Last season, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski surprised everyone by casting aside his classic man-to-man pressure defense in favor of a 2-3 zone during a crucial ACC matchup against Louisville.
Based on Wednesday night’s action, those zone defenses could become a lot more commonplace for the Blue Devil defense this year.
Although Duke’s offense scored 119 points and eclipsed 55 percent from the field in the team’s exhibition victory against Livingstone, the defense made a statement with its performance against the Blue Bears by limiting them to less than 30 percent shooting overall and 20 percent from long range.
The Blue Devils started out in their typical man defense, but quickly rotated in the first half among a variety of zone schemes—goading Livingstone into 18 first-half turnovers.
“We got a chance to look at a lot of our defenses. I’m not saying how long we’ll play all those defenses, but [we looked at] our 1-3-1, our 2-3, our 1-2-2, 1-2-2 three-quarter court,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We looked at a lot of different things and we positioned our guys in different spots, just to see how it would look.”
Even with defensive linchpins Matt Jones and Amile Jefferson sidelined with injuries, Krzyzewski had no hesitations about mixing up his defenses and trying players in different roles. The varied zone looks prevented the Blue Bear guards from getting into a rhythm setting up their offense, and provided several trapping opportunities for the active Duke defenders.
The biggest weapon for Krzyzewski was freshman 6-foot-9 Brandon Ingram and his 7-foot-3 wingspan. Ingram’s uncanny length combined with his guard-like quickness and agility allowed him to play at the top of whichever zone scheme the Blue Devils employed, and made it nearly impossible for Livingstone to generate open passing lanes.
Ingram’s five steals led the team, but right from the opening tip it was evident he was going to make it a long night for the Blue Bears. Whenever Livingstone had an inbounds pass off a dead ball, Krzyzewski stuck Ingram right in front of the inbounder—resulting in several deflections and turnovers before the ball even made it past halfcourt.
“He is extremely versatile and extremely active up top,” Duke freshman point guard Derryck Thornton said of Ingram. “He gets his hands on a lot of balls, as you saw this game, and a lot of steals at the top. He makes it really hard on the guards up top to make passes and run the offense. It’s a great weapon to be honest.”
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