Duke flogs Wake Forest

On Monday, coach Jeff Bzdelik of Wake Forest made mention that Duke, being Duke, always got an opponent's best shot.

Thursday night, Bzdelik watched his team prove otherwise.

The Deacons had their moments on offense, but couldn't get enough stops to prevent a 91-73 flogging in front of 9,314 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The fourth-ranked Blue Devils shot 63.6 percent in the second half, 54.2 percent for the game and scored on 17 of their first 24 possessions after halftime.

That turned the final seven minutes into just exercise.

Duke, which got 21 points from Andre Dawkins, 20 points from Austin Rivers and 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists from Ryan Kelly — improved to 16-2 overall and 4-0 in the ACC. The Deacons fell to 10-8 and 1-3, despite 20 points from C.J. Harris and 16 points and 10 rebounds from Travis McKie.

"It's tough — it's a tough loss," Harris said. "I think we went out there and competed. That's something we can be proud of.

"But we still feel bad because we lost.

"We just have to put it behind us best we can and get ready for the next game."

Kelly, who scored 10 points in his first eight minutes in the game, gave the Blue Devils their first working margin, and Dawkins' uncanny marksmanship from long range blew the game open.

After drilling his first 3-pointer with 12:20 left in the half for an 18-9 lead, Dawkins made six more in the half and scored all his points before halftime.

Dawkins scored 18 straight points for the Blue Devils and finished the first half with seven 3-pointers on 11 attempts.

"I thought Andre's performance in the first half was phenomenal, and that gave us that 13-point lead," said coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke. "He was a key for them in the second half, and it opened it up."

The Deacons guarded Dawkins with Tony Chennault, Harris and Chase Fischer and resorted to a zone for about a half-dozen possessions. All the while, Dawkins kept pouring them in.

Dawkins said he still has something to prove, even after scoring 26 earlier this season against Michigan State and 24 in last Sunday's 73-66 victory at Clemson.

"I feel like I'm more focused than I ever have been here at Duke," Dawkins said. "After the Clemson game, all you hear is, 'He's done this before — it's happened before and then he comes back and falls off again.'

"I pay attention to that stuff, and I'm trying to prove people wrong."

Chennault said he had trouble getting through the Blue Devils' screens, especially those set by Miles and Mason Plumlee.

"We got some screens, and those screens were like running into a brick wall," Chennault said. "When a Plumlee sets a screen and sets his shoulders, it's kind of hard to get around."

But Bzdelik said the Deacons also lost Dawkins several times and gave the Blue Devils too many open shots by going under screens instead of fighting over them.

"Duke has a lot of firepower, and they were able to do a great job spacing the court because of their ability to shoot — not from one player or two players, but several players," Bzdelik said. "We had Dawkins out of our sight, and lost him, several times in the first half, and he was able to give Duke some good separation after the first 20 minutes."

Rivers, a freshman averaging 13.8 points, scored 14 in the second half, hitting 4 of 5 shots from the floor and 2 of 2 from 3-point range. He even banked in a shot over Harris for a 3-pointer with 10:43 left while losing his balance and falling to the court.

"He got up and smiled," Harris said. "I don't think he thought that was going in.

"That's just being at home. You get those shots like that."

Rivers, who averaged only 8.6 points in his previous five games, said he was challenged by Krzyzewski. In his last game, against Clemson, Rivers made 2 of 7 shots from the floor and scored four points in 28 minutes.

"There's no alternative," Krzyzewski explained. "I would hope that every player, every person on the team would want to be pushed to do their best.

"And if both people are doing the pushing, then it's outstanding."