Behind another poor shooting performance from distance, the North Carolina men’s basketball team (19-12, 11-9 ACC) fell to the Duke Blue Devils (23-8, 14-6 ACC), 62-57, Saturday night at the Dean E. Smith Center.
What happened?
Both teams went scoreless for the first 100 seconds of play, as first-year center Dereck Lively II asserted his inside presence with two early blocks. Senior center Armando Bacot opened up UNC’s scoring attack with a two-hand slam off a pick-and-roll action. Moments later, graduate wing Leaky Black would rattle home a mid range bucket to help the Tar Heels take a three-point advantage into the first media stoppage.
First-year guard Tyrese Proctor would give the Blue Devils their first lead of the game with a pull up jumper. A Jeremy Roach corner 3-pointer shortly after would give Duke an 11-9 lead.
RJ Davis would find his groove midway through the first half. The senior guard would drill a wing triple and a right-hand floater on consecutive possessions to inch North Carolina within one point.
UNC would tie the game up at 23 behind a completed and-one play by junior guard Caleb Love. But Duke would answer quickly, as a pair inside buckets by Dariq Whitehead and Kyle Filipowski would give the Blue Devils a five-point cushion.
North Carolina would gain ground, however, as a last-second putback from Bacot was counted after Filipowski committed basket inference. At the break, the Tar Heels trailed, 33-31.
Out of the break, UNC’s cold shooting from beyond the arc continued, as the Tar Heels misfired on a trio of open attempts before the under-16 timeout. Meanwhile, Duke continued to crash the offensive glass and Filipowski’s putback dunk over a pair of Tar Heels stretched the Blue Devils’ lead to six.
At the 13:45 mark of the second half, a Love layup gave North Carolina its first field of the second half. Love’s connection would open up a previously stagnant offense and a Davis wing triple would knot the game up at 43.
