This story cracked like a whip, and for Zeller, it seared.
In one minute, the 7-footer went from playing possibly the best game of his career to absolute goat. And frankly, it’ll be that last minute that defines this game.
It started when Zeller went to the charity stripe with an 82-80 lead and 44 seconds remaining. The 79 percent free throw shooter hit 1-of-2. Then on the next play, Zeller accidentally tipped Ryan Kelly’s short 3-pointer into Duke’s basket. Two points, 83-82.
“I didn’t want to foul him and put him on the free throw line, but you can’t give up a 3-pointer when you’re up two,” Zeller said.
Thirty-nine minutes for one. Not necessarily a fair trade. And in the first 39 minutes of No. 5 North Carolina’s 85-84 loss to No. 10 Duke, Zeller was unstoppable.
“I thought Zeller and John were really big,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “I just thought we made some mistakes at the end, and that’s the bottom line.”
It’s the most memorable line, even if Zeller had a great stat line.
He entered the game averaging 15.3 points and 9.6 rebounds a game. By halftime he had 19 and 8.
It wasn’t long ago that Zeller carried around a soft label, and he certainly didn’t start shedding the soft label with Duke. Zeller has five double-doubles in his last seven games and he’s 17.4 points and 11.4 rebounds a game in that stretch.
No, it didn’t start with Duke. But it may have peaked against Duke.
“Zeller was unbelievable in the first half,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I’m unbelievably impressed with Tyler Zeller. He’s just a great, great player.”
Call it ironic that UNC lost on a 3-pointer, because Duke was killing the Tar Heels with it in the first half. Zeller was everything UNC needed in a first half that UNC only led for the final 44 seconds. Without him there may never have been a first-half Tar Heel lead.
