ACC: Wake figures out a plan for Texas just in time
By wire services
Published December 19, 2004
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest finally won with defense, though it wasn't how coach Skip Prosser drew it up.
His man-to-man didn't work, and neither did a triangle-and-two. So he decided on a zone, and that finally stopped Texas.
Chris Paul had 23 points and a career-high 12 assists and Eric Williams had 19 points in No. 6 Wake Forest's 89-88 win over the No. 14 Longhorns on Saturday.
"I would rather not have done it, but right now, we are still not Roger Clemens," Prosser said. "We are still a little bit of a junkball pitcher."
Kenton Paulino missed an 18-foot jumper just before the buzzer that would have won it for Texas.
"That shot at the end, I looked at it and he looked like he was going to make it," Paul said.
Vytas Danelius, banished to the bench in the previous game, gave the Demon Deacons the lead for good with a reverse layup in traffic with about 31/2 minutes left. The hosts made 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch to seal it.
P.J. Tucker tied a career high with 27 points and added 14 rebounds for the Longhorns, and Brad Buckman had 17 points.
Against the zone, the Longhorns struggled. They went four straight possessions without scoring, and three ended in long 3-pointers after a couple of passes.
NO. 7 DUKE 78, OKLAHOMA 67: The Blue Devils relied on their big three to rally from a terrible first half at Madison Square Garden.
Trailing 39-29 at halftime, Duke didn't start the second half well either, forcing coach Mike Krzyzewski to call a timeout 33 seconds in with the deficit at 12.
Shelden Williams, J.J. Redick and Daniel Ewing stepped up and the Blue Devils rallied to their fourth 8-0 start in the past five seasons.
Redick had 19 of his 26 points in the second half, turning a 1-of-7 effort from the field in the first into 7-of-16 for the game.
Ewing had 12 of his 17 points in the second half. Williams took over inside in the opening minutes of the half, scoring seven in a 10-2 run that brought the Blue Devils within 43-39 with 16:23 left.
