WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — What do you do when nothing is working?
Something you haven’t done all season.
Which, in Duke’s case, means playing zone defense. Per Synergy Basketball, entering Saturday’s road test at Wake Forest, the Blue Devils had played zone a whopping three possessions all season — or less than one percent of their total defensive looks. So, practically never. Asked postgame if he’d ever played zone before, freshman Cooper Flagg smirked, then offered a succinct “nope.”
But in the second half of Duke’s eventual 63-56 win, Jon Scheyer broke the glass — because, yes, it was an emergency. After completely stifling Wake Forest’s offense in the first half, holding the Demon Deacons to a measly 22 points, Duke entered the break with a 13-point cushion. Scheyer knew, though, that that level of defensive dominance — even from a team ranked second nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom — probably wasn’t going to hold. “It’s not quite sustainable,” Scheyer said after the game. “They’re eventually going to hit some shots.”
What he couldn’t have anticipated, though, was Wake Forest playing like a team possessed after halftime. Steve Forbes’ squad didn’t just make some shots; it ripped off a 23-4 run that completely changed the tide of the game, sending the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum into a black-and-yellow frenzy in the process. Scheyer ultimately called timeout with just under 10 minutes to play, once Wake Forest extended its lead to six — the first time Duke had trailed in a second half in almost six weeks, since it beat Louisville on Dec. 8.
And in that huddle, Scheyer told his players he was pulling the parachute cord. Go zone.
“We’ve kept it in our back pocket just in case,” Scheyer said, “and it’s good to have a curve ball.”
Last season, when Duke lost in this very building, it tried that same tactic — but when Wake Forest guard Cam Hildreth drained a 3-pointer on the Blue Devils’ first zone possession, Scheyer immediately pulled out of it.
This time around, though? Different story. Wake Forest came down the court, made five lackluster passes around the perimeter, and settled for a long Hunter Sallis 3-pointer … which he air-balled:
On Duke’s second zone possession, Wake Forest freshman Juke Harris took a free-throw jumper, which rattled around before finally falling in good. Fine. Scheyer could’ve pulled the plug then, but he stuck with it, undeterred — and good thing he did. On Wake’s third crack at the zone, it was more of the same. Five stinking perimeter passes, and another long-range, no-chance 3:
Next possession, Harris took another free-throw jumper, which clanked off the rim again — except this time, it didn’t fall in good:
Altogether, Duke only played zone for 4:16, but those few minutes were the difference. The Demon Deacons only scored 11 points the rest of the game once Duke went zone, compared to 23 in the 12 minutes prior. And on the flip side, finally getting some stops restored some of Duke’s sagging offensive confidence. Wake Forest only scored on one of six possessions that Duke played zone, while Duke scored on six consecutive possessions during the same stretch. Voilà: a 12-2 run, and a lead restored.
“Wasn’t completely comfortable with that,” Kon Knueppel said of Duke’s zone, “but we figured it out. Found a way.”
Duke did eventually go back to man, with just under four minutes to play, but it had built a five-point lead by then. And while Wake Forest hung around, keeping it a two-possession game, ultimately Tyrese Proctor — who started the game 1-for-11 overall and 0-for-6 from 3 — canned a 3-pointer with 2:18 left to push the lead back to eight.
Ballgame.
“Tyrese, he couldn’t throw a pea in the ocean,” Knueppel said, “but I told him right after the game, he hit the biggest one. That’s all that matters.”
For Duke, the benefits from the Wake Forest win are twofold. For one, now Scheyer 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. Especially as the Blue Devils continue growing defensively — making Khaman Maluach more comfortable switching on the perimeter, and getting Maliq Brown back from injury — there’s no telling how valuable that zone may be down the road.
But perhaps even more valuable was the fact that, finally, for the first time since Louisville, Duke played a competitive basketball game. There are only so many of those to go around in the ACC this season, as the Blue Devils’ sterling 9-0 league record makes clear. (Duke’s odds of going undefeated in conference play after Saturday, by the way? According to KenPom, 39.1 percent.) Scheyer’s team had won its last seven league games by an average of 24.4 points, with a double-digit halftime lead becoming almost the standard.
So to finally face some adversity? To be down with under 10 minutes to play?
“When we were down six, like, this is where we want to be,” Scheyer said. “We have to be in these situations.”
Again, there’s a reason Scheyer scheduled Duke’s nonconference slate the way he did, jam-packed with plenty of big-time matchups — just in case the ACC turned out how it has. It’s also why he made the unconventional decision to play a non-league game in late February — vs. Illinois in Madison Square Garden — to ensure Duke had moments of true resistance.
Saturday was one of those, though. And while there may be more to come — at Clemson and North Carolina, specifically — Duke’s response vs. Wake Forest may be a prescient indicator of how the rest of the Blue Devils’ ACC slate may go.
So, no, nothing was working.
But as has been the case for Duke all season, that’s only a temporary affliction.
(Photo of Cooper Flagg blocking a shot by Juke Harris: Jim Dedmon / Imagn Images)
