Duke has no trouble with the Terriers.
There was a lot to be concerned about coming into Thursday night's game against Wofford. The Terriers were fresh off of a win at UNC, they shoot exceedingly well from beyond the arc and Duke would be without starting point guard and leading assist man Tre Jones (foot). Duke would start Jordan Goldwire in Jones' stead as well as Alex O'Connell. Duke did what they do best against the Terriers, defend. The Blue Devils did give up 4-9 from 3 point range in the first half but the Blue Devils also turned the Terriers over 6 times and had a 6 point advantage in fast break points. In their previous Tobacco Road matchup the Terriers turned the ball over only 5 times for the entire game versus the Tar Heels. Duke managed to leave the floor with a 13 point half time lead but would turn up the defensive intensity even more in the second half.
The second half saw Duke again dominate the paint. They out rebounded the Terriers 24-15 and forced an 18 to 7 advantage in second chance points. The Blue Devils also beat the Terriers at their own game, hitting on 53% of their 3 point attempts to 40% from Wofford in the second half. The Blue Devils also shot 85.7% in the half from the free throw like which is more than 15 percentage points more than their average.
Overall for the game the Terriers shot just 35.5% from the field and 41.7% from beyond the arc. The much larger Blue Devils also out-rebounded the Terriers 43-27 for the game. The Blue Devils off of strong shooting by sophomore Joey Baker shot 40% from beyond arc - well over their season average. Baker led the Blue Devils in scoring with 22 points on 6-11 shooting and 5-7 from the 3 point line. Baker put on a shooting clinic in the second half hitting on 5 three pointers after the break on his way to a career high.
Vernon Carey Jr. had a huge game also for the Blue Devils scoring 20 points, pulling down 10 rebounds and blocking 2 shots. Matthew Hurt added 12 points off the bench for Blue Devils and Alex O'Connell added 9. Maybe the most impressive player in the game for the Blue Devils was junior guard Jordan Goldwire. Goldwire had an excellent floor game for the Blue Devils with 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 8 points on 3-3 shooting.
Coach K remarked after the game that Tre Jones should be ready to resume his starting role after the holiday break when the Blue Devils take on Brown on Saturday December 31.
