by Matt Bowers
DURHAM, N.C.—Duke held North Carolina scoreless for the final 3:57 of the game and beat the Tar Heels, 63-57, on Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke went on a 6-0 run in the final 1:35 while UNC missed 8 of its last 9 shots from the floor in scoring a season-low 57 points.
Jeremy Roach led the Blue Devils with 20 points, and Kyle Filipowski added 14 points and seven rebounds. Dereck Lively II set season highs with 14 rebounds and eight blocked shots.
Carolina (15-8, 7-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) dropped its second game in a row this week and saw its two-game winning streak in the series come to an end. Duke improved to 17-6, 8-4.
Armando Bacot led Carolina with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the 63rd double-double of his career (most in school history) and his 14th this season. He has 70 career double-figure rebounding games, most in UNC history.
Leaky Black recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, hitting a season-high three three-pointers and shooting 5 for 10 from the floor. Caleb Love scored 12 on 5 of 15 shooting (2 of 7 three-pointers). RJ Davis hit 5 of 16 shots and 1 of 5 from behind the arc, scoring 11 points with five assists.
The Tar Heels shot 34.3 percent in the game, their second-worst shooting performance of the season and worst since shooting 33.9 percent in a loss at Indiana on November 30. Duke blocked 11 shots and limited UNC to just three free throw attempts as a team, including none in the second half. The two made free throws tied the fewest in Carolina history in the ACC era.
“It was a physical game, on both ends,” said Duke head coach Jon Scheyer. “That was a huge thing for us, going into this game. They get to the foul line more than anybody. For us, just making them earn it. You know, [Caleb] Love hit some tough shots; make him earn it. Don’t just give them free throws. They’re automatic free throw shooters.
UNC held its eighth consecutive opponent under 70 points but is 5-3 in that stretch. The Blue Devils had a 20-2 advantage in fast break points in the game.
Carolina led most of a tight first half. Duke took its first lead of the night at 25-24 with 3:51 remaining before halftime on a layup by Roach the ended a stretch of nearly four scoreless minutes for Carolina. The Blue Devils had a 16-0 first-half advantage in fast break points, and led, 33-32, at the break.
UNC missed 8 of its first 9 shots after halftime and shot 28.6 percent in the second half, tying its worst shooting half of the season.
The Tar Heels will be back in action on Tuesday night at Wake Forest before returning home for back-to-back games in the Smith Center against Clemson and Miami.
“Let’s go back to work tomorrow,” said UNC head coach Hubert Davis when asked to describe his postgame message to his team in the lockerroom. “Let’s get back to work. Let’s work hard. Let’s do it with energy, effort, passion, enthusiasm. Let’s go show up on Monday. Let’s work hard: energy, effort, passion, enthusiasm, togetherness, closeness, hunger and thirst. Let’s play on Tuesday against a great, unbelievable Wake Forest team.”
