UNC Basketball: Tar Heels take round one against Blue Devils
Tar Heels hit record amount of threes, knock off Blue Devils in Chapel Hill
Tobacco Road. Maybe you’ve heard of it.
Tonight was another classic game in the all-time series between Duke and North Carolina. Duke took a lead into halftime, but thanks to a great defensive effort, North Carolina found a way to come out on top 82-78.
What happened that led to a second straight win for the Tar Heels?
The Game
The first half was all Blue Devils. Duke led by as many as 12 at one point and used their size to dominate the boards and outscore North Carolina 30-14 in the paint.
Marvin Bagley III used his size to score nine first half points and grab nine rebounds.
More from UNC’s win: Theo Pinson’s big dunk | UNC fans tease Jay Williams | 5-star recruit in attendance
Duke also got great play from its bench in Alex O’Connell and Marques Bolden, who combined for 13 first half points on 6-of-7 shooting. Bolden had as many points in the first half as he did in his past five games combined.
However, the Blue Devils only led by four points at the half thanks to the play of Cameron Johnson and Kenny Williams. The two players combined for 25 points while shooting 7-of-11 from downtown.
The second half was all UNC. The Tar Heels opened the half on a 16-2 run and led the rest of the way. They did this behind the play of Theo Pinson, who had two rebounds, a steal, and an assist during that run.
The Tar Heels also played great defense, coming away with seven steals and five blocks. They also held Duke to just nine three-pointers, including a second straight single-digit scoring effort from Grayson Allen.
Duke got back into the game thanks to a Tar Heel scoring drought that lasted more than five-and-a-half minutes, during which the Blue Devils cut the score from nine down to three.
However, UNC finished things off, getting a big three from Johnson to end the drought and ending things with a transition dunk from Pinson that caused the Dean Dome to explode.
Player of the Game
Joel Berry II. There were so many people who could’ve gotten this with a double-double from Johnson and six threes from Williams.
However, it was Berry who really put the Tar Heels up big in the second half. Berry finished with a game-high 21 points and went 3-for-4 from the foul line to put the game away. Berry also had six assists to lead all Tar Heels.
Notable Stat
Nine. North Carolina and Duke entered this game first and second nationally in rebounds per game. Despite being out-sized, the Tar Heels finished plus-six on the boards including a 20-to-11 advantage on the offensive glass as UNC came away with the big win.
If that isn’t impressive enough, UNC also finished with just two turnovers after averaging 12 the past four conference games.
Whats Next?
North Carolina will look to push its win streak up to three and get revenge for an earlier overtime loss when they travel to play NC State on Saturday.