In Rare ACC test at Wake Forest, Duke discovers another defensive tool

Winston-Salem, NC-What do you do when nothing works?

Something you haven’t done all season.

Which in Duke’s case means playing zone defense. Per Synergy Basketball, who went into Saturday’s road test at Wake Forest, had Blue Devils played zone a huge three belongings throughout the season – or less than 1 percent of their overall defensive appearance. So practically never. When asked after the game, if he had ever played zone before, Freshman Cooper Flagg, and then offered a brief “Nope.”

But in the second half of Duke’s possible 63-56 victory, Jon Scheyer broke Glasset-Fordi, yes, it was an emergency. After completely stifling Wake Forest’s violation in the first half and held the demon diacons for a musty 22 points, Duke went into the break with a 13-point pillow. However, Scheyer knew that the level of defensive dominance – even from a team that was ranked number two nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, per year. Kenpom – probably wouldn’t have. “It is not quite Sustainable, ”Scheyer said after the match. “They will eventually hit some shots.”

What he couldn’t expect, however, was Wake Forest, who played as a team occupied after the break. Steve Forbes’ team didn’t just make some shots; It tore a 23-4 race that completely changed the tide of the game and sent Lawrence Joel Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum into a black-yellow madness in the process. Scheyer eventually called Timeout with just under 10 minutes to play when Wake Forest extended his lead to 6 – the first time Duke pulled in another half of almost six weeks when it beat Louisville on December 8th.

And in that hug, Scheyer told his players he pulled the parachute. Go zone.

“We’ve kept it in our back pocket just for the case,” said Scheyer, “and it’s good to have a curve ball.”

Last season, when Duke lost in this very building, it tried the same tactic-but when the Wake Forest Guard Cam Hallet drained a 3-pointer on Blue Devils’ first zone possession, Scheyer immediately pulled out of it.

But this time? Other story. Wake Forest came down the field, made five smooth passes around the perimeter and settled for a long hunter Sallis 3-pointer … as he airbacked:

At Duke’s second zone possession, Wake Forest-Nybste Juke Harris took a free throw-jumper rattling around before finally fell in well. Fine. Scheyer could have pulled the plug then, but he stuck with it, untapped – and good things he did. On Wake’s third crack in the zone, it was more of the same. Five stinking perimeter pass and another long range, 3:

Next possession took Harris another free-throwing jumper that hatched the rim again-this time it did not fall well:

All in all, Duke only played zone for 4:16, but the few minutes were the difference. Demon Deacons scored only 11 points the rest of the game when Duke went zone, compared to 23 in the 12 minutes before. And on the flip side, eventually some stops restored some of Duke’s that beats offensive confidence. Wake Forest scored only on one of six belongings that Duke played zone and Duke scored on six consecutive belongings under the same stretch. Voilà: A 12-2 race and a lead restored.

“Wasn’t entirely comfortable with it,” Konnukppel said about Duke’s zone, “but we figured it out. Found a way. “

Duke eventually went back to man with barely four minutes to play, but it had built a 5-point lead at the time. And although Wake Forest was hanging around and holding it a two-holding game, ultimately Tyrese Proctor-there started the game 1-for-11 overall and 0-for-6 from 3-can a 3-pointer with 2:18 back to to push the lead back to 8.

Ballgame.

“Tyrese, he couldn’t throw a pea in the sea,” Knuetppel said, “but I told him right after the game, he hit the biggest. That’s all that matters. “

For Duke, the benefits of the Wake Forest -the victory are two -piece. First, Scheyer now has the zone as another tool in his defensive toolbox – not something to be used with regularity, of course, but as a change of pace in situations like Saturday’s. Especially as the blue devils continue to grow defensively – making Khaman Maluach more comfortable on turning the perimeter and getting Maliq Brown back from an injury – no one tells how valuable this zone can be down the road.

But perhaps even more valuable was the fact that eventually Louisville played Duke for the first time since Louisville played a competitive basketball game. There are only so many of them to walk around the ACC this season as Blue Devils’ Sterling 9-0 League record makes clear. (Duke’s odds of being undefeated in conference games after Saturday, by the way? According to Kenpom, 39.1 percent.) Scheyer’s team had won his last seven league matches with an average of 24.4 points, with a double -digit breaks that became almost standard.

So finally to meet some adversity? To be down With under 10 minutes to play?

“When we were down 6, this is where we want to be,” Scheyer said. “We have To be in these situations. “

Again, there is a reason why Scheyer planned Duke’s nonconference slate, as he did, the marmalade with lots of large matchups in case ACC showed how it has done. That’s also why he made the unconventional decision to play a nonleague game in late February – against Illinois in Madison Square Garden – to make sure Duke had moments of real resistance.

However, Saturday was one of them. And while there may be more coming – in Clemson and North Carolina, specifically – Duke’s Answer versus Wake Forest can be a prescient indicator of how the rest of Blue Devils’ ACC slate can go.

So no, nothing worked.

But as has been the case for Duke all season, it is only a temporary disorder.

(Photo of Cooper Flagg Blocking a Shot by Juke Harris: Jim Dedmon / Imag- Pictures)