DURHAM, N.C. — Duke toppled Wake Forest once again on Tuesday night and, once again, the Blue Devils did it without an ailing Mike Krzyzewski.
The No. 9 Blue Devils played the second half without Krzyzewski coaching them after he fell ill during the first half, but still beat Wake Forest, 76-74, in ACC basketball at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
After leading by 19 in the second half only to see Wake tie the game with 17.5 seconds to play, Duke scored the game-winning basket when Mark Williams slammed in a Paolo Banchero miss with 0.4 seconds to play.
The 75-year-old Krzyzewski “is not feeling well” was the only update Duke gave during the second half, when associate head coach Jon Scheyer stepped into the head coaching role that will become his full time when Krzyzewski retires after this season.
Duke led 42-33 at halftime when Krzyzewski walked to the locker room with the team but didn’t return.
On Jan. 12, when Duke beat Wake Forest, 76-64, at Winston-Salem, Krzyzewski did not accompany the team on the trip due to a non-COVID-19 illness.
On Tuesday night, the Blue Devils (22-4, 12-3 ACC) maintained their hold on first place in the ACC with a second win over the Demon Deacons (20-7, 10-6 ACC).
Five Duke players scored in double figures led by Wendell Moore and Williams with 16 points each. Banchero scored 13 while A.J. Griffin had 12 and Jeremy Roach 10 points for Duke.
The Blue Devils led by as many as 14 points in the first half and built a 57-38 lead when Banchero hit a 3-pointer with 14:46 to play. But finishing off the win wasn’t easy as Wake Forest unleashed a furious rally to cut the deficit to two points with 7:40 left before eventually catching Duke.
Wake used a a 17-4 run to slice the lead to 61-55 when Jake LaRavia hit a 3-pointer with 9:04 to play.
When Alondes Williams sank a layup at 8:16, the Duke advantage shrunk to 63-59. Alondes Williams stole the ball from Jeremy Roach and, with 7:40 to play, Damari Monsanto drilled a baseline jumper leaving Duke up 63-61.
But Trevor Keels stemmed Wake’s charge with a 3-pointer at 6:54 giving Duke a 66-61 lead.
With 5:44 left and Duke up 68-63, the situation turned heated when Wake’s Khadim Sy fouled Keels hard as Keels attempted a layup. Duke’s Williams and Sy exchanged words and there was some shoving among the players. Mark Williams and Sy were both called for technical fouls.
Keels hit one free throw then stole the ball from Wake on the other end. Keels hit another free throw at 5:21 for a 70-63 Duke lead.
Moore’s two free throws gave Duke a 72-63 lead with 5:02 left.
Wake made one last push, though, as Williams hit a 3-pointer and, after a Duke turnover, Walton dunked in transition leaving Duke up 74-72 with 52.9 seconds to play.
Duke worked the clock down to 32.3 seconds left, but Moore turned it over during a double-team when he fell into the backcourt for a violation.
Alondes Williams, fouled by Mark Williams at the rim, hit two free throws with 17.5 seconds to play to tie the game before Mark Williams won it.
Both teams started slowly from the field, but once Duke found its shooting touch, the Blue Devils opened up a double-digit lead.
With the teams tied at 13, Duke made five shots in a row during a 13-2 run. Moore and Mark Williams got it started with post moves inside. Griffin hit a 3-pointer and Mark Williams dunked off a lob pass from Roach. When Griffin hit another 3-pointer, Duke led 26-15 with 6:36 to play in the half.
At that point, Wake had made just 5 of 20 shots.
But the Deacons hung tough as Alondes Williams, who had been out after picking up two fouls in the game’s first six minutes, returned to hit a 3-pointer. Alas, that was his only basket of the first half as he was called for his third foul, returning to the bench at 5:33.
Duke took advantage, building its largest lead of the first half on Theo John’s basket inside that gave the Blue Devils a 37-23 lead at 2:47.
The Deacons, though, hit four of their final five shots of the half, including LaRavia’s 3-pointer as the half ended leaving Duke up 42-33 at halftime.
