Wake Forest, a lowly 4-12 ACC squad that Kenpom said had a 99.6 percent chance of losing tonight, came achingly close to beating Duke on “Senior” night at Cameron. The Demon Deacons held with the Blue Devils all night, and even jumped out to a 10-point lead in the second half, but in the end the determination of R.J. Barrett and a whole lot of luck allowed a depleted Duke to escape with a 71-70 win.
First, Wake was gifted the final shot with a one-point deficit thanks to a boneheaded turnover from Jack White, who crossed the inbounds line after Brandon Childress made a layup with nine seconds left. Childress then missed a three for the potential win, but Chaundee Brown got the offensive rebound, put it back up, and watched helplessly as the ball acquainted itself with every inch of the rim before deciding not to fall through.
Hoo boy, would this team love to have Zion back.