Wake Forest Falls Short at No. 9 Duke

DURHAM, N.C. - The Wake Forest men's basketball team fell to Duke 76-74 on Tuesday evening inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The Demon Deacons (20-7, 10-6 ACC) outscored the Blue Devils (22-4, 12-3 ACC) 41-34 in the second half and tied the game with twenty seconds to play, but a put-back dunk by Duke with under a second to go sealed the contest.

As a team, Wake Forest shot 41.5 percent from the floor (27-of-65), including 38.7 percent from beyond the arc (12-of-31). 20 of the team's 27 made baskets were assisted upon, marking the fifth game this season the team has surpassed 20 assists. Five Demon Deacons tallied at least three assists in the defeat.

Jake LaRavia led the team in scoring and rebounding with 19 points and 10 rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting including a perfect 4-for-4 from downtown. LaRavia has now notched four double-doubles on the season - all four in conference play.

Alondes Williams also stuffed the stat sheet, finishing the night with 18 points, four rebounds, four assists, and three steals on 7-of-13 shooting. With 140 assists on the season, Williams tied Cal Boyd (1987-88) for the 22nd-most assists in a season in program history.

Dallas Walton tied his season highs with 17 points and three triples on 7-of-15 shooting. The graduate big man also grabbed three rebounds and dished three assists.

How It Happened

Dallas Walton drained a three-pointer on the Deacs' opening possession for Wake Forest's first basket of the game.
Following a layup from Walton and a Jake LaRavia three-pointer, Damari Monsanto connected on his first triple to give Wake Forest an 11-10 lead with 13:36 remaining in the opening half.
Khadim Sy's pair of makes at the free throw line cut the Duke lead to three (18-15) with 8:20 to play until halftime.
Isaiah Mucius and Alondes Williams hit consecutive three-pointers to narrow the deficit to seven points (28-21) with under six minutes in the first half.
Monsanto drilled his second triple of the half to narrow the Blue Devil lead to 11 (37-26) with 2:29 until halftime.
LaRavia scored a pair of buckets at the rim to bring the Deacs within single digits (39-30) with 49 seconds until the intermission.
LaRavia hit his second triple with time expiring to cut Duke's lead to 42-33 going into halftime.
- LaRavia led the team's first half effort with 10 points and four rebounds, while Walton followed close behind with seven points and three assists.
- All 12 of the Deacs' first half field goals were assisted upon, including seven makes from beyond the arc.
Williams' layup opened up the team's scoring in the second half and cut the deficit back to nine (44-35).
LaRavia netted his third triple to cut the deficit to 14 (57-43) with just over 14 minutes left to play.
Walton dropped in back-to-back three pointers and LaRavia added his fourth triple to open up a 9-0 run that cut Duke's lead to six (61-56) with just over nine minutes to play.
LaRavia, Williams, and Monsanto followed a Duke basket with a trio of makes at the rim to bring Wake Forest within two points of the lead (63-61) with 7:40 remaining in the contest.
Williams' layup ended a 6-0 Duke run and brought the Deacs within seven (72-65) going into the final media timeout.
Williams netted his second three-pointer in clutch fashion to cut the Duke lead to four (74-70) with under two minutes to play.
Walton thundered a dunk in transition to bring Wake Forest within two points of the lead (74-72) with 55 seconds left in regulation.
Williams netted a pair of free throws to tie the game at 74 with 20 seconds on the clock.
Wake Forest fell to Duke, 76-74.

Stat of the Game

Jake LaRavia led the Deacs with 19 points and 10 rebounds, his 4th double-double of the season and 13th 15+point performance.
- Additionally, LaRavia is now just 44 points from eclipsing 1,000 career points:
  - 2019-20 (Indiana State): 283
  - 2020-21 (Indiana State): 308
  - 2021-22 (Wake Forest): 365
  - Total: 956

Coach's Comments
"I want to congratulate Duke on one heck of a win. They have a really good team. They battled hard and I thought Mark Williams was a monster tonight. He was hard to deal with and he scored, and he rebounded. They found a way to win. That's the mark of a really good basketball team.

I hope Coach K is feeling better. I told him before the game I wore the sweatshirt in honor of him, which was a major mistake because it was hot in there. It was fun to finally coach in Cameron with fans. Last year we were calling out plays and they could hear them and today you couldn't hear anything. It was one of the best environments I've ever coached in.

We changed the game when we put our big line up on the floor in the last 10 minutes to defend and rebound. We got Alondes Williams, Jake LaRavia, Khadim Sy and Dallas Walton. They're a big team that caused them some problems. We finally got some stops in, and we were pretty good in transitions. We got going in transition. It was the best way for us to score. We had 20 assists on about 27 baskets, which was very unselfish. I thought we scored better from two in the second. We were 5-for-16 for two in the first and about 10-for-18 for two in the second. I'm not satisfied with coming in here with a loss. I thought our kids competed and they battled, and they played really hard." – head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Following Tuesday's contest, Wake Forest will return home to host Notre Dame on Saturday, February 19.

Tipoff in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum is set for 1 p.m. and the game will air live on Bally Sports South and other regional sports networks.

Next Event

Team Stats

Jake LaRavia

Alondes Williams

Dallas Walton

Damari Monsanto

Players Mentioned

Jake LaRavia

Damari Monsanto

Isaiah Mucius

Khadim Sy

Dallas Walton

Alondes Williams

Players Mentioned

Jake LaRavia

Damari Monsanto

Isaiah Mucius

Khadim Sy

Dallas Walton

Alondes Williams

Wake Forest Athletics