When North Carolina last played Duke, it was for first place in the ACC.
After beating Maryland 87-76 Sunday night, the Tar Heels will once again have a chance to beat the Blue Devils for the outright ACC regular season championship.
But the Tar Heels don’t want that thought on their minds — at least, not right now.
“We knew we had a chance to be able to put ourselves in this situation,” forward Tyler Zeller said. “It’s nice to be able to say we have a chance to do that, but at the same time, we’ve got to win Wednesday before we get the chance Saturday.”
UNC plays Florida State on Wednesday before taking on Duke on Saturday, and Sunday’s win against Maryland seems to have put UNC’s offense back on track for another good two-game stretch against FSU and Duke.
UNC’s 87 points against Maryland were the most the Tar Heels have scored since Feb. 6, when North Carolina had 89 points in a win against FSU.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I like scoring 87 a lot better than I like scoring 48,” Williams said. “It gives you a little more heart attacks during the game … but I like that a lot better.”
UNC’s offense got out to a quick start thanks to Harrison Barnes. The freshman made three early 3-pointers and then quickly cooled down, but the lead it gave UNC was never forfeited. Barnes finished the game with 21 points, but it took him a career-high 23 shot attempts to reach that number. Barnes finished the game 9-for-23 from the court.
Even with Barnes attempting and missing so many shots, the Tar Heel offense seemed to run the smoothest with Barnes looking for those shots.