Two of the Big Four teams are without their starting point guards and both lost their most recent games: Duke lost to Syracuse Monday after losing Tre Jones six games in and NC State lost to Wake Forest on Tuesday while Markell Johnson sat out with back problems after a hard fall this weekend.
State can point to Johnson’s absence but Wake Forest played well, and guess what: in the last three games, Wake played Duke hard for a half, hung with Miami until the last 8:00 or so and gave State fits all night Tuesday.
And best of all, Wake didn’t just deserve to win, the Deacs refused to crumble at the end.