Ryan Kelly scored a season-high 22 points against Wake Forest in Saturday's 80-62 win. Credit: CHUCK LIDDY

4:30 p.m. update

DURHAM—Whenever Duke plays Wake Forest, Ryan Kelly seems to find his shooting touch.

Saturday afternoon’s game, a 80-62 Duke victory, was no exception.

Kelly scored a season-high 22 points and shot 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Foul trouble limited him to just 18 minutes of action, and he finished one point shy of his career-high, which came last season at Wake Forest.

Of the five career games that Kelly has topped 20 points, four of them have come against the Demon Deacons (7-6).

“I’m just confident,” Kelly said. “I’ve put a lot of work into it in practice. When I get my open looks, I shoot it with confidence.

“People were saying earlier in the season that I wasn’t shooting the 3 ball well. Numbers always tend to find a way to come back to what they’re supposed to be.”

Mike Krzyzewski hasn't offered any serious criticism of his team to the media this year. Credit: CHUCK LIDDY

Every Saturday, the News & Observer takes a look around the ACC. That also provides an opportunity to check in with the Blue Devils and look for any emerging trends.

Through the nonconference schedule, head coach Mike Krzyzewski was incredibly upbeat about his team. Even in recent games where the Blue Devils started slow before beating their mid-major opponents, Krzyzewski had minimal criticism and plenty of praise for his team after the game.

After the 88-47 win over Cornell: “We ended the first half really well, and then the second half we were terrific. Our guys were playing so hard, and so together, it was just very difficult for them to score. It was a great second half.”

ACC action opens up for Duke with a tilt against Wake Forest. Credit: CHUCK LIDDY

Duke vs. Wake Forest
When: 12:02 p.m.
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham
TV/Radio: ESPNU/WKIX-102.9 FM
Motivation? Get back to winning conference games at home

Projected starting lineups:

No. 1 Duke (13-0)
G Quinn Cook, So., 11.1 ppg, 5.6 apg
G Seth Curry, Sr., 16.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg
G Rasheed Sulaimon, Fr., 11.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg
F Ryan Kelly, Sr., 12.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg
F Mason Plumlee, Sr., 18.8 ppg, 11.2 rpg

Wake Forest (7-5)
G Codi Miller-McIntyre, Fr., 8.5 ppg, 3.0 apg
G C.J. Harris, Sr., 14.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg
F Arnaud William Adala Moto, Fr., 4.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg
F Devin Thomas, Fr., 6.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg
F Traivs McKie, Jr., 14.5 ppg, 7.9 rpg

Player to watch:

Travis McKie, Wake Forest

Quinn Cook has played like a first-team all-ACC player through Duke's nonconference schedule. Credit: CHUCK LIDDY

Back in October, ACC beat writers and reporters gathered in Charlotte for the conference’s preseason media day. One of the annual traditions is voting on the preseason favorite to win the league and picking preseason all-conference teams. With ACC play about to (finally) begin Saturday, let’s see how my picks look at this point in the year.

Here’s what I predicated in October:

After scoring a Duke career-high 31 points against Santa Clara, Seth Curry struggled to find his shot against Davidson. Credit: CHUCK LIDDY

CHARLOTTE—It's a baker's dozen worth of victories for No. 1 Duke to open the 2012-13 season. Check out the game story from the 67-50 win over Davidson. And below are a few more thoughts and notes:

***One game after scoring a Duke career-high 31 points against Santa Clara, Seth Curry went 3-for-11 from the field for just six points in front of his hometown Charlotte crowd. He did record a team-high three assists, though, which tied his season-high. Other than Mike Krzyzewski, Curry drew the loudest applause during pregame introductions.

“I got the shots that I wanted, but I just wasn’t able to knock them down,” Curry said. “Coming out of the gate, I was maybe pressing a little bit, trying to get my shot going. It didn’t really go early or anytime throughout the game. I got the shots that I wanted, that’s the biggest thing. I’ll bounce back Saturday.

***For the fourth game in a row, Duke appeared to come out sluggish, or at least not matching the standard set this season. After the game, Quinn Cook didn’t seem overly concerned that it would develop into a long-term trend.

