WINSTON-SALEM - In the locker room after the game, amid the uncharacteristically hushed voices and despondent faces following Duke's first loss in 2009, Dave McClure turned to Lance Thomas.
"You see what happened on that last play?" McClure asked his teammate.
"No, man. It all happened too fast," Thomas responded.
The entire Blue Devils' roster felt the same way, as their comeback to tie the game in the final seconds was negated by James Johnson's game-winning layup with 0.8 seconds left.
With L.D. Williams inbounding, the Demon Deacons set up with four players across the foul line, including guard Jeff Teague on the far side of the court. Teague ran off two elbow screens, the second by Johnson, and sprinted to the near corner, where Gerald Henderson switched off Johnson to cover the star guard.
Nolan Smith, who had switched on to Teague after the first screen, didn't switch to cover Johnson, leaving the power forward open for the game-winner.
"It was a switch, and I didn't switch off on Johnson," Smith said matter-of-factly.
It was exactly how Wake Forest head coach Dino Gaudio drew it up in the huddle with 2.6 seconds left.
"I told L.D. [Williams] and James, 'When Jeff [Teague] comes off, he will draw them. If they switch out, JJ, you have to seal and slip,'" Gaudio said. "He made a great pass and finished."
Duke's plan was to switch all screens and to force Wake Forest into a tough jumper.
"We were going to switch everything, and you have to body up," Krzyzewski said. "We wanted the ball to go to the outside. Anything that could be switched, you switch to take the inside away."
The miscommunication between Henderson and Smith, however, gave Johnson the lane.
"The kids did a great job of executing," Gaudio said. "It's not something in our playbook. We were drawing in the sand a little bit."
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