DURHAM - Demolitions like this aren't supposed to be common.
Then again, Duke has quite the uncommon basketball team.
The Blue Devils torched another ACC foe, this time a Wake Forest team they needed a comeback against five weeks ago, by a 93-60 score on Monday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke (27-3, 18-1 ACC) clinched at least a share of the ACC regular-season title, with Clemson and Louisville having two games left and trailing by two in the wins column. Eighteen is the most games an ACC team has ever won in the regular season, with Duke still taking a trip to Chapel Hill this weekend.
More on that one will come; for now, Duke's story is about its 18th unbeaten home slate since 1950, the final home game for so many players on a team that has mowed down the last seven opponents by an average of 31.9 points per game.
"It's one of the standards we've had, it's the first thing, you do your best," coach Jon Scheyer said. "I know that sounds simple but 'best' doesn't mean playing your best. It means giving your best effort, it means your best focus, your best attitude. The things you can control."
Duke has controlled just about every aspect of games lately, with this one the latest masterclass.
The numbers off of this one, if you need them:
- Wake Forest committed 15 turnovers, leading to 23 points by Duke; Duke committed 10, and those led to four of Wake's points.
- Duke outscored Wake Forest 38-20 in the paint.
- Wake's 12 offensive rebounds were converted into seven points; Duke's 18 offensive rebounds led to 22 points.
- Duke outscored Wake Forest 20-6 in fast-break points.
It's effort that bleeds from the top down, in terms of the freshman who should be national player of the year.
Cooper Flagg scored 28 points on 10-for-16 shooting. He flirted, again, with a triple-double, piling up eight rebounds and seven assists. In the defensive categories, he had three steals and two blocks.
He scored Duke's first seven points of the second half.
"I was just trying to make plays," Flagg said of that time in the game. "If it would've been a pass, making a pass, set a screen -- I was just trying to make winning plays and it happened to be scoring the ball."