UNC Basketball: 11 Historical Games and Moments against Duke
March 12th, 1989: #9 UNC 77, #7 Duke 74 (Take That Mr. Naismith): The rivalry reach a new level of nastiness in 1989, during the Heels upset of the top-ranked and unbeaten Blue Devils in Durham 91-71; Duke students held up the infamous “J.R. Can’t Reid” sign which angered Coach Smith who did nothing to hide it. After 9th ranked Duke beat 5th ranked Carolina 88-86 in Chapel Hill everyone expected the two teams to meet again for a 3rd time in the tournament final.
Leading up to the tournament that weekend in Atlanta Smith revealed that his frontcourt duo of J.R. Reid and Scott Williams combine to have a better SAT scores than Danny Ferry and Christian Laettner which angered Coach K. Later, Coach Smith would admit he knew exactly what he was doing with that situation.
Many have called the game “the intense sporting event they’ve ever witnessed” and said that the atmosphere felt more like a heavyweight title fight than a basketball game. Carolina led at the half 39-35, the first half saw a nasty exchange between the coaches in which Coach K told Coach Smith what he could do after Coach Smith told him not to talk to his players. The second half saw the culmination of a three year war between Reid and Ferry, two of the nation’s best players.
During one rebounding battle which saw Ferry end up on the floor, Reid famously stood over him and screamed “Take that Mr. Naismith”. The Heels would clinch the 77-74 win on a Steve Bucknall three-point play. The game featured 49 fouls called, 59 free throws shot, 4 players would foul out, and five other players finished with 4 fouls. It gave Carolina their first ACC Tournament title since 1982.