Duke basketball had to try something in the second half to slow down surging Wake Forest. Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel hadn't experienced it.

No. 2 Duke took a different route to its latest Atlantic Coast Conference win. The Blue Devils pushed through their worst offensive day of the season to hang on down the stretch and beat Wake Forest 63-56 on Saturday.

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,