Duke at Wake Forest

LINE: Duke -4ABOUT DUKE (6-5, 3-4 ACC): Both banged-up starting quarterback Thomas Sirk (59.3 completion percentage, 13 TDs, six interceptions) and backup Parker Boehme (55.3, two, one), who engineered the fourth-quarter comeback against the Cavaliers, are expected to play. As long as the Demon Deacons were at the free-throw line, everything was all right.

Christian Jones, eight points and five rebounds, was fearless near the rim but struggled to finish against Vandy’s three seven-footers, Damian Jones, Josh Henderson and Luke Kornet. Freshman point guard Bryant Crawford made the decisive layup with 3.2 seconds remaining.

“This was a very hard-fought ballgame”. This is Wake Forest’s first appearance at the Maui Invitational but coach Danny Manning played here with Kansas the year they went on to win the national championship…. He came down with the flu, and he couldn’t go. “We were a little disappointed in our play last time out on Thursday night, and I think our guys wanted to atone for that”. They’re not just coming because we’re playing fast. But free throw miscues in the game’s final minute nearly cost the Rebels the upset, as Nwamu was 0-for-4 and Seagears was 2-for-3 from the charity stripe.

“I thought our guys competed”. Mann’s last two free throws capped the scoring with 11.1 seconds left. “I enjoy watching our team fight to the end”, junior safety DeVon Edwards said.

The teams combined for 60 fouls and 74 free throws. “That was the difference in the game”. Barber scored six of his points in overtime when the Wolfpack outscored the Tigers by an 18-7 margin.

“We got ourselves in a hole at the beginning with our turnovers, and you’re not going to beat any type of team, let alone one as talented as UNLV, when you’re giving them 22 points”, Crean said. The Commodores are one of the strongest offensive teams in the nation due to their excellent ball movement, outside shooting and talent in the paint so it was a good test for an inexperienced roster looking to develop as the season progresses. “We will celebrate on the bus but once we get to the hotel property we will be getting ready for Vanderbilt, another good team”.

Kyle Dranginis (Skyview High) had 5 points and 11 rebounds for Gonzaga. Bryant had seven points and three rebounds for the Hoosiers.

“We played with great goal, we went to a game plan that was really the way we needed to end the game yesterday”, IN head coach Tom Crean said.

The only other time these schools met was also in a third-place game. Hopefully, the loss Wake Forest was enough of a wake-up call for IN and they realize what is at stake this season.

Wake Forest announced about 6 1/2 hours before the game that Hudson and Watson were reinstated. Watson had four points in 26 minutes. Wake Forest is averaging 79.2 points per game and they are shooting 44.5 percent from the floor while defensively they are allowing 82 points and their opponents shoot 44.6 percent.