UNC Basketball loses to Duke in final regular season game

In a must-win game, the UNC basketball program came up short against Duke, a loss that most likely will keep them out of the NCAA Tournament.

Barring a run in the upcoming ACC Tournament, it doesn’t look like the UNC basketball program will have a chance to finish what it started a season ago.

On Saturday night, the Tar Heels suffered a loss to rival Duke, one against the program’s most prominent foe and one North Carolina desperately needed to win.

Offensive woes were once again the story for the Tar Heels, a narrative that we’ve seen quite often during the 2022-2023 campaign.

Due to foul trouble (and an injury to Puff Johnson), Hubert Davis was forced to use 12 of his guys. It’s important to note that Jackson Watkins and Justin McKoy got the start as part of the team’s ‘senior night’ celebration.

With Armando Bacot and Pete Nance having foul trouble early, the Tar Heels were fortunate to be down just by two at the half. North Carolina battled back and forth with Duke in the second half, but an offensive drought at the end of the game finished off the Tar Heels’ chances of ending the regular season with a victory.

North Carolina made just one of its last 9 field goal attempts and did not connect on a basket over the final 4:20 of play. As this game was tied eight different times and featured 11 lead changes, the UNC basketball program led for just 6:34 of game time.

Other than Bacot (who scored 17 points and recorded 11 rebounds in what could potentially be his final home game as a Tar Heel) and RJ Davis (17 points), the rest of the Tar Heels struggled from the floor. What’s frustrating is how Bacot only had eight total shots from the floor, as he had to do most of his damage from the free-throw line.

Leaky Black made just three of his 16 shot attempts (the most on the team), while Caleb Love was a disappointing 3-12 from the field. The Tar Heels shot just 30.7% from the floor, including an awful 21.7% from three-point range.

Freshman Kyle Filipowski was a problem for the Tar Heels, as he scored a game-high 22 points while hauling in 13 rebounds. Even with limiting Dereck Lively II, who made such an impact in the first game, to just 17 minutes due to foul trouble, North Carolina struggled to make some close looks near the basket.

This is a game that the Tar Heels needed, as their resume could’ve really used another quality win. However, the loss basically ends any hope of them making the NCAA Tournament field unless they find a way to win the upcoming ACC Tournament.

Disappointing, frustrating, irritating, upsetting, etc. There are plenty of words to describe this loss, as the ones you come up with could quite frankly be used to describe this entire season as a whole so far.

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