Keeping It Heel
Fansided

UNC Basketball: The 10 Duke players UNC fans hated most

By Blake Cockrum

NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: J.J. Redick #4 of the Duke Blue Devils walks down the court during their Preseason NIT game against the Drexel Dragons at Madison Square Garden on November 23, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)
NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: J.J. Redick #4 of the Duke Blue Devils walks down the court during their Preseason NIT game against the Drexel Dragons at Madison Square Garden on November 23, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images) /
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UNC Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, NC – FEBRUARY 08: Austin Rivers #0 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts against the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game at the Dean Smith Center on February 8, 2012 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

Austin Rivers

One shot. Sometimes that’s all it takes. One shot to win a big game, or to cement a player’s legacy for years to come. Or in the case of Austin Rivers, one shot solidified him as one of the most disliked Duke players in the team’s long history with the UNC basketball program and its fans.

The shot? Well, it was indeed a big one.

When No. 9 Duke played No. 5 North Carolina at the Dean Smith Center in February 2012, Rivers capped off a 29-point performance with a last-second, game-winning three-pointer over the outstretched arm of Tyler Zeller. The shot stunned the sold out North Carolina crowd, and resulted in both teams leaving the arena tied atop the ACC standings with a 7-2 record.

It didn’t really matter in the end, as North Carolina traveled to Durham for the season finale and toppled the Blue Devils by 18 points. Duke followed its home loss up with an ACC semifinal loss to Florida State, and an embarrassing first round NCAA Tournament loss to Lehigh. That brought to an end the college career of one Austin Rivers, who decided to leave Duke for the NBA after just one season.

UNC fans never forgot the shot he hit over Zeller, though, who’d go on to win ACC Player of the Year and consensus second team All-American honors. Unlike the hard-working, unassuming Zeller, however, Rivers was always seen by UNC basketball fans as yet another example of a cocky, entitled Blue Devil.

It probably didn’t do him any favors that he was the rich son of a famous basketball coach, either, but we can’t count that against him.

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