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.”

This was a seven-point game early in the second half. Twice, Wake Forest (20-10, 12-7) buckets cut Duke’s lead to 40-33 and 42-35.

It was only nine, at 47-38, when the Blue Devils — one last time in this building — turned on the jets.

Kon Knueppel was fouled shooting a 3 and made all three free throws with 16 minutes left. Flagg drilled a 3 almost two minutes later, which triggered a barrage — Isaiah Evans drained one on the next possession, and Sion James hit one off an offensive rebound a couple of possessions later.

Mason Gillis, who was honored in a Senior Night ceremony along with James, entered and hit 3s on back-to-back possessions.

From a nine-point lead to 65-41, and a timeout by Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes.

“It was the same halftime differential when we played Wake at Wake,” said Tyrese Proctor, who returned from a one-game absence with a knee injury. “Coach talked about that (at halftime), they went on a little run, and then we just blew them out after that.”

Duke led 40-27 after a muddy and sloppy first half.

The Blue Devils had six turnovers in the first half, which isn’t a large number — but it is when considering they had four in Saturday night’s thrashing of Florida State.

Duke’s offense got hot in a hurry, with 3-pointers by James, Flagg and Evans coming in a span of 100 seconds — Evans had a transition layup in that spurt, too. That took the score from a 4-2 deficit to a 13-8 lead for Duke, and the Blue Devils never trailed again.

TIP-INS: Duke has scored 400 points in its last four games. Each of those games has at least 70 possessions; Duke’s first three games of the season were over 70 possessions, and then the next 23 games were all under that 70. … Caleb Foster was the only player on Duke’s roster who didn’t play in the game. … Scheyer has won 81 games as Duke’s coach, passing UNC’s Bill Guthridge for the most wins by an ACC coach in his first three seasons. … James and Gillis both finished with 11 points on their Senior Nights with Duke. … Knueppel scored 17 points on 5-for-9 shooting. … Wake Forest was paced by 14 points from Efton Reid III and Ty-Laur Johnson. Hunter Sallis had nine points on 3-for-10 shooting and Cameron Hildreth didn’t score, missing all seven of his field-goal attempts.

**********

Did you enjoy this story? If so, subscribe to Devils Illustrated as a premium member to read *every* in-depth, objective, substantive story. Click here, subscribe, and stop missing out!