One wild night in Winston-Salem, Wake Forest upsets No. 7 Duke in 2OT
For the second time in as many road games, Duke didn’t play its best and an underdog ACC opponent made it pay.
Wake Forest snapped an 11-game losing streak to the No. 7 Blue Devils, winning a wild one, 113-101, in double overtime. The Demon Deacons also snapped a two-game losing streak overall.
“I thought that was an unbelievable college basketball game,” Wake Forest coach Danny Manning said. “Probably a little easier to say tonight because we won the game.”
Wake Forest (12-15, 5-12) led by as many as four in the first overtime, but missed opportunities allowed the Blue Devils (23-5, 13-4) to tie the game at 97 on a pair of Tre Jones free throws after a Wake turnover. Cassius Stanley missed a half court heave at the buzzer and the game went into the second overtime.
Brandon Childress, who started the game 0-for-10, hit a three to start the second OT and Ody Oguama followed with a layup as the home team took a 102-97 lead. The Blue Devils missed their first four baskets from the field, allowing Wake to start the second overtime on a 7-0 run before Jones got Duke on the board with a pair of free throws.
But it was Childress again, knocking down another big shot, pushing the Demon Deacons lead to eight with 57.7 remaining.
“I don’t care about percentages,” Childress said after the win. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed that throughout my career, I had an 0-for-12 against Carolina last year, this year I was 0-for-7 against Penn State.
“I just wanted to find the right moment to take over the game and I did that.”
In his postgame press conference, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski mistakenly called Brandon by his dad, Randolph’s name. Randolph is an ACC legend, now an assistant coach with the Demon Deacons. After a shaky start, the younger Childress played with ice water in his veins like his dad. Childress scored all 17 of his points in the second half, 13 coming in the overtime periods.
“I think it’s more of him being the veteran,” Krzyzewski said. “Four seasons of ACC play, he’s a veteran. The fact that he had not scored and then scored does not surprise me because that’s what really good competitors do and that’s what he is.”
All five Wake Forest starters scored in double figures, led by Sarr (25) and Chaundee Brown (24). Jahcobi Neath and Isaiah Mucius each scored 16.
Wendell Moore scored 25 for Duke. Jones added 24, Stanley 14 and Matthew Hurt 12 off the bench. Vernon Carey scored 10 despite spending most of the game in foul trouble before eventually fouling out before the end of regulation.
There was plenty of drama, though.
The Demon Deacons made a late push, pulling to within four with 55.3 seconds remaining in regulation. Stanley hit one of two from the foul line to push the lead to five, but Wake answered with a slam from Sarr with 31.7 left.
Duke turned it over again and Childress hit his first shot from the field — a three to tie it.
“We got a 10-12 point lead and we starting fouling again,” Krzyzewski said. “Then the end of the game, the last minute, we just gave the ball up. There is no excuse, really, for the two turnovers we had.”
Krzyzewski said the ball needs to be in the hands of Jones, the veteran, during those late-game moments. Instead, in the final minute Moore lost the ball at halfcourt, leading to a Neath layup, and Jordan Goldwire lost the ball that led to Childress’ tying 3.
“They took advantage,” Krzyzewski said. “Then (Brandon), who has been a stud for them for four years hit a big time shot.”
In a dejected Duke locker room, the Blue Devils were trying to make sense of another heartbreaking road loss in league play.
“We can’t keep letting this happen, the slow starts and trying to fight back in the second half,” senior Jake White said. “As much as it sucks we can’t be walking around with our heads down.”
That’s exactly how most of the heads looked in the locker room. Goldwire had his face buried in a towel as he sat between White and Moore. Jones barely spoke above a whisper as he tried to find the words to describe what had just happened. After this, its second straight road loss, the Blue Devils fought through court-storming fans to get back to a somber locker room.
“They started getting back into their offense,” Jones said about Wake’s comeback. “Then we missed a couple of free throws and had a couple of turnovers.”
Duke had to play without their post rotation late in the game. Carey, Justin Robinson and Javin DeLaurier all fouled out.
“The total game they were the team that was deserving of winning,” Krzyzewski said. “We had a chance to get it right at the end and we made those two turnovers and gave it up, which is very frustrating. They made big time plays to beat us.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 9:57 PM.
