UNC Basketball: Looking Back at the Collapse in Chapel Hill

Austin Rivers had a game for the ages and hit one of those shots that will always be remembered in UNC vs. Duke history. Although both fan bases are sure to look at the game a little differently.

Duke will see it as Austin Rivers’ transformation from a highly-touted freshman to a big-time player. They will see it as one of the biggest comebacks, as far as what it means, in school history.

Photo Credit: Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

North Carolina will see it as a complete collapse. Winning by ten with just over two minutes remaining, North Carolina decided to play like a different team in the final minutes. The different team allowed Duke, who hadn’t looked particularly well all evening, to gain a little confidence and crawl back into the game after each bucket and eventual UNC gaffe.

Unfortunately for Carolina, the shot might be the most heartbreaking loss of the 233 games between the storied rivals. We wouldn’t even be talking about “the shot” today without the previous two minutes of overall sloppy basketball and ineptitude of the Tar Heels.

Everything had to fall in place for Duke to complete the comeback. And fall in place they did.
1. Ryan Kelly misses a three that was tipped out of bounds by John Henson to give Duke another possession.
2. Tyler Thorton hits a three to cut the deficit to 82-75. 2:00 remaining.
3. Kendall Marshall turns the ball over forcing a tough pass to Henson that gets stolen by Mason Plumlee.
4. Seth Curry, on a play he undoubtedly committed a traveling violation, hits three pointer to cut deficit to 82-78. 1:48 remaining.
5. Harrison Barnes puts his head down and buries his body into Kelly, who draws the charge.
6. Kelly misses a three but the rebound falls right back to him and he buries a 2-point jumper to cut the deficit to 82-80. 1:09 remaining.
7. Carolina finally decides to go back inside to Tyler Zeller, who struggled with foul trouble in the second half after dominating the first, where he almost immediately draws a foul on Plumlee. Zeller, the team’s leader and one of the better free-throw shooters on the team, only hits 1 of 2 from the charity stripe. 83-80, :44 remaining.
8. Kelly misses another three but the ball magically gets tipped in by Zeller in one of the most bizarre plays you’ll ever see in basketball. 83-82 with less than 20 seconds remaining.
9. Tyler Zeller is intentionally fouled where the Senior once again only makes 1 of 2 free-throws to give Carolina an 84-82 advantage with :13 left in the game.
10. Austin Rivers dribbles the clock down before creating enough space to shoot over the seven-footer Zeller, who was guarding the much quicker point guard on a defensive switch. With the clock winding down, and Zeller backing up, Rivers launched a game-winning, buzzer-beating three pointer. 85-84 Duke. 0:00 remaining.

Last night was a complete collapse for Roy Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels. They simply choked. That’s ten crucial moments in the final two minutes and all of them favor Duke.

Sure, Duke got lucky a play of two. Sure, the referees missed an obvious traveling violation among other things. But at the end of the day, UNC let a very winnable game slip completely through its hands to give Duke a miraculous comeback and leave Tar Heel nation with a bitter disgust in their mouths.

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