Both Ryan Kelly and Tyler Thornton scored in double figures for Duke in the 67-50 win over Davidson. Credit: CHUCK LIDDY

CHARLOTTE—Over the course of No. 1 Duke’s undefeated run through nonconference play, head coach Mike Krzyzewski hasn’t seen much—anything, really—from his team that has upset him.

And even though Duke’s 67-50 win over Davidson was a struggle for the majority of the game, Krzyzewski came into the postgame locker room in a good mood, cracking a joke about the long walk he had from the Blue Devils’ locker room.

And, while he said he was pleased with his team’s performance throughout the game, he succinctly summarized the difference between the first half, which ended in a 29-29 tie, and the second.

“In the first half, we gave up offensive rebounds,” Krzyzewski said. “In the second half, we didn’t.”

Seth Curry, recently appointed a team captain, will take his talents back home to Charlotte to face Davidson. Credit: CHUCK LIDDY

Duke vs. Davidson
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte
TV/Radio: ESPN2/WKIX-102.9 FM
Anything else? Seth Curry, recently named a Duke captain, returns home

Projected starting lineups:

No. 1 Duke (12-0)
G Quinn Cook, So., 10.8 ppg, 5.9 apg
G Seth Curry, Sr., 17.1 ppg, 1.8 rpg
G Rasheed Sulaimon, Fr., 12.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg
F Ryan Kelly, Sr., 12.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg
F Mason Plumlee, Sr., 19.5 ppg, 11.6 rpg

Davidson (7-5)
G J.P. Kuhlman, Sr., 7.9 ppg, 3.8 apg
G Nik Cochran, Sr., 9.0 ppg, 3.2 apg
G Chris Czerapowicz, Sr., 8.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg
F Jake Cohen, Fr., 12.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg
F De’Mon Brooks, Jr., 15.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg

Player to watch:

Duke vs. Santa Clara
When: 12:02 p.m.
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham
TV/Radio: ESPN2/WKIX-102.9 FM

Projected starting lineups:

No. 1 Duke (11-0)
G Quinn Cook, So., 10.4 ppg, 6.0 apg
G Seth Curry, Sr., 15.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg
G Rasheed Sulaimon, Fr., 12.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg
F Ryan Kelly, Sr., 12.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg
F Mason Plumlee, Sr., 19.3 ppg, 11.5 rpg

Santa Clara (11-2)
G Evan Roquemore, Jr., 13.8 ppg, 6.5 apg
G Kevin Foster, Sr., 18.2 ppg, 4.6 apg
G Raymond Cowels III, Sr., 8.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg
F Marc Trasolini, R-Sr., 16.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg
C Robert Garrett, So., 4.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg

Player to watch

There have been a few constants for Duke this season. One is winning, as the No. 1 Blue Devils are 11-0. Another is Mason Plumlee, who has been Duke’s go-to guy night in and night out. And, not to be forgotten, the nightly questions about team chemistry.

After every game—every single one—there are at least two questions about Duke’s chemistry. Thursday night after Elon was no exception. When head coach Mike Krzyzewski was asked when the last time Duke had this good of chemistry this early in the year, he paused.

“Even ’10, I thought we had good chemistry, but it really got good in February,” Krzyzewski said of his most recent national championship team. “I’ll tell you what, Kyrie’s freshman year (2010-11), I thought we could maybe run the table. We had good chemistry right away with that group.”

So, Duke’s chemistry hasn’t been this good since the last time the Blue Devils were ranked No. 1, and, since we’re talking about Duke, that was just two years ago. And before that, you’d have to go back a whopping three years, and the chemistry improved right as the team improved (it was against Maryland on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010, Brian Zoubek scored 16 points and pulled down 17 rebounds in 22 minutes, and that was the start of the Blue Devils’ run to Indianapolis).

DURHAM—As expected, Duke beat Elon 76-54. After the game, though, head coach Mike Krzyzewski reflected more on the season in total, one that has seen Duke rise to the No. 1 ranking and win 11 straight, than on this one individual result.

“We’ve got a really good basketball team,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s what I told our guys. Tonight is about looking at the last 11 games, not looking at one game. And our we proud of that? We’re very proud of that.”

No. 1 Duke (11-0) took awhile to find its rhythm offensively, but after Ryan Kelly hit a 3-pointer to break a 25-25 tie with 3:21 remaining in the first half, the Blue Devils went on a 33-10 run that ended the competitive portion of the contest with the Phoenix (6-5).