DURHAM, N.C. — Duke senior guard Matt Jones spoke about the Blue Devils’ first meeting with Wake Forest — just back on Jan. 28, mind you — as if it were a different team and a different year.
Duke was still without its head coach, Mike Krzyzewski, it was 0-3 in ACC road games and had a losing record in the conference at 3-4.
In many respects, the Blue Devils didn’t know what direction the season was headed.
They know now.
Duke began its league-leading win streak by beating the Demon Deacons last month and extended it to seven consecutive games with its 99-94 win over Wake Forest on Saturday.
“At that point [the first meeting], we really didn’t know who we were. We were just trying to get wins,” Jones said. “Now we’re becoming a much tougher team. We’re starting to create an identity for ourselves, and that in itself gives us confidence.”
That identity isn’t the flashy juggernaut that even freshman guard Frank Jackson admitted he thought they might be when they began the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the nation.
The Blue Devils use words like “toughness” and “fight” to describe how their identity is evolving.
“At the beginning of the year, we kind of believed the hype,” said Jackson, who came off the bench for 12 points. “… From here, our minds are, What can we do to get better? What can we do to keep learning and pushing and fighting because we know teams aren’t going to lay down just because we’ve got a couple wins under our belt.”
Wake Forest sure didn’t. The Deacons, still heartbroken from losing to Duke 85-83 on Luke Kennard’s game winner in the closing seconds back in January, cut an 89-81 deficit down to 93-92 with 1:20 remaining.
Wake sophomore guard Bryant Crawford twice drove for layups — once on the left and once on the right — in the final 35 seconds of the game and twice missed the attempt thanks in part to tight defense by Jones and Jayson Tatum, respectively.
The Blue Devils were able to overcome a career-high 31 points from Wake center John Collins to extend their home win streak to 18 games against the Deacons.
“At the end of ball games, we’ve been really tough,” Krzyzewski said. “We’ve made winning stops, winning free throws, winning shots, and it hasn’t been one guy. Really, in all the games, all the wins, the last three, four minutes we were a little bit better than the team we’ve played. And that shows toughness.”
Against Virginia, that meant Tatum making back-to-back 3-pointers to break open a game that was 48-44 with three minutes left en route to a 65-55 victory.
Against Clemson, that meant summoning energy it didn’t have after an emotional win against rival North Carolina on a short turnaround.
Against North Carolina, that meant holding the Tar Heels without a field goal the final 2:20 to turn a two-point lead into an 86-78 win.
“For us to be able to have the streak we have right now and win in the fashions we’ve been winning,” Jones continued, “whether it be close games, or on the road, and things like that, you have to be tough to do that. And I think as a team we’re becoming that.”
Wake coach Danny Manning said he could tell the Blue Devils were more settled into their roles and what was expected of them on Saturday compared to the first time they played.
Kennard, who scored a team-high 23 points for Duke, put it a different way, saying, “We acted like an older team tonight.”
Duke remained tied with Louisville in second place in the ACC just one loss back from North Carolina. But the Blue Devils haven’t really talked openly about winning the league title in the locker room.
Their mantra all season has been to talk about the team they are going to become. That’s looking more and more like a team that could live up to its promise and contend for the national title.
“I still think we can get a lot better. I don’t think we’re at our potential yet,” Kennard said. “It’s time to really take this to the next level.”
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