UNC Faces Rematch at Duke
By Shawn Krest
On Monday evening, UNC was fresh off a season-saving Senior Night win over Syracuse. Mere minutes after the game, the question came up.
What about Duke on Saturday?
“We just have to come in and fight it,” said Armando Bacot. “It’s going to be a hostile environment, so …”
Bacot trailed off, and the team’s SID quickly warned media to focus on questions related to the just completed game with Syracuse, but the message was evident. North Carolina will have its work cut out for it in Saturday's rematch with the Blue Devils.
Duke blitzed the Tar Heels a month ago in the Smith Center, scoring 13 of the game’s first 16 points and never looking back. The Blue Devils led 31-8, reached a 28-point lead in the final four minutes and cruised to a 20-point win, the second largest road blowout of the Tar Heels in Coach K’s career.
“Those guys are really good. And then they have a very good basketball team,” UNC’s Hubert Davis said after the first game, “and so, we have to improve. We've got to get better, and for us to compete against them in the later part of the year, we're gonna have to play better.”
Duke has done its part since the game, winning six of seven heading into Tuesday’s game at Pitt. The Blue Devils will be looking to put the finishing touches on a regular season title. At 15-3 in the league, Duke had a one-game lead over Notre Dame following Monday’s action.
The Tar Heels have also played better since the first Duke game, although they’ve been plagued by inconsistency. UNC escaped at Clemson, then blew out Florida State, leading 18-0 at one point. That was followed by a nearly unfathomable home loss to Pittsburgh that rocked the Tar Heels’ bubble position. UNC righted the ship the next time out, earning its first Quad I win of the year at Virginia Tech. Senior night was another near disaster—not quite of Pitt proportions but enough to scuttle any hope of an at large bid—as Carolina escaped with an overtime home win over Syracuse.
When the dust cleared, the Heels were 6-1 since the last Duke game, riding a four-game winning streak and having a double-bye wrapped up in the ACC Tournament.
A win at Duke would probably remove any doubt of an NCAA bid for the Tar Heels, while a loss shouldn’t hurt UNC’s resume much, if at all. The game, in that respect, is the polar opposite of the Pitt and Syracuse games, which were near fatal if the Heels lost but didn’t help them much with a win.
The Tar Heels will have their work cut out for them. In addition to finding a way to make up the 20-point gap between the two teams on their home floor, Carolina will be coping with perhaps the toughest Cameron Indoor Stadium atmosphere ever experienced by a visitor, as it will be the final home game of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career.
The closet emotional equivalent for UNC might have been in 2006, when the Tar Heels traveled to Duke on JJ Redick’s Senior Night. The No. 13 Tar Heels knocked off the top ranked Blue Devils, and Carolina fans still speak fondly of ruining Redick’s final home game.
The emotion of Coach K’s finale promises to be cranked up far higher, which could be a double-edged sword for the Blue Devils, who will need to contain themselves and avoid the pressure that comes with such a momentous occasion.
“It was more than about us vs. Carolina,” Wendell Moore Jr. said after the first game. “Honestly it was about Coach, his last time coming to Carolina, so we wanted to send him out with a win because he definitely deserves it.”
That feeling will be amped up for Duke’s players in this game, and they’ll need to get off to a fast start to avoid the feelings of “what if” that could creep in if Carolina threatens an upset.
There’s also the matter of the blowout in the first game. There isn’t much history of a team in this rivalry bouncing back from a home loss that large, because the first matchup is usually a nail biter. If any blowouts occur, they’re often in the regular season finale or the ACC Tournament.
The most recent example was in 2019, when UNC won by 16 at Cameron in February in the Zion Williamson shoe game. The Tar Heels also won the rematch but the score was much tighter.
You have to go back to 2010 to find a comparable game for Duke. The Blue Devils won in the Smith Center by 10 in the first game, then won by 32 at Cameron. In 2008, they won by 11 in Chapel Hill, then lost the rematch at home.
Going back to Coach K’s biggest win in Chapel Hill, Duke beat UNC by 29 in 2002, then nearly repeated the feat, winning by 25 in Durham.
It’s perhaps the toughest sports ticket to get, with secondary prices bypassing those for the Super Bowl. Emotions will be high and there is potential for drama on both sides. Once again, the college basketball regular season will come down to Duke and Carolina.
Your officials for today: Roger Ayers, Jamie Luckie, Raymie Styons
Lineups: Moore, Keels, Williams, Banchero, Griffin vs. Black, Love, Davis, Bacot, Manek
Duke off kilter early on. Lots of bobbled passes and missed shots. Bacot is aggressive early, although he picked up a bad foul. UNC leads at the under 16, 11-4
Rough sequence for Puff Johnson. Bricked a three off the backboard, then fell down on defense, allowing a layup.
A Caleb Love shot attempt gets blocked out of bounds ... again, sending us to the under 12. Duke trails 15-14.
Flagrant 1 on Theo John gives UNC a boost. Heels lead 26-23 at the under 8. Puff Johnson picks up his third as we go to break, though.
Boom. Duke hits UNC with a 12-0 run, capped by a Griffin 3. 35-28 Duke with 4:17 to go in the first half. Time out UNC
Love hits a three for his first made shot of the game. Duke lead cut to 37-33 after just being in double digits. Time out Duke. 1:54 until half
RJ Davis for three at the buzzer to cut the Duke lead to 41-39.
UNC has no answer for Banchero. He's up to 17 points. Duke extends the lead to 50-44 early in the second half
Duke calls time out after UNC cuts the lead back to two points, 56-54, 11:40 left.
Boom! UNC goes 9-0 to lead 65-61 with 8:49 left
And a 6-0 run makes it 79-71. Danger zone for Duke right now
Moore for three. Duke calls time, down 79-74, 2:58 left.
Getting down to it now. UNC ball, up 82-76, 1:47 left
UNC up 86-76, final minute. Duke fouling. The Tar Heels are going to crash Coach K's going away party
That'll do it. Heels win 94-81
