Top guards meet when Wake Forest visits Duke

Senior point guards Jon Scheyer of Duke and Ish Smith of Wake Forest couldn't be more different.

Smith is almost universally regarded as the fastest player in the ACC. Scheyer is more deliberate but also craftier.

Their meeting should be a treat when Wake Forest (12-3, 2-1 ACC) visits eighth-ranked Duke (14-2, 2-1) at 8 p.m. Sunday.

"Ishmael, he's fast, lightning fast," Duke guard Nolan Smith said. "Jon is a more set-up point guard who gets us into our offense."

The guards are so different that Scheyer won't even guard Ish Smith when Wake Forest has the ball. That job will go to Nolan Smith, who's quicker than Scheyer but isn't as comfortable running Duke's offense.

But all of Duke's players will be watching for Ish Smith, who's averaging 13.0 points and 6.0 assists per game, in transition. That means that when one Duke guard drives to the basket, the other will have to rotate back for defensive purposes because of how quickly Smith gets the ball up the floor.

"It's about stopping them in transition and making them work for it on offense," said Scheyer, who's averaging 19.6 points and 6.1 assists.

While you'd rather have Ish Smith rushing the ball ahead in the open court, you'd prefer to have Scheyer on the foul line at the end of the game. He leads the ACC with a free throw percentage of .903.

Smith is shooting 43.9 percent from the foul line.

Ken Tysiac