DURHAM, N.C. – No. 2 Duke capped off an undefeated season at home, defeating Wake Forest, 93-60, on Monday, March 3. The Blue Devils (28-3, 18-1 ACC) finished a perfect 17-0 at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and used a 53-point second half to race past the Demon Deacons (20-10, 12-7 ACC).

Cooper Flagg scored a game-high 28 points on 10-of-16 (.625) shooting, including 3-of-6 (.500) from beyond the arc. The freshman also dished a game-high seven assists, while adding eight boards, three blocks and two steals to his line. Four other Blue Devils finished in double-figures – Kon Knueppel (17), Tyrese Proctor (12), Sion James (11) and Mason Gillis (11).

Khaman Maluach led all players on the glass, reeling in 14 caroms, including six offensive boards. As a team, Duke dished 19 assists, swiped eight steals and blocked five shots.

The undefeated season at home is the 20th in Duke program history and second with head coach Jon Scheyer at the helm. With the victory, Scheyer earned his 81st victory as coach, surpassing Bill Guthridge (North Carolina, 1997-2000), for the most wins by an ACC coach in their first three seasons.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Wake Forest scored on its first possession but both defenses held strong through the first three minutes, with the score remaining 2-0 over three minutes into the contest. Kon Knueppel got Duke on the board, hitting a mid-range jumper. A three-pointer from Sion James gave the Blue Devils their first lead, 5-4, after six minutes of action.
• Triples from Cooper Flagg and Isaiah Evans grew the lead to five, 13-8, at the under-12 media timeout. A three-point-play by Flagg, with 9:08 on the clock, inched Duke in front by six, 20-14. Duke’s defense held the visitors with a made field goal for over six minutes, as the Blue Devils moved in front by double-digits, 28-17, at the 6:38 mark.
• Knueppel drilled his second three-pointer of the half, giving the freshman nine points and Duke a 37-24 edge with just over a minute remaining before halftime. After Duke led by 13, 40-27, at the break, Wake Forest trimmed the lead to single-digits, 40-33, with six quick points. Flagg answered with three consecutive buckets and Duke led, 47-38, at the first break of the second stanza.
• Flagg reached 20 points with his third three-pointer of the game and extended the Blue Devils’ margin to 15, 53-38. Duke remained hot from beyond the arc, as Mason Gillis sent in back-to-back triples, forcing a Wake Forest timeout with Duke in front, 65-41.
• A fast-break layup by Tyrese Proctor, a steal by Patrick Ngongba II and a put-back layup by Knueppel pushed the lead to 30, 75-45, at the under-eight media timeout. Knueppel sent in a contested three-pointer, giving the freshman 17 points, and built a 37-point lead, 84-47.
• Duke’s largest lead of the night, 40 points, came following a Gillis three-pointer to make it a 91-51 advantage. Neal Begovich capped the scoring, with a layup in the final minute.

