Duke made ‘big-time winning plays’ to finish game that could prove important in March
The ghosts of late leads lost hung over Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday night as Wake Forest chipped away and eventually erased Duke’s 19-point, second-half lead.
Already since 2022 began, Miami and Virginia rallied to edge the Blue Devils on their famed home court.
The plucky Demon Deacons were in the process of doing the same and thus furthering doubts this Duke team could close out games at the same rate as its predecessors had over the decades.
“We’ve been in a lot of games where we’ve been on the wrong side of the spectrum as far as wins and losses,” Duke sophomore center Mark Williams said.
Twice at home, as previously mentioned. Twice more on the road at Ohio State and Florida State. Those four games represent the only setbacks the Blue Devils (22-4, 12-3 ACC) have suffered so far.
But this time, Duke prevented Wake Forest from joining that list by emerging with a 76-74 win. Just like when Duke held off Gonzaga’s rally to win 84-81 in Las Vegas on Nov. 26. That’s also like when the Blue Devils gutted out a 71-69 win over Clemson on Jan. 25.
On Tuesday night as in those two games, as Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski says in such situations, winning plays allowed success to happen.
That’s unlike allowing Virginia’s Reece Beekman to take, and make, a wide-open 3-pointer in the final seconds to reverse the lead and give his Cavaliers a 69-68 win on Feb. 7.
Or when Miami, trailing by three points with 35 seconds left, scored the game’s final five points to win 76-74 on Jan. 8. On that night, fouling while allowing a driving layup, followed by surrendering a basket after failing to secure a defensive rebound on a missed free throw, did the Blue Devils in.
Those are plays that get teams beat.
On Tuesday night, the Blue Devils produced plenty of those too. That’s how Wake Forest, after trailing 57-38 with 14:46 to play and 74-65 with 3:58 left, was in position to tie the score in the final minute.
“We made some real boneheaded plays down the stretch,” Duke freshman forward Paolo Banchero said. “But when they tied the game we wanted to, you know, we were gonna win that game. With 17 seconds, no shot clock, we should win the game.”
First, Wake had to tie it. The Demon Deacons trailed 74-72 and Duke had possession with 55 seconds left. But Duke junior Wendell Moore, dribbling the ball near midcourt to melt away time, committed a backcourt violation after being caught in a double-team with 35 seconds left.
Suddenly, the scenarios that went against Duke against Virginia and Miami were playing out once again.
This time, Wake’s Alondes Williams drove into the lane where Duke’s Mark Williams was called for a foul while attempting to block his shot. The ball never made it to the rim, so no 3-point possibility emerged.
But Alondes Williams tied the score at 74 with two free throws at the 17.5-second mark.
That gave Duke a chance to either win the game or, at worst, head to overtime.
The Blue Devils set things up for Banchero to have the ball in his hands to win the game. That’s not always been the case in close-and-late situations this season, although Banchero did have a key turnover late in the Virginia game.
This time, the rangy 6-10 forward started his drive near the 3-point line. He played off fellow freshman A.J. Griffin, planning to either pass the ball to the sharpshooter or drive to the basket himself.
“The main thing was we wanted to get Paolo going downhill,” said Jon Scheyer, Duke’s associate head coach who handled head coaching duties while an ailing Krzyzewski received medical attention. “A.J. was on the same side of him. They weren’t going to help off A.J. because, you know, if he’s open there’s a great chance of it going in.”
Banchero’s driving bank shot bounced out, but Mark Williams gathered the ball with his left hand, shifted it to his right and slammed home the winning points with 0.4 seconds to play.
“We’ve got Mark there to follow it up with an offensive rebound,” Scheyer said. “I thought Paolo had a good attack there. I actually thought that was gonna go in. And then Mark was really alert and ready to make that play.”
The key, Scheyer said, was having a strong drive by one player and his teammates ready to grab an offensive rebound if needed. Moore was in position on the other side of the rim had Mark Williams not made his play.
It was the totality of Mark Williams’ plays at both ends, Scheyer said, that delivered a win Duke needed for his psyche and momentum in the team’s quest to finish in first place in the ACC standings for the first time since 2010.
“Our guys made some big-time winning plays down the stretch,” Scheyer said. “Mark in particular. There was a foul there, but we always talk about protecting our basket and no layups and that was a heck of a play. Then to follow it up with the game-winner. Really proud of him, proud of our team for getting this win.”
It also showed a determination to allow Banchero, in the running to be the top pick in this summer’s NBA draft, to make plays when the game is on the line.
Banchero, the preseason ACC Player of the Year, finished 2 of 10 from the field with that final miss. He has not been at his efficient best when it comes to scoring lately. Averaging 16.7 points per game, he has only topped that twice in Duke’s past nine games.
In the Virginia loss, he scored a season-worst nine points on 3-of-9 shooting. When Duke beat Clemson, 72-61, three nights later, Banchero hit 5 of 15 shots to score 15 points.
Last Saturday at Boston College, he was better at 7-of-14 shooting while scoring 16 points.
“My offense has been bad, I’d say, the last couple games so I’ve got to get that fixed and keep at it,” Banchero said. “But I know I can affect the game in so many other ways so it’s just continuing to do that and my scoring will pick up.”
He’s certainly doing that. In Duke’s aforementioned past nine games, he has produced five double-doubles by collecting 10 rebounds or more.
Banchero had six assists against Wake Forest.
So he’s a weapon, for sure, even when his shooting touch is off. He intends to regain it.
If he does, and Duke continues to run sets for him on key possessions, better memories like what occurred on Tuesday night against Wake Forest will accompany the Blue Devils into the final NCAA tournament of the retiring Krzyzewski’s career.
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 7:23 AM with the headline "Duke made ‘big-time winning plays’ to finish game that could prove important in March."