Duke basketball: Luke Kennard goes off for 30-point half, game-winner

Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said her team fed off its defensive intensity and pointed to her team’s 41 points scored off Wake turnovers as a sign of strength.

Allen is among those believing that the dramatic win at Wake Forest can propel Duke to bigger things in the second half of the ACC schedule.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Duke haters have been feeling downright giddy about the team’s struggles this season.

Duke went back to its experience in using the fourth different starting lineup in the six games in which associate coach Jeff Capel has replaced Krzyzewski.

Kennard scored 30 of his 34 points in the second half, and hit the game victor to lead Duke’s comeback victory in Winston-Salem.

Five nights earlier, the No. 17 Blue Devils were in a similar situation at North Carolina State.

Even sophomore Antonio Vrankovic, who hadn’t scored a basket since December 3 against ME, contributed because other frontcourt players were in foul trouble. Tatum fouled out with 6:58 remaining. The Blue Devils’ starting five had combined for 18 personal fouls and a technical. Moore and Giles traded buckets, but then Doral Moore picked up his second foul, and Wake’s frontcourt was relegated to the bench with seven minutes before game time elapsed. Outscoring the Demon Deacons 20-11, the Blue Devils would extend the margin even further, 57-31, entering the final frame.

“Luke was magnificent”, Capel said. Our goal today was 50, so we wanted to keep them to at least under 25 at the half.

Junior guard Grayson Allen scored 19 points against Wake Forest, the only double-figure scorer Duke had outside of Luke Kennard’s stellar 34-point effort. “He made tough shots all night and we guarded him pretty well, there’s nothing we could do”. The bigger loss overall may have been John Collins going down extremely hard trying to get a rebound on the final Wake possession.

It was a fake-out.

But I wouldn’t bet on Krzyzewski returning for Saturday’s game vs. Pitt, if only because literally nobody connected to the Duke program has returned this season within the timeframe initially projected. “It worked”, Capel said. They created an atmosphere we hadn’t seen here in a long, long time. “We had been running a down screen and it had been working”. Duke is a much better team when Allen is more assertive with the ball, particularly when he attacks the basket.

A stirring rally pulled an 85-83 victory from the jaws of defeat, allowing Duke (16-5, 4-4) the rather modest accomplishment of reaching the.500 mark in ACC play.

“We are trying to take from that and really put together a continuity about how we play with ball control”, McCallie said. “We were able, down the stretch, to figure out some ways to get some stops”. It should be considered one of the top moments in Duke Basketball history as Kennard did not miss a single shot from the field. “It’s having that belief, and I think we showed that belief”. “We need to get that one”. Fans taunted Duke’s players, cursing Giles and Grayson Allen with vile chants. Luke Kennard took advantage of a matchup against the much smaller Mitchell Wilbekin, nailing a three and cutting the lead to two.