Zoned out: When Duke basketball switched it up on D, it was lights out for Wake Forest

Somewhere, Jim Boeheim must have been smiling. Or at least grimacing less than usual. His unusual influence on Duke may have waned, but it has not been forgotten.

Duke’s defensive DNA may be 99 percent man-to-man, no matter the coach, but just as Mike Krzyzewski went to his pal Boeheim’s 2-3 zone late in his career, Jon Scheyer still has it in reserve. In case of emergency, go zone.

“We’ve kept it in our pocket just in case,” Scheyer said. “It’s good to have a curve ball. It just is. Even if it’s not the best zone in the world.”

Saturday, with Duke spiraling, having frittered away a big lead at Wake Forest in a frenzied Joel Coliseum, Scheyer pulled the trigger. It’s not a stretch to say it might have saved Duke’s chances at a historic 20-0 ACC season. The Blue Devils were on the verge of losing touch with the Deacons completely.

The zone brought them back, freezing Wake just long enough for Duke to regroup and pull away for a 63-56 win.

Scheyer said the team did practice some zone earlier this season, and touched on it again during the week off going into this game, especially having used it against Wake Forest last season. But it was hardly at the forefront of Duke’s arsenal; Scheyer said Duke had played one possession all season.

In 2018, Scheyer was on Krzyzewski’s bench when the zone became a crutch for a defensively deficient Duke team, to the point where Grant Hill teased his old coach and alma mater on television during the NCAA tournament: “Can you slap the floor in a zone?” he asked incredulously, at one point.

So there is precedent in recent years, but not so much for this team, which has been so good defensively that it hadn’t really needed to play any wild cards.

“We definitely go over things, just to get a feel for it,” Duke forward Mason Gillis said. “That’s not our main defense. We don’t necessarily work on it every single day. But game prep, we definitely went over it, talked about where we needed to be. It’s a wrinkle to throw at the defense, not what we hang on. Moving forward, I’m sure we’ll work on it a little more, but man-to-man defense is what we do.”

When Duke was up 13 at the half and Wake Forest couldn’t buy a bucket, it was the farthest thing from anyone’s mind. By the time the Deacons had gone up six after Duke went 1-for-19 at the other end, Scheyer was willing to try just about anything.

Even a defense superstar freshman Cooper Flagg had literally no experience playing.

“He had no idea what he was doing,” Scheyer said, then asked Flagg: “Have you ever played zone?”

“Nope,” Flagg said.

But Duke’s coaches didn’t have much else to offer. When Duke finally made a basket — a Flagg putback — and Duke could get set on defense, Scheyer called for the zone.

Flagg was asked, afterward, what he thought when the order was relayed.

“I would say my reaction—” Flagg started to answer, before Scheyer cut him off.

“You said, ‘It’s brilliant!’” Scheyer said.

“I just kind of shook my head,” Flagg said.

But it worked. Hunter Sallis forced a 3-pointer. Juke Harris took, and made a tough shot. But Wake missed its next five shots before Duke went back to man. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils suddenly couldn’t miss on offense, making six straight shots after that endless drought.

“First thing we did last year, we threw it in the middle, kicked it out, shot a 3, made it and they were out of it,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said. “We just didn’t execute very well against the zone, I didn’t think, and then they converted when they got stops. They were having a hard time getting stops in man.”

By the time it was over, Duke was up seven, a lead the Blue Devils could milk from there. Wake Forest threw everything it had at the Blue Devils, had all the answers on defense and was riding the wave. Duke’s curve ball threw the Deacons off balance just enough to leave an opening.

“Sallis is such a dangerous player, you try to give him different looks,” Scheyer said. “It’s not something we’ve talked about recently. We really haven’t talked about it. It was something more for this game. Just something we’ve always had. And then as a player, when you’re in an offensive rhythm, just to give them a different look.”

Duke’s different look saved a win that was slipping away from Duke’s fingers, not least because Wake Forest was pulling it away. There are all kinds of forgotten little turning points in a season, small moments with lingering impact. With Wake Forest on the verge of pulling away, Duke’s defensive gambit turned the tide in this one.

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