NOTES

• With the win, Duke secured an undefeated season at Cameron Indoor Stadium, going a perfect 17-0 at home this season.
• The Blue Devils now have 20 undefeated seasons at home, including two in three seasons under head coach Jon Scheyer.
• The Blue Devils own a 48-3 record (.941) at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Scheyer’s three seasons.
• Scheyer secured his 81st career victory, surpassing Bill Guthridge (North Carolina, 1997-2000) for the most wins by an ACC coach in their first three seasons.
• With the 33-point victory, Duke now has 10 games in conference play this season with a winning margin of at least 25 points, the most by any team in a single season in ACC history.
• The Blue Devils have posted nine victories by a margin of 30 points or more, including the last four in-a-row.
• Monday night marked the 263rd all-time meeting between the two schools.
• Duke now leads the series against Wake Forest, 182-81, and the Blue Devils have won 26 consecutive meetings in Durham, dating back to 1997.
• Duke won the rebounding battle, 45-33, and has finished with a positive margin on the glass in all but seven games this season.
• For the 18th time this season, Duke finished with a double-digit advantage for points in the paint, outscoring the Demon Deacons, 38-20, in the category.
• Along with the positive margin for points in the paint, Duke out-paced Wake Forest in the remaining four specialty stats – points off turnovers (23-4), second-chance points (22-7), fast-break points (20-6) and bench points (21-16).
• With the win, Duke improved to 315-93 (.772) in ACC regular-season games when ranked as a top-five team in the country.
• Cooper Flagg led all scorers with 28 points on 10-of-16 (.625) shooting from the field, including 3-of-6 (.500) from beyond the arc.
• The freshman also dished a game-high seven assists without committing a turnover, while adding eight boards, three blocks and two steals to his line.
• In the last six games, Flagg has amassed 30 assists with only three turnovers, an assist-to-turnover ratio of 10.0.
• Kon Knueppel scored 17 points, while also grabbing five boards, dishing four assists and securing two steals. The freshman went 5-of-5 from the charity stripe, extending his streak of consecutive made free throws to 31.
• Tyrese Proctor returned to the starting lineup after a one-game absence, having missed Duke’s game against Florida State (March 1) with a knee injury.
• Proctor scored 12 points and reeled in four boards.
• After being recognized in pregame Senior Night festivities, both Sion James and Mason Gillis scored 11 points to round out Duke’s double-digit scoring.
• Gillis made three three-pointers and also secured two rebounds.
• James made a season-high three three-pointers, going 3-of-5 (.600) from deep, while also adding two assists and two boards.
• Khaman Maluach finished the night with 14 rebounds, one shy of his career high, to lead all players on the glass.
• Patrick Ngongba II matched his career high for rebounds with six.
• The freshman played 14 minutes and ended the game with a plus/minus of +22.

QUOTES

• “This game meant a lot to us, wanting to represent our program at Duke and the seniors – senior night in Cameron, not just for our guys, but for the students, the way they’ve showed up all year for us has been incredible. So grateful for the four seniors we honored tonight, Sion [James] and Mason [Gillis], Stanley [Borden] and Neal [Begovich]. Spencer [Hubbard] we honored last year, but Spencer’s a senior. He doesn’t have any more eligibility, unfortunately. Then, our senior managers, those guys have been the backbone of what we do every day. Luke [Klores], Preston [Sharkey], Davis [Beischer], and Miles [Cooperman]. And then, Jayce McCain has been a graduate assistant, graduate manager, and has been incredible. This game was for them. Obviously, it’s a day and age where we have more than just seniors where it’s going be their last time playing in here. I’m not going to get into speculating who that is, or exactly all that, but to finish it off the right way, to get win number 27, to get ACC win number 18 means a lot. I was emotional tonight. I thought before the game, you’re just thinking about this team, and these guys have been incredibly unselfish, incredibly driven, and it’s made for a great collective toughness that we’ve had. You love coaching them. I remember, as a player, walking out for my senior night, and I literally could not believe it was my senior night, and I thought it was my last time ever playing. I didn’t think about coaching here at the time, and then all of a sudden, this kind of smacked me in the face. It’s our last time with this group in here, and so I just really try to focus on the game plan and focus on being the best coach I could be for these guys. Proud of the killer instinct. It’s not normal what these guys are doing, and we don’t take it lightly, and we don’t take it for granted, and we know the job’s not done. It doesn’t entitle you to any more wins the rest of the season. For us, it’s full steam ahead, recover tomorrow, and then prepare for Saturday.” – Duke head coach Jon Scheyer
• “I think we’re playing at a high level, trying to make the right play. I feel like the ball has been moving around really well. It’s been flowing. We’ve been guarding at an elite level. That’s what we need to continue to do and continue to grow at – guarding at an elite level and letting that flow into our offense. When we play defense at an elite level and guard to our strengths and guard how we normally guard, it definitely helps us all around, getting us into transition and getting us some early, easy looks. Once we can get out in transition a couple times, we can slow it down and execute a play because we’ve got teams on their heels.” – Duke freshman guard/forward Cooper Flagg
• “We’ve got a bunch of guys that want to play the right way. And I don’t think [head coach Jon Scheyer] gets enough credit for that, honestly. That’s a big part of college basketball nowadays as a coach, bringing in the right personalities. In the transfer portal, you can get guys that you don’t really know and you recruit them for two weeks, but bringing in guys like Sion [James] and Mason [Gillis] that just want to play the right way, even guys like Cam [Sheffield] that are good for the culture. I don’t know how he did it, but I’m sure happy he did.” – Duke freshman guard/forward Kon Knueppel