News > February 18, 2008

By Ryan Durham | Senior Writer

Despite the rain, Wake Forest Head Coach Dino Gaudio followed in the footsteps of his predecessor Skip Prosser, meeting the students on the Quad to celebrate the Deacons shocking 86-73 win over the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils Feb. 17.

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Freshman forward James Johnson slams it home over a Duke defender, part of his impressive 24-point, 16-rebound performance in the Deacs' victory. (Jeff Merski/Old Gold & Black)

“(Wake Forest) played with incredible energy tonight,” Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “They played with more energy than we did and the crowd was great. I thought they played great basketball.”

The story of the night proved to be the play of the Deacon freshmen. Between guard Jeff Teague and forward James Johnson, the Wake Forest freshmen combined for 50 points, 20 rebounds and three assists.

Teague lead the Deacs in scoring with 26 points and two steals. Teague had 11 of his points coming in the early minutes of the game.

“It was a great win for us,” Gaudio said after the game. “Teague is a really courageous young guy, and he got us off to just a terrific start. And let us know that we can play with these guys.”

Johnson, recording yet another double-double, threw down 24 points and picked up 16 rebounds en route to the upset.

“James sometimes has been floating in and out a bit,” Gaudio said. “He really stepped up tonight.”

The freshmen were not the only Deacs to have big games though. Sophomores L.D. Williams and Jamie Skeen provided a huge lift for the team.

In only his second game back after sitting out for three weeks, Williams put up nine points and seven rebounds in the game, but that is not all he brought to the Deacs.

“L.D. is really an emotional leader for us,” Gaudio said. “He does a lot of intangibles for us.”

Williams provided that emotional lift getting the crowd into the game multiple times, whether he was on the court or on the bench.

“It just feels great getting back on the floor with my teammates,” Williams said.

The outstanding offensive play of Teague, Johnson and Williams provided was not the only key to the Demon Deacon victory. Wake Forest's defense also shut down the Blue Devils on multiple possessions. They forced 22 turnovers and nabbed seven steals.

"In the first ten ACC games we've had plus seven in turnover margin, that's been one of the great stats," Krzyzewski said. "Tonight we had 22 turnovers and forced 19, that was a key stat in the game. You don't get 22 turnovers unless someone is playing hard against you. I just think they played really hard."

Skeen was a large part of this defensive effort and had some extremely productive minutes offensively off the bench as well. He gave Wake Forest 10 points, nine rebounds and a block, helping to make up for the absence of sophomore big man Chas McFarland, who was in foul trouble.

Sophomore guard Ishmael Smith proved once again to be the heart of the offense, dishing out four assists and putting up six points of his own.

“That was a huge win,” Smith said. “I remember going up to Duke last year and they just embarrassed us. I remember going home and tearing up and saying I can’t wait to play those guys again.”

Smith and the Deacs used that motivation to defeat what was the second ranked team in the country.

They now sit and 16-8 and 6-5 in the ACC, with hopes of a NCAA tournament berth still alive.

“Hopefully in March that’s a good win that might get us off of the bubble,” Gaudio said.

If the Deacs can repeat the feat when they travel to UNC Feb. 24, they may just get that final push into post-season play.