A woeful performance from 3-point range was sometimes enough to trip up Duke last season, but the eighth-ranked Blue Devils are hoping to prove they have a more well-rounded team in 2009-10.
They haven't come close to losing at Cameron Indoor Stadium, where they will try to improve to 11-0 as Wake Forest visits Sunday night.
Duke (14-2, 2-1 ACC) was a season-worst 1 of 12 from beyond the arc Wednesday night but cruised to a 79-59 win over Boston College.
Standout guard Jon Scheyer was held to 12 points -- nearly eight below his season average -- while shooting 1 of 6 from 3-point range, but junior guard Nolan Smith matched a career high with 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting.
"We're not going to live and die by the 3 this year," Smith said. "We can get it in other ways. We can drive the basket, and we have bigs who want to finish inside. Whenever our 3-pointers aren't falling, we have other ways to score."
Duke also thrived on the glass, outrebounding Boston College 40-27 while improving to 4-1 this season when shooting below 30 percent from 3-point range. During the 2008-09 season, coach Mike Krzyzewski's team was 5-5 in those situations.
"Last year we wouldn't have won a game like that," Krzyzewski said. "We had to hit 3s."
The Blue Devils' improved inside depth has certainly helped. Sophomore forward Miles Plumlee scored 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting Wednesday and Brian Zoubek added 11 rebounds off the bench.
Kyle Singler had his first double-double in nearly two months with 15 points and 10 rebounds as Duke notched another comfortable home win. The Blue Devils beat Clemson 74-53 at home in its ACC opener Jan. 3 and has won its 10 home games by an average of 31.3 points.
Wake Forest (12-3, 2-1) has not won at Cameron Indoor Stadium since Tim Duncan scored 26 points in a 81-69 victory Jan. 11, 1997, when the Demon Deacons were ranked No. 2.
They were ranked eighth when then-No. 9 Duke won 101-91 at home Feb. 22, with Scheyer scoring 30 points in Wake Forest's 11th straight defeat in Durham. Duke has won 41 straight home games against opponents other than North Carolina.
The Demon Deacons already have one impressive road victory, beating then-No. 17 Gonzaga 77-75 on Dec. 5, but a win Sunday would go much further in reasserting themselves as ACC contenders one season after losing stars Jeff Teague and James Johnson to the NBA.
Wake has needed to work especially hard lately, going beyond regulation three times in its last four games. After playing a combined three overtimes in wins over Richmond and Xavier, the Deacons lost 67-66 at Miami last Saturday but bounced back three days later to beat Maryland 85-83 in OT.
"We're a resilient group. We do whatever it takes to get a win," said senior guard Ishmael Smith, whose runner with 19.8 seconds left in overtime was the game-winner. "It's a tribute to (coach Dino Gaudio) and it trickles on down to us. ... If we have to go into overtime for the next 13 ACC games we will just so we can get a win."
Al-Farouq Aminu led Wake Forest with 24 points and 13 rebounds against the Terrapins, the sophomore's 10th double-double of the season. He had 10 all of last season, including 15 points and 10 boards in the Deacons' 70-68 home win over then-No. 1 Duke on Jan. 28.