Danny Manning: Duke Jumped on Us Early

Duke made its first four shots and grabbed the game’s first seven rebounds to build an early lead on Wake Forest. The Blue Devils never looked back, cruising to a 90-59 win at Cameron.

“Well, stating the obvious, not a great start for us offensively and defensively,” Wake coach Danny Manning said. “I think you obviously have to give Duke credit for their defensive intensity, and they came out and made some shots, and we have to do a better job of not giving as many open looks. On the scouting report for us was to take away some driving lanes for the drivers, but they had some of those guys knock down some shots. We also had too many turnovers in the first half as well. I thought our bench gave us really good production again, but we struggled tonight from the field is an understatement, but not just offensively, just across the board. I give Duke credit because they came out with an aggressive mindset and jumped on us early.”

Duke’s defense on leading scorer Brandon Childress was key. Childress missed all six shots he attempted in a scoreless night.

“Brandon’s line was not a good line for him tonight. I thought they maintained a lot of pressure on him, but that’s par for the course for us. We know teams are going to scheme and take Brandon out. We’re going to have to have other guys handle the basketball and get us into our offensive sets and that didn’t happen enough tonight and then Brandon also has to do a better job of picking his opportunities and finding his teammates, but also keeping an aggressiveness and trying to score the basketball. Tonight was just a rough night for him.”

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