Mark Williams lifts Duke with tip-in dunk
Duke escaped a furious comeback from Wake Forest thanks to a Mark Williams offensive rebound and dunk with under a second to go.
DURHAM, N.C. — Duke survived a furious comeback from Wake Forest thanks to a Mark Williams tip-in with just under a second left to go, giving the Blue Devils a 76-74 victory Tuesday.
The follow-up bucket from Williams gave him 16 points and 10 rebounds for the game. The sophomore lived around the basket making life difficult for Wake defenders all night long. In fact, seven of his made shots came from layups or dunks, with two on offensive put-backs.
His presence on this night was much more impactful than the first meeting with the Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem when he scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes called Williams a “monster” following the game.
The reference is certainly fair, as the Deacons struggled often throughout the night to solve the Duke big man. There were, however, stretches in the second half where Williams was not quite the presence he was in the first when he scored 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Williams disappeared to a degree on offense after flushing home a dunk with 15:55 to go in the game, which gave Duke a 54-38 lead. From that point to the game winner, Williams had attempted only two more shots, both missed layups.
While he wasn’t scoring, he was still very active on the backboards, grabbing six of his 10 in the final 20 minutes of play. The most important points and rebound came in that final moment, though.
With the game tied at 74 and just 17.5 seconds remaining, Duke associate head coach Jon Scheyer and the staff knew their best chance of winning was to put the ball in Paolo Banchero’s hands.
Scheyer was acting as head coach in place of Mike Krzyzewski, who was not feeling well and did not return for the second half. After the game, he said the call was simply to get Banchero going downhill.
“The main thing is we want to get Paolo attacking downhill,” he said. “… I actually thought that was a going to go in.”
After Duke inbounded the ball, Banchero, who was at the top of the offense quickly had possession and was ready to go to work. With Jake LaRavia defending, Banchero jabbed left, put the ball on the floor, drove right and attacked. The freshman had LaRavia on his left hip with Dallas Walton rotating to help once he got to the hoop.
The Deacons’ length forced Banchero to put a little bit of air under it. The ball came off the backboard, hit the front of the rim and bounced out of the cylinder. That’s when Williams got to the hoop unobstructed and flushed it to give Duke the lead.
The shot was reviewed to make sure it was not offensive goaltending, and to get the game clock corrected.
With .4 seconds, Wake Forest had just enough time to catch and shoot.
Wake Forest almost hit a show three fourths the length of the court in what many thought could have won the game. However, video shows that had the shot gone in it would not have counted as he did not release the ball before the clock hit zero.
It was indeed a wild ending with Williams serving as the hero. But the reality is, the game probably should have never gotten to that point.
Duke had the game in hand with 14:46 to go, leading 57-39. The Blue Devils appeared poised to deliver the knockout punch. But to the Demon Deacons’ credit, they weren’t ready to fold.
According to Forbes, his last ditch effort so to speak was to switch his lineup to one with more size and length. A lineup he says the Deacons have used often and one in which he believes to be his best, “by far,” defensive unit.
The move certainly gave Duke some issues. Couple that with what Scheyer called a need to better “manage time and score” and the Blue Devils fell apart.
“I think we got a little panicked down the stretch with making quick plays,” Scheyer said.
Wake Forest outscored Duke 23-6 from the 14:32 to the 7:40 mark of the second half. That run pulled them to within two points of the Blue Devils. Duke responded, managing to stretch the lead back out to nine points, and seemingly regain control.
With just 3:58 left in the game, it appeared Duke was ready to takeover and closeout the game, as Banchero connected on two free throws to go up 74-65.
But, Duke would once again struggle to finish things off. The Blue Devils attempted just four shots over the final 3:58, with only one going through the hoop — the final dunk from Williams. During that same stretch, Duke turned the ball over four times (they had 11 for the game), which allowed Wake Forest to close the gap and ultimately tie it up late.
Despite the fact Duke likely should have never been in that position, the team did persevere, which was not left unnoticed from Scheyer.
“I felt like we were deserving of winning down the stretch,” he said. “And so were they, by the way. It was closer than I would have liked.”
Though the game did come down to the wire, Duke did see another balanced effort on offense. Wendell Moore Jr. joined Williams as Duke’s leading scorer with 16 points, while also handing out five assists and grabbing six rebounds.
Banchero finished with 13 points, all coming in the second half. Eight of those points came on free throws. He also led the Blue Devils with six assists. AJ Griffin scored all 12 of his points in the first half, while Jeremy Roach also added 10 points in just 18 minutes of action.
Duke will now get it’s longest break between games since the four day layover between its Jan. 31 game with Notre Dame and its Feb. 5 matchup with North Carolina.