Game over, 81-67: It's no surprise. North Carolina is a much improved team, and we knew Duke was dominant. No surprise at all that the Heels redeemed themselves for the second half back in February.
Almost everyone that mattered played well for the Tar Heels. Nolan Smith and Seth Curry were really the only ones who stepped up tonight. It wasn't enough.
North Carolina wins the ACC regular season and grabs the top seed in Greensboro. This place is going nuts right now. Franklin Street is going to be a popular spot right now.
So much for Duke being a clear favorite to win the league even without Kyrie right? See you at the ACC Tournament. I'd like to see the third match-up.
2nd half 3:07 to play, UNC leads 74-63: UNC has just controlled the ball game for the better part of 30 minutes. Kyle Singler has been horrific with his shot tonight.
Mason Plumlee had around 10 rebounds but otherwise he had a horrible game. He didn't score a point and was in foul trouble the whole game. He fouls out with more than five minutes left to play.
2nd half 7:21 to play, UNC leads 71-59: Every time something good happens for Duke, Carolina goes and gets it right back and then some. One thing for tonight is that Duke has tried to do this with virtually no bench at all. Miles Plumlee is the only one with substantial minutes off the bench.
This crowd is getting louder and louder. And I will say the officials are calling more than I hoped for this game. That last one on Smith driving to the basket was hardly a tap. Smith will be at the line to try to cut it to 10 again.
2nd half 11:26 to play, UNC leads 64-54: It's crazy how much of a gamer Nolan Smith is. Just like last time it's only Smith and Curry keeping Duke in it. But UNC has played a much better team game and that is keeping the lead to near double-digits this whole game. If Duke doesn't get someone to finally step up and hit a shot it will lose.
The Blue Devils are just out of sync.
2nd half 13:44 to play, UNC leads 60-52: Seems like a whole game was played in six minutes but my goodness Duke doesn't go away. Smith hits a bucket to open the half and then Curry hits another one from Jimmer-land. A quick 7-0 run to start the half after a Singler drive.
Something that's pretty big though is Curry picking up his third foul early in the half. Mason picked up his third too.
Singler's still not playing with a ton of confidence. He had the ball stolen right away by Barnes, who drove on him and finished at the other end. The Duke run didn't matter though because Carolina blazed back with some big buckets to secure a nice lead again.
News flash: Ryan Kelly made a jumper. Hey-O!!
Why Carolina is winning: Dexter was right, this team is playing with a ton of confidence and it's not just him. It's the whole team. Ryan Kelly can't hit a bucket, and he's had several open looks. Kyle Singler is taking bad shots, and he's not hitting any of them. Kendall Marshall had 12 points and five dimes. The Heels are shooting 57 percent to Duke's 37. Any questions?
And the Smith Center is rocking.
Halftime, UNC leads 51-39: It's crazy how good the Heels are playing. Kendall Marshall is out of his mind, he had a sick spin move and finished the lay-up. Carolina is on the verge of blowing this one open. Harrison Barnes has found the jumper and Ryan Kelly keeps missing good looks at three.
Carolina got up by 12 with a McDonald three. Miles Plumlee missed a lay-in and everything is going right for Carolina.
Duke's going to need the exact same comeback in this game only it'll have to get it without a home crowd. Marshall is leading this one for the Heels with 12 points.
1st half 3:40 to play, UNC leads 38-31: They might want to keep Smith on Marshall. Marshall just went to the hoop and made a bucket with a foul to give UNC an 11-point lead. But they might want to guard Seth Curry on the other end. Curry comes right back and nailing his fourth three. But Duke still needs a patented run. Mason Plumlee is getting abused on the defensive end by Henson. He lost a rebound battle that cost him a bucket and he got beat down the floor for another two points.
Carolina still has had the edge this whole game.
1st half 7:01 to play, UNC leads 29-23: Mason Plumlee was back in but was pretty useless on post defense on a Knox lay-up. The next trip down the floor Plumlee took a risky charge and he stood his ground and got the call.
Carolina clearly won those last four minutes as Strickland capped it off with a lay-up with pressure all over him. Ryan Kelly is ice cold and should stop shooting threes now. Strickland leads a very balanced attack for UNC with six points.
1st half 11:15 to play, UNC leads 18-17: Three quick fouls on UNC got this crowd angry too. And seconds later Duke got called for an offensive foul. The refs are trying to let the players know who's in control early.
Seth Curry knocked in three bombs to get Duke rolling. Nolan Smith scored going right at Henson at the rim. And Miles has been great with his brother on the bench getting two buckets and a handful of rebounds. Carolina got the lead back thanks to an ugly banked in jumper by Strickland.
Nolan will be on the line shooting free throws when we return.
1st half 15:57 to play, UNC leads 7-4: Mason Plumlee just made me look like a bum in one single swoop. All week I said he needs to be a sleeper to have a huge game for Duke. All he's done is pick up two fouls in less than three minutes.
Tyler Zeller just jammed one down after receiving the entry pass from Marshall. Ryan Kelly tried to cheat out and steal the pass and got beat to the basket.
Blue Steel: Give it up for Steel plus Knox and Marshall. They held their own in the little amount of playing time. They made it 1:35 until Knox was fouled going to the rack on a dunk try. Heels got the 3-0 lead in that time. Great job rebounding by those guys. Ryan Kelly has missed three easy looks at three already. Smith has mised a trey too.
Here We Go: All those seniors get the start for UNC. Henson, Zeller, Strickland and Barnes come off the bench. Kendall Marshall still gets the start.
Early anthem: The National anthem was put in the books with 14 minutes still on the game clock to make room for some senior night recognitions. The color guards didn't even get on the floor until midway through the song.
It ain't trash talk: Dexter Strickland pretty much guaranteed a victory on Wednesday night after beating Florida State. He didn't say the word guarantee, but just because he didn't say the word doesn't mean it wasn't one. A guaranteed is simply an assurance that something willl happen. He said "I know we're going to win on Saturday", so that's that.
But I didn't look at it as trash talk. I listened to it. He didn't put Duke down or anything, and he did talk about his confidence and how if the rest of his team had the same confidence that they would win. I didn't have a problem with it. But it doesn't mean it won't fuel someone like
Nolan Smith.pre-game note: Mason Plumlee even struggles to hit free throws in pregame warm-ups. That's a 43 percent shooter for you.
Pre-game: This game has all the bells and whistles. It's got Duke, North Carolina, a giant CBS College Sports stage in the parking lot, Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, and a regular season ACC Championship and a top seed in the conference tournament on the line.
It doesn't get a whole lot better than this.
I already took a walk outside the arena and I walked through that annoying cluster of people that are all holding their little fingers in the air claiming that they either want to buy or want to sell tickets. Funny thing was all five of them didn't have tickets and were looking to buy. I probably could've unloaded my press pass for $1000 bucks. I don't think that would've been good for my future with the company though.
I checked the stub hub site a minute ago and they have some instant download tickets ranging from $250 a pop to $600. Imagine paying $600 to sit in the upper deck? Sold!
I picked Duke by six in this game because of its senior leadership but you can pretty much flip a coin. It wouldn't at all surprise me if Carolina won this game by 10 points and I don't think the Heels have to win to prove to me they're for real.
It's also senior night here at the Dean Dome. It's mostly Blue Steel guys like Daniel Bolick, Van Hatchell, and D.J. Johnston. Then there's Justin Knox of course. It'll be interesting to see if they all start, and also how quickly they get yanked.
