UNC Basketball: The 5 worst Duke losses of the Roy Williams era
By Carson Brown
March 13th, 2011: Duke 75 – UNC 58
A game filled with so much anticipation was quickly deflated by a North Carolina team that clearly wasn’t ready to play. It was the ACC Tournament championship, and the third meeting between Duke and UNC on the season. But Duke’s dominance quickly took all the fun away for the Tar Heels and their fans.
The game came with so much potential, yet it never the excitement never came, at least for fans in the lighter shade of blue. Between the two teams, there was a plethora of talent. The Tar Heels had a handful of (now) UNC legends in Tyler Zeller, John Henson, Harrison Barnes, and Kendall Marshall, but they shot a combined 35 percent from the field on 18-for-51 shooting.
The Blue Devils boasted some big names on their roster at the time, too. Kyle Singer ran the wing, and Duke had two of the Plumlee brothers in the starting lineup. The back court duties were controlled by Nolan Smith and Seth Curry, completing their dynamic, star-studded starting five.
Duke and UNC is almost always such an entertaining event, but somehow this game failed to live up to the expectations that the world-renown rivalry carries with it. This game had not only an ACC Tournament championship on the line, but for a 1-seed in the NCAA tournament, too.
UNC never led for a second in the game, while Duke led by 19 at one point. It was a rough selection Sunday for the Tar Heels, as they got pummeled in their most important game of the regular season, and had to watch Duke receive a 1-seed in the big dance.