Coach K turns must-win into will-win against Wake Forest

DURHAM -- From the first layup line until the last layup, this February's ACC showdown had an air of finality: Duke's last stand.

The 101-91 sprint past Wake Forest wasn't Duke's last important conference game, and NCAA Tournament results will deliver the ultimate judgment, yet Coach Mike Krzyzew-ski created a win-or-else atmosphere.

Players smelled the molten lava at practices. They heard the rumble during his motivational sermon. They sensed his insistent mood.

Gerald Henderson, the 35-point scoring machine, knew that his notoriously strong-willed coach was wired beyond description. "Coach, the last few days, has just been very emotional, very intense," Henderson said. "He wants us to win. He wants us to play really well. We've gone through a little time there where we weren't ourselves."

‘In the hunt for the ACC title'

The Blue Devils had dropped four of their previous six ACC games and juggled the lineup twice without remarkable success. There was a practical application for unchained exuberance, as 30-point scorer Jon Scheyer explained.

"We did lose our last two ACC games," he said. "This game, we could have gone to sixth place or we could have gone to second place. We knew how big a game it was. We want to be in the hunt for the ACC title, and we're still in it with that win."

The Blue Devils (22-5, 8-4 ACC) moved into a three-way tie for second, one loss behind leader North Carolina. Wake Forest (20-5, 7-5 ACC) slipped to fifth.

Using those emotions

Those were the stakes, but did a veteran coach of Olympic and NCAA champions really single out Wake Forest as a must-win deal?

"In so many words," Krzyzewski conceded. "What we changed, though, is that instead of saying we had to win it, I told them: ‘I'm not going to tell you we have to win it; I'm going to tell you we're going to win it.' I think the anticipation of doing something should help us better than the expectation of having to do it. It's a little bit what we did with our Olympic team: We're going to win -- not that we have to win. It's a subtle thing, but it's an important thing, I believe. Feelings are important."

The feelings that Krzyzewski generated at Cameron Indoor Stadium were less sensitive and more visceral than he suggested. During Duke's player introductions, Krzyzewski pumped a fist into the air and raised his arms, imploring the crowd to get involved early.

He ripped his coat off early in the second half and coached in shirt and tie, an extreme rarity. He worked the refs and worked on his players.

Krzyzewski disliked a quick Henderson jump shot so much that he counseled the torrid shooter to remember the difference between indifference and greatness. He demonstrated defensive posture for Scheyer, the hybrid point guard now for two whole games.

At some point, though, the players take over. Henderson took over, darting past James Johnson and throwing down incredible dunks. In the second half, Henderson undressed a medley of defenders, driving the baseline on L.D. Williams and rising above even the longest arms to drill jumpers.

It would be hard to pick a greatest play from the endless highlights reel, but the crucial basket came about three minutes from the end. Henderson dribbled outside the foul circle, retreated a couple of feet and zipped a 3-pointer through the net from perhaps 23 feet over the shorter Ish Smith. That extended Duke's lead to 93-82 and effectively ended the competition.

"That was really luck," Henderson said. "I haven't made a 3-pointer off the dribble for three weeks."

When they added the 3-pointer to his stat sheet, Henderson finished with 11 of 15 from the floor, 12 of 14 from the line and his career-high 35 points. "That was his best performance as a Duke player tonight," Krzyzewski said.

When Scheyer and Henderson left the game, Krzyzewski wrapped each player in a bear hug.

"That kind of goes back before I even came to Duke and his vision for me as a basketball player," Henderson said. "It's just really interesting the kind of viewpoint that he has and visions he has for all of us -- the finished product. That's part of the reason I came to Duke. I've been talking to him throughout the season about me becoming a great player, and I feel like today was one of my best games or my best game. We've always talked about that, that I need to be a leader out there on the court, and he has just really crowded me."

Crowded into the must-win corner, Henderson pulled Duke back from the edge.

■ Lenox Rawlings can be reached at lrawlings@wsjournal.com.