No. 12 Duke never trails in win over rival UNC
Duke needed no theatrics to subdue fierce rival North Carolina on Saturday.
After escaping with an overtime win in Chapel Hill last month, the No. 12 Blue Devils never trailed in the rematch and rolled to an 89-76 ACC basketball win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Tre Jones, whose basket at the buzzer at UNC allowed the Blue Devils to force overtime before winning 98-96 at the Smith Center, scored 21 points with 11 assists as Duke completed the regular-season sweep over the Tar Heels.
Duke (25-6, 15-5) enters the ACC tournament as the No. 4 seed and will play at 2:30 p.m. in the second game of Thursday’s quarterfinals at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Tar Heels (13-18, 6-14) enter the ACC tournament as the No. 14 seed and will play on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against No. 11 Virginia Tech.
Vernon Carey scored 25 points, including 18 in the second half, and finished with 10 rebounds. Fellow freshman Cassius Stanley added 19 points for Duke.
Senior Justin Robinson, who received the first starting assignment of his career, hit a career-best four 3-pointers while scoring 13 points.
Garrison Brooks led all scorers with 26 points while grabbing 13 rebounds for the Tar Heels.
Duke led by as many as 10 points in the first half before taking a 42-34 lead to intermission. UNC clawed its way closer early in the second half as the Blue Devils scored on just one of their first eight possessions after halftime.
A Garrison Brooks hook shot with 15:36 to play left Duke with a 44-43 lead.
But Robinson drilled a 3-pointer with 15:12 left. Cassius Stanley added another at 14:36 giving Duke a 50-43 lead.
UNC cut Duke’s lead to a single point again when Brooks hit one of two free throws with 11:07 to play.
Duke, having made just three of its first nine field goals of the second half, finally found an offensive groove from there by getting the ball inside to Carey.
The 6-10 freshman center scored the game’s next four points as Duke extended its lead to 59-54. After a Brandon Robinson 3-pointer for UNC, Carey scored again.
Brooks’ basket inside pulled the Tar Heels within a basket one more time as Duke led 61-59.
But Duke scored on its next four possessions to finally pull away from UNC. Jones hit two free throws and Stanley drilled a 3-pointer for a 66-59 Duke lead.
When Jones hit a 3-pointer with 6:52 left, Duke’s lead grew to 72-63.
Robinson sank a 3-pointer as he fell backwards with 4:25 left extending Duke’s lead to 77-67. Stanley’s 3-pointer from the left corner in front of Duke’s bench gave the Blue Devils their largest lead of the game at 80-77 with 3:47 to play.
And-1
Duke: The Blue Devils got to the free throw line early and often. They attempted 33 free throws and made 29. The Tar Heels’ freshman big man Armando Bacot got in early foul trouble.
Personal foul
UNC: After making 21 3-pointers in its last two games, UNC could not buy a 3 against Duke. The Tar Heels went 4 of 12 from the arc.
Duke: Duke did a relatively decent job of keeping UNC off the offensive glass in the first half. But in the second half, Duke allowed UNC to grab 12 offensive rebounds and 10 second chance points That gave the Tar Heels life, and allowed them to cut into the Blue Devils’ lead.
ICYMI
There were a number of former Duke stars at Saturday’s game. Among them were Grant Hill, Danny Ferry, Mike Dunleavy, Christian Laettner and Shane Battier.
Making sense of the numbers
5: UNC wins needed in the ACC tournament for the Tar Heels to make the NCAA tournament. At 6-14 in the ACC, the Tar Heels will finish tied for last place in the conference standings for the first time since 2002, when there were only nine teams in the ACC. They will be a 14-seed in the ACC tournament next week and will have to win five games in five days to make the NCAA tournament. No other ACC team has done that.
6: The number of 3-pointers Duke hit in the second half. That turned what was once a 1-point game into a 13-point game with 3:43 left
15: The Blue Devils’ first-half fast break points. The first half looked like a track meet for the Blue Devils. They had 15 fast break points compared to 0 for the Tar Heels.
