RJ Barrett drove the Duke Blue Devils to victory against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Tuesday night at 7pm EST in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke barely clinched the win against Wake Forest with a final score of 71-70 aided by a missed layup by Chaundee Brown in the last second of the game that would have resulted in a Wake Forest victory.
The loss of star player Zion Williamson for the fourth straight game presented a challenge for Duke going into its season ending final home game. The Blue Devils had a shaky start trailing much of the first half, leading only four times, and ending the half ahead 35-34. RJ Barrett continued to carry the load for the missing Williamson with 15 points in the first half and 13 points in the second. His driving 2-point jumper in the last 19 seconds of the game proved to be the winning shot for Duke. He now holds the Duke freshman scoring record for the season. However, Barrett couldn’t do it single handedly. Duke’s Tre Jones was also a factor with 13 points and 4 for 8 from the field.
It was a highly contested win for the Blue Devils. Wake
Forest’s #0 Brandon Childress lit up in the second half with seven consecutive
points to lead the Demon Deacons to a 46-39 lead over Duke. He followed that up
with a layup in the last 10 seconds to cut the Duke lead to one point, 71-70.
The Blue Devils had possession and, they thought, the victory. Then Jack White
turned the ball over on the inbound for Duke giving Wake Forest one more chance.
Brandon Childress missed a crucial three pointer with six seconds left.
Chaundee Brown grabbed the offensive rebound and attempted a layup. The ball tantalizingly
circled the rim but would not go in, giving Duke the victory in the final
second of the game.
Duke’s largest lead of the night was a score of 67-62 with
2:50 left in the second half against a team they were expected to dominate.
Missing Zion Williamson heavily affected not only Duke’s offense but its
defense as well. Williamson has a season average of a .669 field goal percentage
and 8.8 rebounds per game. The Blue Devils were somewhat lost without their
fierce leader to hold them all together. Fortunately, Tre Jones and more
specifically RJ Barrett stepped up and got the job done.
The Blue Devils get the chance at sweet revenge on Saturday, March 9 at 6 pm EST against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Can they bounce back from their previous loss to the Heels? Only time will tell.
