Duke uses defensive 'curveball,' survives Wake

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Duke faced a challenge against Wake Forest unlike anything it has seen in nearly three months, and the second-ranked Blue Devils responded with something they hadn’t done all season.

Duke erased a six-point second-half deficit after switching to a 2-3 zone defense over the final nine minutes and utterly suffocated the Demon Deacons’ scorers to escape with a 63-56 win, its closest result since Dec. 5 and only the third single-digit margin in the Blue Devils’ current 13-game winning streak.

“We’ve kept it in our back pocket just in case,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “It’s good to have a curveball, and even if it’s maybe not the best zone in the world, we were just trying to stand them up a little bit, and sometimes late in a game, that’s what it can do. I give these guys credit because you still have to make it work, and we haven’t practiced it too much.”

Duke led by 13 at the half, but the Blue Devils were ice cold from the field when the second half began, and Wake found a groove running a pick-and-roll, going on a 23-4 run to go up six with 9:58 to play.

Duke then took a timeout, and when the Blue Devils returned to the court, it was with a new defensive approach.

Scheyer said Duke had run a zone for exactly one possession all season, and until late last week, hadn’t practiced it often either. But after a failed attempt to slow Wake with the zone in a game last season, Scheyer went to his “curveball” once more.

The Duke D offered nothing easy for Wake after the defensive switch, outscoring the Deacons 24-11 the rest of the way. Wake was 2-for-10 — including a stretch of eight straight misses — from the field after Duke switched to the zone.

At the podium for a postgame news conference, Scheyer smiled at star freshman Cooper Flagg and quipped, “Have you ever played zone?”

“Never,” Flagg replied with a laugh.

The joke being there’s virtually nothing Flagg isn’t good at — even if it’s not a standard part of his repertoire.

Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes was asked his impressions of Flagg after seeing him in person.

“Generational,” Forbes said before running through a who’s who of stars he has coached against in his career, including Kawhi Leonard, Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant. “He’s at that level. He’s going to play in the NBA for a long time.”

Scheyer lamented Duke’s sluggish offense — the 63 points was a season low — but Flagg was still exceptional, finishing with 24 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

“We haven’t been in a ton of those positions,” Flagg said. “It was a big opportunity for us to show we can stay composed even when a team makes a run, and stay level-headed.”

But if Saturday represented a struggle for a Duke team on a seemingly flawless roll, Scheyer said he had no regrets.

“You have to win one of these games in the tournament, in ACC play — it’s part of it,” Scheyer said. “We’ve earned it with how we’ve clicked on offense, but it’s only a matter of time [before there’s a close game.] It’s huge we could get a win and find a way without having our best stuff.”