Putting Teams Away
One thing that Duke is inherently better at than North Carolina is destroying teams they are better than. UNC has a nasty habit of either playing down to the competition or letting decent teams hang around too long. That becomes dangerous when just one player (in this case, Wake Forest's Nate Calmese) goes super saiyan and can drag a team across the finish line. Calmese nearly did this, shooting 7-for-11 from three, including some clutch shots with under two minutes left. He hit threes that were contested. He hit threes off balance. He nearly ruined Carolina's night.
All that excellent shooting by Wake Forest should have been a footnote. UNC was up by 15 when Jaydon Young hit a three-pointer with 9:50 remaining. But the Tar Heels were unable to manufacture good shots, went long stretches without hitting a field goal, and were not clinical from the foul line. All of these ingredients went towards an upset stew that just didn't have enough time on the stove to boil.
This slip up, after a bad defeat and a week off to correct, is a bit disconcerting. Hubert Davis will have plenty of ammo to keep his team on their toes for their upcoming West Coast swing.