271).

A Season For Charity

Duke is 12th nationally and second in the ACC in free throw percentage, hitting .783 from the charity stripe. The Blue Devils have seven games this season shooting .800+ at the free throw line -- each of the seven have come over the last 10. Individually, six different Blue Devils are converting .800+ at the line.
Duke has hit 60 of its last 70 free throws (.857) over its four game winning streak, and has hit .811 (142-of-175) over the last 10 games.
Freshman Tyrese Proctor leads the team at .920, hitting 23-of-25 this season and having a streak of 17 consecutive made free throws snapped vs. Iowa. Graduate Jacob Grandison has made each of his seven attempts this season, while graduate Ryan Young enters the Wake game having made 12 consecutive free throws.
In the last five minutes of games, Duke is 31-of-37 (.838), Grandison (6-of-6) and freshmen Kyle Filipowski (6-of-7).

Eight-Game Road Winning Streak on the Line -- Longest Active Nationally

Duke's eight-game road winning streak is the longest active in the nation. The Blue Devils have not fallen on the road since an overtime setback at Florida State, 79-78, last Jan. 18.
Duke's eight-game road winning streak is tied for the program's third longest ACC road winning streak and longest since the 2011-12 team won eight straight. The program record ACC road winning streak (also the ACC record) was 24 consecutive road ACC wins between 1998 and 2001.
The Blue Devils were 9-2 on the road last season overall -- 9-1 in on the road in the ACC with a scoring margin of +14.2, which was Duke's second largest in a season under former head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Duke trailed for a combined total of 20 minutes and 21 seconds on the road in the ACC last season -- never trailing at North Carolina, Louisville, Clemson, Syracuse and Pitt and for just 1:45 at Notre Dame (when it was 2-0) -- en route to finishing the year 16-4 in the ACC and winning the conference's regular season title.
Duke handed three teams last season their first (and only) home loss -- North Carolina (12-1), Notre Dame (10-1) and Wake Forest (13-1).

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMBB".

#GoDuke

No. 14 Duke Travels to Wake Forest For First ACC Road Contest

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kyle Filipowski

Jacob Grandison

Tyrese Proctor

Dariq Whitehead

Ryan Young

Duke information

No. 14 Duke Travels to Wake Forest For First ACC Road Contest

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kyle Filipowski

Jacob Grandison

Tyrese Proctor

Dariq Whitehead

Ryan Young

Related Videos

Duke information